My mistake on him being a Junior.
To your point about screens .. so what. With the talent we have now and coming in we don't need him off of screens. He will get plenty of opportunity to hit them off of kick outs.
It still amazes me that people can complain about our 8th man not having enough talent.
Good grief. In a thread that talked about big game james (albeit, in an obvious tongue in cheek reference) and in response to a specific post that suggested that anyone who has criticized Southerland's game should permanently stay quiet after Southerland's 10 point performance yesterday, I simply opined that in my opinion Southerland is not very good and I explained why I think that. I am not sure how that gets turned into a "complaint that our 8th man does not have enough talent."
I've not posted enough on this Board that anyone should know me from Adam, but over the last few years I've posted several times about the talent that was lining up for the 2011-12 and 2012-13 teams and disagreed with those who rejected the notion we'd be top 5 caliber during these 2 seasons b/c we were losing Rautins, Wes, Jackson, etc. The point is I've never been a glass half empty, doom and gloom type poster, in fact I do not even read this board after losses b/c some posts get so ridiculous in the sky is falling mentality. To the contrary, I think SU is experiencing an incredible run in recruiting and in being legit year after year. Obviously it has not yet resulted in the March results we'd like, partially due to bad luck and partially due to bad performances. But far from "complaining" about our talent level, I think its a great time for Syracuse basketball and a time to enjoy the extraordinary depth of talent they have and are continuing to bring in.
The simple point - again - is that that on a team that needs every reliable outside shooter it can get, the one guy who is on the floor largely for his outside shooting has shot so poorly. He not only misses wide open jumpers but often misses them badly. And its a huge advantage to be able to shoot curling off a screen, of course. So its not "so what?" Just like its a huge benefit to be able to pull up off the bounce. It does not matter how much surrounding talent there is. Rautins was surrounded by as much talent as Southerland is/will be, and that was an important part of his game, and one JB utilized often. The fact is that, to date, Southerland has not shown an ability to square up and shoot when on the run, or off the bounce. And given his unorthodox shooting style of stepping into the shot much more than most, its highly unlikely he will ever develop either ability. So, yes, if he hits them in practice like he apparently does when he has time to square up and step in, he probably will leave Syracuse known as a much better shooter then he's shown to date, but I will be very surprised if in the end he shows himself to be a shooter anywhere near Rautins' (or even Devendorf's) level.