Boehiem might not be excited....

[UD1954]

about Patterson's game but to me as offensively challenged as this team is gonna be, Boehiem better hope Patterson is the real deal. Rakeem is a role player being asked to do something[score] that's not in his nature.I'm expecting mixed results with him ...Cooney on the other hand is the best practice shooter I've ever seen...too bad practice's don't count for anything. I do believe Silent G will step his game up this year and be a team leader ... CM is playing for the NBA and Kaleb is going to be solid for a freshmen ...different from Ennis but solid...of the remaining roster I expect a transfer between Roberson and Johnson. jmho

 

[Eagles20]

I definitely agree on christmas, but i think he has a solid year. The main thing is that he will have more opportunities than ever to score on offense than ever before. He did seem to always get good position offensively, but just never had the ball thrown in to him. He has a pretty solid hook shot and if he can hit the close to mid range jumper he can easily average over 10 a game.

 

[Lawrinson14]

I disagree with the OP on Rakeem. I think he is a highly skilled player who has been underutilized on offense his whole career. When given the chance to be a go-to option, I think he will flourish.

 

[OttoMets]

I disagree with the OP on Rakeem. I think he is a highly skilled player who has been underutilized on offense his whole career. When given the chance to be a go-to option, I think he will flourish.

If given the chance, he'll flourish.

I'll believe it when I see it. But he's got a lot of offensive skills and surely has been underutilized.

 

[HOFCeluck]

I can't remember many players making jumps from Junior to Senior year aside from Demitris and Rick Jackson. We also for whatever reason don't get a lot of production from C...even when we had the nations leader in FG percentage. I've been wrong before (a lot) but I'll believe it when I see it.

 

[OttoMets]

I can't remember many players making jumps from Junior to Senior year aside from Demitris and Rick Jackson. We also for whatever reason don't get a lot of production from C...even when we had the nations leader in FG percentage. I've been wrong before (a lot) but I'll believe it when I see it.

Cue OttoMets:

If Syracuse's coaching staff doesn't want Arinze Onuaku to take 15 shots a game, we'll never see any real production from a Syracuse center.

 

[CaptainJ]

I contend it started to trend downhill after we lost our bigs coach, Bernie Fine. I do like what I've seen from RC25 so far, and am curious to see what he and whomever can do in the blocks vs ACC competition. I mean it isn't like Eric Montross is still around, right?

 

[SUintheVille]

I think Rak has an excellent year too. He is a senior and ready to lead on the court. With KJ at point who can drive and dish, Rak will be one of the recipients to take advantage or put back misses. He knows what it takes on the court and will be the cornerstone of the back line on O and D. He won't have to defer to CJ and Jeremy, or platoon as much with Keita. Rak is ready.

 

[RF2044]

I think Rak has an excellent year too. He is a senior and ready to lead on the court. With KJ at point who can drive and dish, Rak will be one of the recipients to take advantage or put back misses. He knows what it takes on the court and will be the cornerstone of the back line on O and D. He won't have to defer to CJ and Jeremy, or platoon as much with Keita. Rak is ready.

Me too. This will be the best production we have from a big since Rick's senior year. All of the elements are lining up.

And for the record, that could mean 8 and 8.

 

[Hoov50]

I can't remember many players making jumps from Junior to Senior year aside from Demitris and Rick Jackson. We also for whatever reason don't get a lot of production from C...even when we had the nations leader in FG percentage. I've been wrong before (a lot) but I'll believe it when I see it.

I think the lack of production is a result of the lack of getting the ball into the post. Our best centers, at least stat-wise, in the last 15-20 years did it with hustle, rebounds and put backs. Arinze Onuaku and Rick Jackson both dominated opposition the few times each game we got the ball to them in the post, yet it was only a few times a game. Even when we had Hakim Warrick, one of the best offensive players we have had in the post in the past 20 years, we would go 10-12 minute stretches without passing him the ball. I remember a game against Pitt in 2004 (I believe) when we were ahead by double digits, and Hakim was dominating down low on the offensive end of the court, yet we did not get the ball to him for the last 7:47 and ended up losing the game.

