A Comment on Point Guards

[littlereg]

Y’all just want to continue to pile on and prove your brilliance at scouting and evaluation. Have fun this season.

No one is having fun brother this sucks. some of us are just being honest and realistic not slurping the orange juice.

 

[Nicknack]

No one is having fun brother this sucks. some of us are just being honest and realistic not slurping the orange juice.

Yes, this is beyond sad. I wasn't expecting we would be world beaters but I did think we would be decent, good enough to maybe get into the ncaa tourney. No one on this board likes this.

 

[FRANKIEFAN]

The coaching has been worse in our wins. Who knows maybe we flip a switch and do well in the ACC.

Red got full fan support for 2 offseasons and the benefit of the doubt on everything his first regular season.

He's lost the entire fan base over the first 7 games. There is nothing over reactionary or unfair. SGs play PG all the time in college ball and we have a ton on our roster who have solid handles. Dudes clueless sticking with Carlos.

 

[Sherman20]

And if JJ didn’t hurt how much do we see Moore last night? He was forced to use Moore especially because Taylor provide much outside of his defense

Disagree. He was already moving away from Carlos and towards Moore in recent games. And after what Moore showed against Cornell, it was clear the direction we were heading before JJ got hurt.

 

[Cappy3]

Guys, Red literally said it himself - we have one guy who can dribble. Red chose to pursue Taylor instead of maybe a guard who was more of a combo. Red kept Cuffe and McLeod when maybe a better use of either of those scholarships was getting a guy who could dribble. You’re answering your own questions here. Red assembled this army. Injuries happen. But he knowingly came into the season with 1 low level PG on the roster. You can’t defend that. I promise it’s ok to blame him.

On3 ranked Carlos as the 255th transfer overall, the 50th PG. 50th! But Red was clearly confident he’s all we needed

You know what teams got better ranked PG transfers than us? Samford, UTEP, DePaul, McNeese (Quadir), TCU (they got 2), Providence, Vanderbilt (they got 2). That’s not even counting big time P5 schools.

We are rewriting history here saying Carlos was gonna be great and this a shocking development. The kid Shot 41% from the field at Hofstra.

By all means let’s go ahead and keep trying to defend this tho

Who’s defending anything? I’m simply pointing out that 1)evaluating talent is a lot easier after the fact and 2)it’s too late to cry about the roster makeup. All we can do now is try to determine what the best path forward for this year is.

 

[djcon57]

)evaluating talent is a lot easier after the fact

If only there were threads all offseason where people were called Debby downers and bad fans when they suggested the talent we were getting wasn’t up to par

I got scolded and basically told I was negative pos because I thought comparing Carlos to Mark Sears was a bad idea. That actually happened

 

[Sherman20]

No one is having fun brother this sucks. some of us are just being honest and realistic not slurping the orange juice.

All I see is a bunch of self proclaimed, self aggrandizing “truth-tellers” and Monday morning quarterbacks engaging in mutual masturbation about their brilliance and how Red is an idiot and can’t evaluate talent, should’ve seen this coming, can’t coach etc. Maybe not you, but other guys I won’t name. I have been concerned about Red’s coaching ability in a number of areas, but there’s no sense of balance in any of these reactions. All I see are pile-ons of Red and the staff after we lost to possibly the best team in the country without our best player on the court.

Some of us have been trying to have hope, though truthfully I don’t see much hope after JJ got injured. Losing your best player is a recipe for disaster. But without hope, what’s the point of watching?

 

[Cappy3]

If only there were threads all offseason where people were called Debby downers and bad fans when they suggested the talent we were getting wasn’t up to par

I got scolded and basically told I was negative pos because I thought comparing Carlos to Mark Sears was a bad idea. That actually happened

Well, there are always people who disagree. And calling each other names seems to be this board’s favorite pastime. But the fact is Red is far from the only coach who missed on evaluations of transfers. And continuing to cry about it doesn’t propose any solutions. What’s done is done, and cannot be undone.

