Class of 2020 C Mounir Hima (NJ) Transfer from Duquesne/COMMITTED TO SYRACUSE

[bigmike]

The only thing we know for sure is we’ll know what this young man brings after some time has passed, say 2 years. For now, I’m a believer that he will be a productive addition.

 

[Orangezoo]

I agree on Wright. He denied it, but I think the changing landscape of college athletics and the constant turnover is one of the reasons he began thinking about retirement. He probably figured it would be a challenge to keep his consistency going with the portal, NIL, all the player movement and the money flying around the P5 football schools. At some point, it’s like, who wants to deal with all that in your 60s? Let some younger hungry coach figure out the new way forward.

Wright was very much a family issue. That isn't conjecture.

 

[50YRsofCuse]

it is really is simple. Syracuse had a backup center, then they didn’t then they tried for one and didn’t get one and finally they tried again and got one.

Anyone know why Hima left the Duquesne team? What reason: playing time or future opportunities or academics (looking to improve on his academic skills at a more prominent university)?

 

[newmexicuse]

At what point, after 8 years of mediocrity, is "you just have to trust the staff" not an acceptable answer?

This kid might end up being the next Chukwu. He might be Chinoso Obokoh. Or he might be the next Etan Thomas. I don't know.

But what I do know is that given the evidence and information we have, he isn't very good. You can polish it up however you want to polish it, but the data I have suggests this is not a good pickup.

I have been on record many times in terms of being critical about the staff. Lot's of issues, you are absolutely correct as far as that goes.

Many of the issues concern types of D, types of O being run, rotations, nepotism, and favoritism etc. In terms of recruiting too many misses or too many blue chips that never seem to get on campus. Too many kids that go the portal route who were good players. Jimmy being too stubborn and set in his ways. I could go on and on.

But in the case we are talking about a backup center. Seems to me the staff has done pretty well in that regard, eg, BMK, Chuk, Jesse, Frank, Sid, etc. Gotta be fair when the staff does things right.

 

[ORRange]

Well now John Bol will have someone to fool around with on the bench.

 

[MadNY3]

He took starting role by end of the year so improved and did not struggle to get on floor

…and still averaged 14 minutes total in aggregate.

This kid is not a double-digit minute contributor in the near term.

 

[PauliePeppas]

Welcome big fella

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

that off-season i advocated for a euro center

I think euro centers should be the target

NBA MVP is euro center...usually very skilled and can shoot

Late starter former soccer players

 

[althea]

Anyone know why Hima left the Duquesne team? What reason: playing time or future opportunities or academics (looking to improve on his academic skills at a more prominent university)?

I think he wanted a better nickname and he knew he would get one from this forum. Or maybe he didn't like living in a city where Pitt panthers reside. Don't blame him actually.

 

[DaveT]

The thing is, you can get good quick if you are fully invested in doing it.

Look at the transformation from 2002 to 2003. We made the NIT, then won the national title.

Recruiting, recruiting, recruiting. This class could be good in 2-3 years. But with the landscape of college basketball, who is going to stay at the same school 2-3 years to develop a good team?

That team construct is more the outlier now than it was before. Don't you wonder why Jay Wright up and retired this year?

This is the real issue. Forget a backup center he is fine, green but fine. How is a team this young going to win 20+ games in the ACC? Answer me that and I'll feel great about next year. Now I am feeling like 15-16 record is a stretch. NCAA be damned. And how many kids will hit the portal next year, 4 or 6? Why do we spend so much effort on HS recruiting? It is a 2010 game plan. The portal is the place to build your team. I do love what UNC has.

 

[OrangeDW]

Maybe we should've ditched Benny after his freshman year, or Sunderland or Christmas. You get the point.

Christmas had an 8 point 11 board game for an elite 8 team in the tourney when we needed him, so struggling a bit to play and get the ball for much of the season on a 34-3 team with Fab Melo, Fair, Southerland, Keita is a little different. He was capable, we were just extremely loaded.

This is the real issue. Forget a backup center he is fine, green but fine. How is a team this young going to win 20+ games in the ACC? Answer me that and I'll feel great about next year. Now I am feeling like 15-16 record is a stretch. NCAA be damned.

I think this team “could” win 20 vs. last years ACC. They’d simply have to match last years team in 99.9% of aspects, and then be able to inbound the ball against pressure, and there’s 20.

Will next years ACC be that weak again?

 

[DaveT]

Christmas had an 8 point 11 board game for an elite 8 team in the tourney when we needed him, so struggling a bit to play and get the ball for much of the season on a 34-3 team with Fab Melo, Fair, Southerland, Keita is a little different. He was capable, we were just extremely loaded.

I think this team “could” win 20 vs. last years ACC. They’d simply have to match last years team in 99.9% of aspects, and then be able to inbound the ball against pressure, and there’s 20.

Will next years ACC be that weak again?

I do love having point guards. I hope you are right about 20+. I am doubtful but hopeful.

 

[CardiacCuse]

This is the real issue. Forget a backup center he is fine, green but fine. How is a team this young going to win 20+ games in the ACC? Answer me that and I'll feel great about next year. Now I am feeling like 15-16 record is a stretch. NCAA be damned. And how many kids will hit the portal next year, 4 or 6? Why do we spend so much effort on HS recruiting? It is a 2010 game plan. The portal is the place to build your team. I do love what UNC has.

this team will be so much better than last yer imo...it will surprise people

for one, the defense will not be as if playing with cement shoes on...whch if I have to explain how huge that is...dont know what to tell ya...

for two, joe = buddy at SG 9maybe even better), Jesse will be even better. There's an actual PG on the team. Symir will be hungry and got so much better towards the end of last season. The offense will be better too. People are petrified of the forward spot but all they need to bring is energy and fire - and they will.

for 3, the schedule is about to be a lot easier.