At almost all levels (with a few exceptions) it has become "not cool" to feed the post, whether it is lack of passing skills or just simply lack of trying, I am not sure. SU seems to fall into the category of thinking it's "not cool" to feed the post. Don't get me wrong I never wanted to be throwing it down low every single possession, but if a guy is dominating down low we sure as hell better keep getting him the ball, which we never seem to do.

If we get Christmas the ball and keep getting it to him, when match-ups dictate, I could see him averaging 12-14 points a game. If we only get him the ball sporadically, I could see him averaging 4-5 points a game. A center is not like the other positions on the court where they can make their own offense. Playing center requires work down low and teammates willing to pass the ball. I can't begin to count the number of times last season Christmas worked his butt off getting position for the first 4-5 minutes of the game and NO ONE even considered throwing him the ball. On the downer train for a second, Christmas did seem to stop working to get position after he realized he wasn't going to get the ball in some games.

 

[OrangeFoo]

What we need is an offensive coordinator to run our offense. The transformation Coach has made from being all about offense when he first started to being known for defense to the extent where the 2/3 zone is synonymous with Coach JB and Syracuse is astounding when you think about it. But it has left us in the position where we essentially have a defensive coordinator running the program. We need someone to come into the program with fresh ideas who will emphasize fundamentals on offense and do things like actually feed the post once in a while.

I said this last year and it looks like this year is no different but we are skewed as a program way too far to the defensive side of the pendulum in just about every way and it is really dragging our offense down. If Cooney can't hit the broadside of the barn but stays in the game because of his defense you have your answer as to what matters more to our coach. It's time for a complete reboot on offense like we have done on defense.

 

[orange79]

I can't remember many players making jumps from Junior to Senior year aside from Demitris and Rick Jackson. We also for whatever reason don't get a lot of production from C...even when we had the nations leader in FG percentage. I've been wrong before (a lot) but I'll believe it when I see it.

They did make huge jumps, but Danny Schayes tops this list. Especially in relation to what he showed in his first 3 years

 

[Cusefan0307]

What we need is an offensive coordinator to run our offense. The transformation Coach has made from being all about offense when he first started to being known for defense to the extent where the 2/3 zone is synonymous with Coach JB and Syracuse is astounding when you think about it. But it has left us in the position where we essentially have a defensive coordinator running the program. We need someone to come into the program with fresh ideas who will emphasize fundamentals on offense and do things like actually feed the post once in a while.

I said this last year and it looks like this year is no different but we are skewed as a program way too far to the defensive side of the pendulum in just about every way and it is really dragging our offense down. If Cooney can't hit the broadside of the barn but stays in the game because of his defense you have your answer as to what matters more to our coach. It's time for a complete reboot on offense like we have done on defense.

Read Jim Boeheim's book. We do have an offense. It has evolved over the years, to where our PG is in full control of decision making. We run a lot of the same sets Mike D'antoni used to run in Phoenix in the NBA. Our offense is simple. It puts our players in their strongest positions, and gives them freedom to create.

We don't run a motion offense, because as JB says in his book, he finds that the wrong people often end up taking shots in a motion offense because each player is interchangeable. Our offense is Point Guard centric, with good reason. Our point guards are often the most talented player on our team.

 

[orangecuse]

I can't remember many players making jumps from Junior to Senior year aside from Demitris and Rick Jackson. We also for whatever reason don't get a lot of production from C...even when we had the nations leader in FG percentage. I've been wrong before (a lot) but I'll believe it when I see it.

If I recall correctly, jumping jack Dave Johnson made a pretty big leap...

 

[orange2win]

I contend it started to trend downhill after we lost our bigs coach, Bernie Fine. I do like what I've seen from RC25 so far, and am curious to see what he and whomever can do in the blocks vs ACC competition. I mean it isn't like Eric Montross is still around, right?

While I think Bernie was a farce (no big man experience whatsoever), he learned on the job, and the program has suffered in his absence. I find it incredible that we have four coaches on staff, and all former SU guards. For some strange reason, JB has never seen a reason to retain specialized big man coaching talent (with a couple of brief exceptions). It has been a deficiency in his teams from day one.

 

[TBCuse11]

Read Jim Boeheim's book. We do have an offense. It has evolved over the years, to where our PG is in full control of decision making. We run a lot of the same sets Mike D'antoni used to run in Phoenix in the NBA. Our offense is simple. It puts our players in their strongest positions, and gives them freedom to create.