 

[djcon57]

Well, there are always people who disagree. And calling each other names seems to be this board’s favorite pastime. But there’s fact is Red is far from the only coach who missed on evaluations of transfers. And continuing to cry about it doesn’t propose any solutions. What’s done is done, and cannot be undone.

I don’t think it’s “crying” to suggest there are no solutions. Red believe Carlos is the only person that can handle the ball. JJ is hurt. Westry doesn’t really exist until we actually see him play.

All we can discuss is how the program can go from here

 

[Charbroil]

I keep reading posts about how Red should have known Carlos couldn’t cut it in the ACC, and questioning his talent appraisal skills. Well it’s not that easy. For example, look at UConn. Hurley has been pretty successful at talent evaluation, and went all in on Aidan Mahaney from St Marys who was generally considered the best available point guard in the portal. So far, he’s been a huge flop. He’s lost the starting role, is averaging 5 pts per, and playing less and less time. so it’s not as easy to project a guy’s success as guys here seem to think.

If Red wins back-to-back national championships he can miss on every portal addition for a decade as far as I’m concerned.

Until then, the concerns over his talent evaluation and player development are legitimate based on the 40 game sample size we currently have.

 

[RF2044]

I keep reading posts about how Red should have known Carlos couldn’t cut it in the ACC, and questioning his talent appraisal skills. Well it’s not that easy. For example, look at UConn. Hurley has been pretty successful at talent evaluation, and went all in on Aidan Mahaney from St Marys who was generally considered the best available point guard in the portal. So far, he’s been a huge flop. He’s lost the starting role, is averaging 5 pts per, and playing less and less time. so it’s not as easy to project a guy’s success as guys here seem to think.

I can't speak for everyone, but I think some of the concern relative to the point guard position has been that talent evaluation / landing quality prospects at that position has been a challenge, dating back for more than 10 years or so.

We've had some big misses [like Quade Green], we've had some enormous busts [Joseph, Carey, etc.], we had a good one that we let walk due to the coach's loyalties lying with another player [Kadary], and we've had some guys who were combo guards that we've converted -- but with varying degrees of success [Gbinije worked out great, Howard stunk, and JGIII was somewhere in between with some notable capabilities / limitations].

And although this IS a new era, some of the guys on the staff are the same guys who were part of the prior issues when JB was at the helm. I think many fans wanted to believe that JB created some of the challenges, but the concern now -- ESPECIALLY given the comments about Carlos and what the coaching staff expected him to bring to the table -- show a continuation of the trend of mostly missing at the most pivotal position in college basketball.

 

[Zelda Zonk]

I keep reading posts about how Red should have known Carlos couldn’t cut it in the ACC, and questioning his talent appraisal skills. Well it’s not that easy. For example, look at UConn. Hurley has been pretty successful at talent evaluation, and went all in on Aidan Mahaney from St Marys who was generally considered the best available point guard in the portal. So far, he’s been a huge flop. He’s lost the starting role, is averaging 5 pts per, and playing less and less time. so it’s not as easy to project a guy’s success as guys here seem to think.

I thought it was not about projecting success onto Carlos. Carlos was meant to be the backup to Leffew, wasn’t he? And then we didn‘t get Leffew, and then folks started to pretend that Carlos was ‘enough.’ So, the appraisal skills weren’t really appraisal skills. The problem is in our inability to get a No. 1 target or to have contingencies for 1b, and 1c.

Relying on a #278 transfer to lead an ACC team that needed to improve substantially just to sniff the tournament seems like a bad idea. And it’s not Carlos’ fault.

 

[djcon57]

All I see is a bunch...(exclude name calling)...Monday morning quarterbacks

Are we done with adding players for 2024-25?

I am out of town and have to listen to Infanti and Scibilia to get my Orange fix. They are of the opinion that: 1) We won’t add another starting caliber player from the portal. 2) The team will be fine with what we have. I think this take is incorrect, and if it is correct, we are in trouble...

syracusefan.com

I asked you this in May. It's not Monday Morning QB'ing. There was reason for concern, detailed in that post, some of you chose not to see it.

