Alex Kline

[Capt. Tuttle]

Name the last time Syracuse executed in crunch time after a timeout. Or even a simple inbounds play?

That tells you everything you need to know about the level of coaching we have.

And you know the worst part. Red actually turned down adding another assistant coach to his staff. Like he and his staff had all the answers.

Meanwhile, any staff in any sport is working to add more and more analyst positions. Yet, here is our coach saying nooo. We don’t need more resources or coaches. Why would I want that!!! No competent coach in America would turn down extra resources and coaches.

Fear or arrogance would drive that choice

 

[littlereg]

Why do you say this?

Nate Kingz was a part of a 20-win season at Oregon State. His team at Oregon State beat nationally-ranked Gonzaga in a game that he had 20 points and was super efficient. And overall his numbers were much better.

William Kyle played in 32 games last year for a UCLA team that won 23 games. He only played 10 minutes a game, but he was a member of that team and was a bit contributor to a team that went to the NCAA Tournament.

Nait George, I don't disagree - he played on a .500 team in the ACC and was a starter, but never won at a high level. However, his stats are overall better at GT than they are this season.

Those are the three main portal additions. They had varying levels of success at their prior institutions but the issue is Freeman, Starling & the others are SU products and haven't done anything to produce team wins.

I don't know that I agree with the 'haven't won a damn thing' argument.

So in conclusion, they haven’t won a damn thing when it comes to college basketball success? No but in all seriousness I probably could’ve worded that better/more confined and I could be completely wrong and would eat it if I was!

btw this isn’t to say they aren’t talented I said this as my first point, nor do I think Kline should be fired, he gathered talent and got what the players/ formula the coaches wanted, We gathered talented players, they just don’t fit together and aren’t used correctly and which again also falls on coaching . You can have the most athletic team in the country, if you don’t play smart, fundamental ball it won’t matter, if they can’t shoot it won’t matter, if they don’t play team defense it won’t matter, if they can’t rebound at all it won’t matter, etc. you need the correct ingredients to build a good, successful team and the combination of skill sets this roster has doesn’t fit that. a handful of have been saying all season Kingz should’ve been at the 2, and betsey at the 3. Kingz has been royally screwed this season by this staff and his teammates on the court. Kyle has made the best of the situation considering he’s not put in a position to succeed much at all when it comes to our offensive sets and motion. George has been a complete mess. By no means do I think they aren’t talented players but they also aren’t players who carried their past teams substantially, huge producers to post season teams, they haven’t been a main factor in a team that’s been susccessful at the highest level of college basketball.

 

[Orangezoo]

So in conclusion, they haven’t won a damn thing when it comes to college basketball success? No but in all seriousness I probably could’ve worded that better/more confined and I could be completely wrong and would eat it if I was!

btw this isn’t to say they aren’t talented I said this as my first point, nor do I think Kline should be fired, he gathered talent and got what the players/ formula the coaches wanted, We gathered talented players, they just don’t fit together and aren’t used correctly and which again also falls on coaching . You can have the most athletic team in the country, if you don’t play smart, fundamental ball it won’t matter, if they can’t shoot it won’t matter, if they don’t play team defense it won’t matter, if they can’t rebound at all it won’t matter, etc. you need the correct ingredients to build a good, successful team and the combination of skill sets this roster has doesn’t fit that. a handful of have been saying all season Kingz should’ve been at the 2, and betsey at the 3. Kingz has been royally screwed this season by this staff and his teammates on the court. Kyle has made the best of the situation considering he’s not put in a position to succeed much at all when it comes to our offensive sets and motion. George has been a complete mess. By no means do I think they aren’t talented players but they also aren’t players who carried their past teams substantially, huge producers to post season teams, they haven’t been a main factor in a team that’s been susccessful at the highest level of college basketball.

Any of the top non SU family options discussed for the job would have 18-20 wins already with this current roster.

 

[littlereg]

Any of the top non SU family options discussed for the job would have 18-20 wins already with this current roster.

I could definitely have seen that and I’m not saying no way they wouldnt but it’s not something you can just say in definite, that’s just bias. There’s numerous coaching candidates in the national coaching search over the years who were considered top-tier breakout coaches who have completely failed.

 

[Orangezoo]

I could definitely have seen that and I’m not saying no way they wouldnt but it’s not something you can just say in definite, that’s just bias. There’s numerous coaching candidates in the national coaching search over the years who were considered top-tier breakout coaches who have completely failed.

The point I’m getting at is coaching as opposed to talent is our predicament is all. It’s a low bar unfortunately with how much Red has struggled. It’s hard for talent to work together and young guys to develop without leadership and a clear vision that’s been effectively communicated and implemented.

