Best Syracuse player ever

[albanycuse]

What do you guys think, i cant speak of players before my time , never saw bing or hansen or whoever else play . But 80's and up its got to be derrick coleman best player to play at syracuse the last 30 years. You older guys care to chime in with your experience?

 

[Toga]

Bing - then DC

 

[suthrills]

JB will tell you it's Bing and it's not even close.
Over the course of the 80's to present I agree with you that's it Coleman.
Anthony was obviously special but Coleman had 4 truly dominant years with a Championship game, Elite 8 and Sweet 16. Hard to argue with the all time leading rebounder in the history of the NCAA upon graduation.

 

[RF2044]

JB will tell you it's Bing and it's not even close.
Over the course of the 80's to present I agree with you that's it Coleman.
Anthony was obviously special but Coleman had 4 truly dominant years with a Championship game, Elite 8 and Sweet 16. Hard to argue with the all time leading rebounder in the history of the NCAA upon graduation.

Great post.

Obviously, Bing or DC.

My money's on DC...although I readily acknowledge that Bing was way ahead of my time.

 

[rrlbees]

1. Bing
2. DC
3. Melo


Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

 

[stone567]

I can't make an argument about Bing because I have never seen him play. Derrick Coleman was an absolutely amazing player, as was Sherman Douglas and both have the stats to prove it. Can't argue against either of those players.

And Billy Owens, Lawrence Moten, John Wallace and Carmelo Anthony were not far behind. But the most dominant player I have ever seen put on an SU uniform was Pearl Washington. He was able to dominate a game like no other player. So, I have to go with Pearl. The Carrier Dome was the house that Pearl built.

 

[Toga]

 

[orange03]

Melo or DC.

 

[Marsh01]

Bing
DC
Melo
Billy
JDubs

 

[RF2044]

Bing
DC
Melo
Billy
JDubs

Tough to argue with that list, although I think that Pearl and Sherman Douglas belong in the discussion.

Billy was unbelievable--what a talent. And looking at your top 5 list, I'd slate Wallace at #5--which is a testament to how great the players I rate above him are, because Wallace was tremendous.

 

[IthacaMatt]

What do you guys think, i cant speak of players before my time , never saw bing or hansen or whoever else play . But 80's and up its got to be derrick coleman best player to play at syracuse the last 30 years. You older guys care to chime in with your experience?

I also never saw Bing, except as a pro. As a pro, I recognize that he made the NBA's all-time top 50 players, but when I used to watch him play for Detroit, he seemed like one of those guys who was smooth and would always put up a quiet 20 points. No flash, no fanfare, just got the job done.

I started following the Orange in about 1971 or so. During my time, Derrick Coleman was the best player, best teammate, did the most things to help your team win games. Very unselfish. He only averaged about 12 shots a game for his career, IIRC.

 

[RF2044]

I also never saw Bing, except as a pro. As a pro, I recognize that he made the NBA's all-time top 50 players, but when I used to watch him play for Detroit, he seemed like one of those guys who was smooth and would always put up a quiet 20 points. No flash, no fanfare, just got the job done.

I started following the Orange in about 1971 or so. During my time, Derrick Coleman was the best player, best teammate, did the most things to help your team win games. Very unselfish. He only averaged about 12 shots a game for his career, IIRC.

Adding to that, it is pretty remarkable that DC never led the team in scoring during his four year career. #1 pick caliber talent, but unselfish to a fault and a terrific passer.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Tough to argue with that list, although I think that Pearl and Sherman Douglas belong in the discussion.

Billy was unbelievable--what a talent. And looking at your top 5 list, I'd slate Wallace at #5--which is a testament to how great the players I rate above him are, because Wallace was tremendous.

Billy will always suffer for the flame-out his final year. That team should have made a Final Four. He had probably the best single season any SU player has had (since Bing, anyway), but it was all for nothing.

 

[br801]

So many outstanding players have come through here, so there are no wrong answers. Based on their body of work on the court and impact on the program while at SU:

1. Bing
2. Pearl
3. DC
4. Billy
5. Carmelo*
   ​

*best damn 18 year old by a mile​

 

[albanycuse]

What about pre Bing? All4SU do you care to give us your 2 cents since youre like the oldest poster here : )

 

[RF2044]

What about pre Bing? All4SU do you care to give us your 2 cents since youre like the oldest poster here : )

Vic Hanson.

 

[AlaskaSU]

What do you guys think, i cant speak of players before my time , never saw bing or hansen or whoever else play . But 80's and up its got to be derrick coleman best player to play at syracuse the last 30 years. You older guys care to chime in with your experience?

Bing and it is not even close. He was a generation ahead of his time. His team averaged about 99 pts a game and that was half a century ago when some players still used a two handed set shot, baseball players used two hands to catch a fly ball, and football players wore helmets with one face bar and little else. Tang was not even invented.

Everyone knew that the two best college players of the day were Wilt and Bing. When it comes to DC or Melo there is not the complete consensus that they were the best non NBA players of their day.

 

[moqui]

I have to put in the obligatory word for Vic Hanson

Edit: oops . . . I see that RF already beat me to it

 

[sufandu]

Adding to that, it is pretty remarkable that DC never led the team in scoring during his four year career. #1 pick caliber talent, but unselfish to a fault and a terrific passer.

I thought he led the team in scoring as a sophomore. Am I wrong about that?

 

[Jake]

Bing, DC, Sherm, Melo, Pearl

 

[sacuse]

Never saw Bing play so I am inclined to go with Dc and melo. My fav was Sherm.

 

[sutomcat]

What do you guys think, i cant speak of players before my time , never saw bing or hansen or whoever else play . But 80's and up its got to be derrick coleman best player to play at syracuse the last 30 years. You older guys care to chime in with your experience?

1. Bing
2. Owens
3. Melo
4. DC
5. Douglas

It is a close call for me between Coleman and Billy Owens for the best player of the past 30 years but I have to give it to Billy. Owens was a tremendous scorer, rebounder and passer. Much better scorer than Derrick. Derrick was better at blocking shots, Billy was better at getting steals, Derrick was the better rebounder, Billy was the better passer. I think Billy is really underrated by the SU basketball community. Maybe the early loss in the NCAA tournament his junior year kind of soiled his reputation.

If he had stayed for his fourth year, it is safe to say he would have surely ended up the leading scorer in program history, the 2nd leading rebounder and at least 7th in assists. This includes all players in SU history, up to today.

Here are the stats for Coleman and Owens year by year. I added a senior year for Owens by simply repeating his stats for his junior season to get projected statistics for him for a four year career. Given how much he improved each season, it is likely he would have done better than the projection...

Player Pts Rebs Assists
Coleman 453 333 45
Coleman 474 384 76
Coleman 625 422 106
Coleman 591 398 95
Career: 2143 1537 322

Owens 494 263 119
Owens 602 276 151
Owens 744 371 111
Actual Career Totals 1840 910 381
Project Sr Season 744 371 111
Projected Career Totals 2584 1281 492
All Time SU Best Totals 2334 1537 960

 

[All4SU]

What about pre Bing? All4SU do you care to give us your 2 cents since youre like the oldest poster here : )

Hanson...hands down.

 

[albanycuse]

Hanson...hands down.

Thanks appreciate your experience and knowledge.

 

[newmexicuse]

I'm gonna side with Igor & vote for Ethan Cole, and it's not even close !!!

Ethan had a totally dominating senior season when he went off for averages of 2.0 points & 1.9 rebounds per game...Overwhelming stats considering his minutes played.

There is no question, that if Jimmy had just played a little bit more man D that Ethan minutes would have expanded & his stats would have blown up sky high !!!