 

[DCUNITED13]

If I hear Carlos is our only ball handler one more time I am going to lose it

Some of us have been trying to have hope, though truthfully I don’t see much hope after JJ got injured. Losing your best player is a recipe for disaster. But without hope, what’s the point of watching?

I'm hoping for 10-3 Record to Start 2025. It is still possible.

Last 5 seasons
2019 8-5
2020 9-4
2021 7-6
2022 8-5
2023 10-3

So in the last 5 years the best start before the New Year (or 13 games) has been Red Autry. We have to go back to 2017 for a better record than we had in 2023. I'm willing to wait until Jan 1. After that is a New Year

GO CUSE

 

[CardiacCuse]

Agree. Pre season, after scrimmages, EVERYONE thought what Red thought too. lol. As I said in a previous post today MONEY is the biggest factor. Period.

i doubted carlos in pre-season go check the posts...he played horrible in the 2nd exhibition game with some bad turnovers...was not impressed at all

 

[CardiacCuse]

All I see is a bunch of self proclaimed, self aggrandizing “truth-tellers” and Monday morning quarterbacks engaging in mutual masturbation about their brilliance and how Red is an idiot and can’t evaluate talent, should’ve seen this coming, can’t coach etc. Maybe not you, but other guys I won’t name. I have been concerned about Red’s coaching ability in a number of areas, but there’s no sense of balance in any of these reactions. All I see are pile-ons of Red and the staff after we lost to possibly the best team in the country without our best player on the court.

Some of us have been trying to have hope, though truthfully I don’t see much hope after JJ got injured. Losing your best player is a recipe for disaster. But without hope, what’s the point of watching?

theres like 5 shooting guards on the roster.(inexplicably)


moore, jjs replacement, put up 25 vs tenn

losing jj aint the issue

bringing in carlos to start was insane...i thought he was going to be the backup...fyi red did leave a schollie unfilled too

this aint about the tenn game...the tenn game was QUAD 4 win for them...THATS the issue

syracuse is now a quad 4 team...not hyperbole...literally.


tenn covered a 22.5point spread FFS

all throughout reds tenure...he has turned comfortable wins into nailbiters...and potentially comptetitve losses into blowout losses...its his coaching approach that causes that PATTERN

reds a great guy. high character...

im not calling fr his head...i hope he can adjust and get better this season...but he needs to change his ways ASAP...and be less rigid and more STRATEGIC.

hes not a very good strategist...and all of the other coaches i have seen like that always get fired without lasting very long. its important.


he needs to learn how to impact WINNING...not how to IMPRESS HIMSELF on the team. big difference...one he hasnt seemed to grasp yet.

I truly hope he does.

i think he is smart enough for the job...but he has a lot of blind spots and hes not showing it.

 

[jdubs30]

Hurley to Mahoney after he hit 2 3s

x.com

x.com

 

[Ottoman]

I keep reading posts about how Red should have known Carlos couldn’t cut it in the ACC, and questioning his talent appraisal skills. Well it’s not that easy. For example, look at UConn. Hurley has been pretty successful at talent evaluation, and went all in on Aidan Mahaney from St Marys who was generally considered the best available point guard in the portal. So far, he’s been a huge flop. He’s lost the starting role, is averaging 5 pts per, and playing less and less time. so it’s not as easy to project a guy’s success as guys here seem to think.

That is a reasonable observation. Recruiting is challenging.

1) JC should have always been a plan B or even C. The concern is that the staff didn't land a player capable of starting in the ACC.
2) I'm not upset that JC started game 1 or even game 3. The issue is that he is still starting.

I don't blame JC at all - he's doing everything right. He seems like a great guy who works hard. He will likely be successful in life. The staff should not be putting him in this position.

 

[Sherman20]

.

Are we done with adding players for 2024-25?

I am out of town and have to listen to Infanti and Scibilia to get my Orange fix. They are of the opinion that: 1) We won’t add another starting caliber player from the portal. 2) The team will be fine with what we have. I think this take is incorrect, and if it is correct, we are in trouble...

syracusefan.com

I asked you this in May. It's not Monday Morning QB'ing. There was reason for concern, detailed in that post, some of you chose not to see it.