 

[Sherman20]

This thread is proof that our fanbase is in denial about the talent level that we brought in. We are currently 13-11 with 7 games to go. The most likely outcome of those 7 games is that we go 2-5, and then lose in the first round of the ACC tournament to finish 15-17. We went 14-19 last season.

That’s an improvement of 1.5 wins with the exact same coaching staff. The talent we brought in was only marginally better than last season. 3 of our transfers were bench guys at their prior schools, only Nait George was truly a high value signing, and he’s been a huge disappointment. We have 4 guys scoring double figures per game, only one of those scores more than 12 per game. The only incoming guy performing significantly below their last stop is George.

I think people play Red up to be a worse coach than he is so they can act like the same talent with a good staff produces a good result. The reality is, we have about as much evidence for that for last years squad as we do for this years team. Either a good coach gets both to a good record, or neither was sufficient from a talent standpoint. I tend to think it’s the latter.

The ACC as a conference is significantly improved this season, and our roster is better as well. Coaching has been lackluster.

 

[IthaCuse]

The ACC as a conference is significantly improved this season, and our roster is better as well. Coaching has been lackluster.

Again, we went 14-19 last year. This year we appear to be on pace for 15-17. Is the league better? Sure. Have we improved relative to the rest of college basketball? Per our record, no.

 

[Scooch]

The talent we brought in was only marginally better than last season.

This is simply bonkers.

Last year through the portal we added Eddie Lampkin, Jyare Davis, Jaquan Carlos, Lucas Taylor. (NOTE: Alex Kline had nothing to do with these people playing basketball at Syracuse).

This year we added Will Kyle, Nait George, Nate Kingz, Tyler Betsey.

If you think the latter group is only "marginally" more talented than the former then I think your hoops evaluation skills are poor.

It's not Kingz's and Betsey's fault that Red has absolutely no clue how to design an offense that takes advantage of their offensive skills. I agree that George has been disappointing, however being handed the ball and told "go do something" hasn't been a particularly effective scheme.

This team plays dumb and ragged because the coaching is abysmal. One doesn't even need to squint to see the skill and athleticism they have. And it's miles better than last year's abomination.

 

[atlanticuse]

I'd love to run the sentiment through AI on Red, Alex, JW, and others, by user name, over the past 24 months.
I own my opinions from the outset. I turned from neg > pos on Alex. I've never once thought that Red was head coach material. Ever. (sorry - I do like Hop, but fall in line that there's no chance he should lead Orange BB)

 

[Cusefan0307]

The ACC as a conference is significantly improved this season, and our roster is better as well. Coaching has been lackluster.

Don’t bother. Poster has a very specific agenda. Mirrors Paulie Scibilia.

 

[Bulldog04]

2 things I know for a fact as well - Red said no to a few guys Kline wanted to spend a lot on and they didn’t spend their entire NiL budget this season because “they didn’t want to overpay certain guys”

 

[Cusefan0307]

2 things I know for a fact as well - Red said no to a few guys Kline wanted to spend a lot on and they didn’t spend their entire NiL budget this season because “they didn’t want to overpay certain guys”

Too bad we overpaid for Nait George.

 

[cusefan88]

2 things I know for a fact as well - Red said no to a few guys Kline wanted to spend a lot on and they didn’t spend their entire NiL budget this season because “they didn’t want to overpay certain guys”

I hope Kline enjoys Syracuse and wants to stay. To me he's a selling point for the next HC.

 

[sufan59]

2 things I know for a fact as well - Red said no to a few guys Kline wanted to spend a lot on and they didn’t spend their entire NiL budget this season because “they didn’t want to overpay certain guys”

Would you say that Kline staying could be a selling point to future candidates? I guess the highest profile candidates have their own version of Kline. I just think people underestimate Kline. You don't know his level of involvement when he was with the Knicks, but the Knicks actually became competent in talent evaluation while he was there, the second he left they started making not so great moves on the roster. I would argue since he got here, roster management has done a 180. The team on paper makes a ton of sense if you develop and put the players in a style that sets them up for success.

 

[jr4750]

2 things I know for a fact as well - Red said no to a few guys Kline wanted to spend a lot on and they didn’t spend their entire NiL budget this season because “they didn’t want to overpay certain guys”

did they put the leftover into a nice interest-bearing account? 10% +

 

[5OutFred]

Again, we went 14-19 last year. This year we appear to be on pace for 15-17. Is the league better? Sure. Have we improved relative to the rest of college basketball? Per our record, no.

NIL got better, the roster got better, the record remained the same. Who is the common denominator? You're so close.