also 2009 . . . coming off of back to back trips to the NIT and 37 losses in the previous 3 years, that team rebounded to 28 wins & a Sweet 16 trip. But then Flynn, Harris and Devo all left early (along with Sr. Ongenaut). This forum was filled with the same "where will the points come from?" posts. Only scholarship players coming back were Rautins, Onuaku, Joseph and Jackson, all of whom had shown flashes but none of whom looked like star material. Scoop would be coming back from his redshirt year but he hadn't impressed anyone in his freshman campaign. There were rumors about Wes Johnson but nobody really knew what we were in for. And the only freshman coming in were Triche, Mookie and Dash Riley - not an imposing class on paper. All in all, a bunch of guys rated 2 and 3 stars coming out of high school, with the sole exceptions of 4 stars Jackson, Joseph & Jardine. And all they did was turn into the best team we've ever put on the floor.
Of course there's reason to be concerned. This year's team had the worst defense and worst point guard play I've ever seen from a Syracuse team. But who knows what the final roster will look like & how the guys already here will develop; the one thing we do know is that the guy in charge is as good at this as anybody in the game.