Again with the chest-puffing “I saw this coming” self aggrandizement. The coaches with years of P5 experience clearly felt differently about Carlos, at least viewing him as a guy who could contribute (if not the starter). I trusted them over some rando on a message board like yourself. Even Dean Francis is a bit shellshocked at how bad Carlos has been playing. This is not the same kid that he evaluated on his pod (and put together extended game footage for subscribers to watch). He played pretty well against very good competition—Duke at Cameron, at Princeton, and against St John’s—and the video evidence was there.

 

[FRANKIEFAN]

.
Again with the chest-puffing “I saw this coming” self aggrandizement. The coaches with years of P5 experience clearly felt differently about Carlos, at least viewing him as a guy who could contribute (if not the starter). I trusted them over some rando on a message board like yourself. Even Dean Francis is a bit shellshocked at how bad Carlos has been playing. This is not the same kid that he evaluated on his pod (and put together extended game footage for subscribers to watch). He played pretty well against very good competition—Duke at Cameron, at Princeton, and against St John’s—and the video evidence was there.

Mintz got killed by this fan base despite leading us in scoring and winning games with his hero ball.

Q made plenty of bad turnovers and bricked shots but it was mixed in with steals Globetrotter assists driving at will at times etc.

Fanbase celebrated both of them leaving and backed the coach 100%.

 

[Sherman20]

Mintz got killed by this fan base despite leading us in scoring and winning games with his hero ball.

Q made plenty of bad turnovers and bricked shots but it was mixed in with steals Globetrotter assists driving at will at times etc.

Fanbase celebrated both of them leaving and backed the coach 100%.

Not sure what the hell this has to do with my comment. But I liked Mintz a lot and was excited for Q to come back and develop, but apparently he stopped going to class.

 

[JonB]

Everyone is freaking out about losing to the net and kenpom number one in their stadium by 26 without out best player. Things will improve. That’s the hardest game all season against a team that literally had everything.

 

[Orange315]

Sure would have been nice to start our two best guards when everyone was healthy.

 

[CuseCPT]

.
Again with the chest-puffing “I saw this coming” self aggrandizement. The coaches with years of P5 experience clearly felt differently about Carlos, at least viewing him as a guy who could contribute (if not the starter). I trusted them over some rando on a message board like yourself. Even Dean Francis is a bit shellshocked at how bad Carlos has been playing. This is not the same kid that he evaluated on his pod (and put together extended game footage for subscribers to watch). He played pretty well against very good competition—Duke at Cameron, at Princeton, and against St John’s—and the video evidence was there.

Some people are trying re-write history but djcon57 has receipts. And he only pulled them when the charge was that everyone agreed with Red that Carlos would be fine at the time and were now Monday-morning quarterbacking it.

On the other hand, after years of being one of the "negative ones" I've seen plenty of unprovoked victory laps from the other side, as though I was seething about a victory from a team I've been a fan of since 1986 and a school I eventually earned a degree from. Nothing could be further from the truth. I'd love nothing more than for Red to run the table and win a natty. I would not be able to say I saw that coming, and I'd be thrilled to be wrong. It's not about being bragging that we saw this coming it's about challenging narratives we disagree with. And in this case, one where the evidence existed to back it up.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Everyone is freaking out about losing to the net and kenpom number one in their stadium by 26 without out best player. Things will improve. That’s the hardest game all season against a team that literally had everything.

It's the way we lost. JJ's replacement replaced his production. Now I would love to see the two of them together, but Red has been hesitant to do that. We still missed a boatload of free throws, we played zero defense, and we got crushed on the glass. The team showed absolutely zero fight. There's no harm in losing, but we had guys pouting from the onset. It's been a problem since Red took over. It was very reminiscent of getting absolutely throttled last year at Duke, at UNC, at Wake, at UVA, against Gonzaga and Tennessee in November. We have consistently let teams steamroll us and just given up.