We don't run a motion offense, because as JB says in his book, he finds that the wrong people often end up taking shots in a motion offense because each player is interchangeable. Our offense is Point Guard centric, with good reason. Our point guards are often the most talented player on our team.

Point Guard U

 

[HOFCeluck]

They did make huge jumps, but Danny Schayes tops this list. Especially in relation to what he showed in his first 3 years

Sure. But we're going back to 1981 to find examples.

 

[Jamesvillecuse]

They did make huge jumps, but Danny Schayes tops this list. Especially in relation to what he showed in his first 3 years

well Danny Schayes went to J-D so that is to be expected! Go Red Rams!

 

[RF2044]

If I recall correctly, jumping jack Dave Johnson made a pretty big leap...

That was actually between his sophomore / junior year.

 

[Millhouse]

I disagree with the OP on Rakeem. I think he is a highly skilled player who has been underutilized on offense his whole career. When given the chance to be a go-to option, I think he will flourish.

i hope that boeheim gives him a little more rope this year. he doesn't seem to respond well to boeheim embarrassing him in front of everyone

 

[Bornorange]

I disagree with the OP on Rakeem. I think he is a highly skilled player who has been underutilized on offense his whole career. When given the chance to be a go-to option, I think he will flourish.

He has spent his career here with forwards who crowded the lane.
I want to see him play where he has more room to operate.

 

[Scotch]

I disagree with the OP on Rakeem. I think he is a highly skilled player who has been underutilized on offense his whole career. When given the chance to be a go-to option, I think he will flourish.

Underutilized? Since when has Boeheim gone away from bigs who would score? We force-fed Arinze and Rick the Ruler as the primary options in the offense during their careers.

Rak is a great athlete, good defense and solid rebounder, but let's not act like he's been some repressed offensive force? What's his go-to move? He's proven to be extremely limited in the post and an average finisher down low at best. I'm hopeful that will change this year.

 

[RF2044]

Underutilized? Since when has Boeheim gone away from bigs who would score? We force-fed Arinze and Rick the Ruler as the primary options in the offense during their careers.

Rak is a great athlete, good defense and solid rebounder, but let's not act like he's been some repressed offensive force? What's his go-to move? He's proven to be extremely limited in the post and an average finisher down low at best. I'm hopeful that will change this year.

Well...

Rak has demonstrated that he can hit hook shots with either hand. He has a solid mid-range jumper. He hits free throws.

Now, I'll be the first one to acknowledge that Rak's offensive contributions have had ZERO consistency. Some of that has to do with his tendency to drift through long stretches of games, some of it has to do with us not making a concerted effort to feed the post. But he HAS shown some skill. And I think he'll easily hit my prediction of 8 and 8 this year.

 

[KevMonstah]

SU hasn't focused on a low post offense in forever. Onuaku averaged, for his career,
just over 6 FGA per game, with just over 4 FGM, despite the fact he shot 64% from the
field (http://orangehoops.org/AOnuaku.htm). Even as seniors, neither him nor Rick
Jackson ever averaged 10 shots a game. You probably have to go back to Etan Thomas
as a senior, or even as far back as Seikaly to find a season where SU specifically looked
to the C for offense. And not just, "go get the rebounds and followup" offense, I'm talking
about real plays called for the center on a consistent basis. That has never been a facet
of a JB coached team.

If Rak is averaging 8-10 rebounds a game, he better be putting up more than 8 pts a
game; he'd get enough offensive rebounds for a few baskets a game, and that means
they still aren't looking down low enough for him.

Very rarely, you can see a play SU runs that actually works down low. Case in point:
against Indiana last year, Grant got the ball on the wing, and was patient enough to
allow Coleman to get into position and then hit him with a good pass. It sticks out
because it was so rare. You'd sometimes see the big guys (Keita, Rak, and early,
Coleman) looking hi-lo because they were looking out for each other, and they were
the only ones looking into the post.

Hope it changes this year, because one way to cure crappy shooting nights in the
35% range is to look for easier shots, and post offense can do that.

Kev

 

[moqui]

I don't think a Ricky Jackson like year is out of the question by any means - a little less on the raw points/rebounds totals maybe, but better on the efficiency side. and even better as a rim protector.

of course, I'm biased: Roc is my favorite player on this year's squad