I expect an easy 20 win year.

 

[OrangeDW]

I do love having point guards. I hope you are right about 20+. I am doubtful but hopeful.

Notice I said against last years ACC….which was terrible. I don’t know if the league will be that down again. But we threw away a good 3-4-5 games that we had in hand simply because we couldn’t inbound the ball, handle it against pressure, and then make FT’s. I think we’ll be better in that aspect this year, so if the league is otherwise similar I can see us being better at bringing games home(games that would’ve been wins like 99% of the time in previous SU seasons).

We’ll see.

I’m excited to have two guards on the floor who can handle it. Hoping Joe and Symir take their games to a different level and that Mintz is like Ennis/Flynn/Devendorf/GMac level for a freshman guard, and combined with a stud Center and some athletic forwards can get us 20 W’s.

 

[OmahaCuse]

Would not say ACC was terrible. We lost 3 to Duke, 2 to UNC, 2 to Miami. ND had a nice run. Wake got jobbed.

 

[Zelda Zonk]

I’m oddly fine with this pickup. When the alternative expectation was ‘nobody,’ I’m not sure how anyone could object.

I am (still) learning not to trust highlight tape, but it does give you an idea of how someone moves, and the confidence they have in executing certain plays. That said, I saw some really nice stuff in his video. Just taking some of those shots, the form, and the decisiveness—a lot of that was better than what we saw from Frank.

And in the GW full game… he moves well, is active, and when he challenges shots, he makes them very difficult for the offensive player. He’s big and relatively agile. Coordinated. In a way that makes Frank look awkward. Whether that translates to actual effectiveness over Frank is another story, but he doesn’t look like a stiff or a gawky kid. This was his freshman year, and after only 4 years of playing the game, I can see reason for optimism. Plus, playing (mostly?) zone, he‘ll look different as a defender and I can see that kind of structure benefiting him.

I‘m discounting his team’s suckitude. We had Jesse on a sucky team—doesn’t mean the kid himself is the reason why. And, again—Freshman. If you didn’t know who was who and could ignore the uniforms, I’d suggest he looks better as a frosh than Frank did, even factoring competition.

I‘m anticipating Jesse being less foul-prone with another year’s experience, and with more respect from refs. I hope Hima’s minutes come from resting Jesse strategically. And I hope this frees My Boy Carey to concentrate on playing the 4. Hima shouldn’t block him.

Yeah, it would have been nice to get a strong 6’9” power forward, who scored 15ppg at a ‘lesser‘ school, who could do 5 in a pinch, but JB has been talking to the recruited class, and got them with certain expectations. I’m fine with honoring that. Maybe that, sadly, is because I no longer think of our program the way I used to, and next year seems like a lark anyway? I just hope it’s the last lark and we get back to loftier demands and expectations.

 

[Orangefizz]

It’s lazy by JB. Went to what he knows, St. Benedict’s.

Hopefully JB’s lazy recruiting gets us 2 rising Seniors from Brewster too

 

[Day2]

G-Max? Is this a new & improved version of GMac?
Coach Reid? mmmkay?

Clearly this kid got help from SUAD with this announcement.

Or Len Elmore.

 

[DoctorBombay]

It always amazes me how many definitive statements are spouted by fans. We don’t know what we have here for another couple of years. And just like w/ Jesse, they’ll be those self appointed “experts”
spouting their now-familiar verbal diarrhea, like they have the inside track on what's gonna happen in the future.
If we asked anyone here whether they’d take Jesse on their team today, to a man they’d say yes. Yet 2 years ago, that answer would’ve been totally different.
We don’t know what we have with this kid. But if you trust the staff’s track record, then respectfully, you should s t fkf up, and wait for it all to play out.
The same people cheering on Jesse as an all ACC center, were calling him a waste of space 2 years ago.
The hypocrisy, shortsightedness, and negativity, is frankly mind boggling. JMHO

 

[Zelda Zonk]

Or Len Elmore.

If I ever encounter that man, I will address him as Ben Elwood.
Cuz, “that’s what you get!”

 

[newmexicuse]

this team will be so much better than last yer imo...it will surprise people

for one, the defense will not be as if playing with cement shoes on...whch if I have to explain how huge that is...dont know what to tell ya...

for two, joe = buddy at SG 9maybe even better), Jesse will be even better. There's an actual PG on the team. Symir will be hungry and got so much better towards the end of last season. The offense will be better too. People are petrified of the forward spot but all they need to bring is energy and fire - and they will.

for 3, the schedule is about to be a lot easier.

I expect an easy 20 win year.

Good points and good post, but if Benny doesn’t make the jump I think we struggle again.

 

[orangejunkie]

I'm surprised there is so much questioning and negativity about landing Hima. We are several weeks into the portal openings. We reached out to one player that didn't work out and passed on others in the portal. As soon as Hima entered the portal they moved quickly with an invite, visit, and offer. Reports of the frequency of discussions with his HS coach show the commitment and value that they see in Hima. Have to trust their judgement on this one.

The other thing that has not been mentioned is that bringing in Hima will likely not scare away other higher rated centers that we might be looking at for 2023.

 

[OrangeinDC]

I'm surprised there is so much questioning and negativity about landing Hima. We are several weeks into the portal openings. We reached out to one player that didn't work out and passed on others in the portal. As soon as Hima entered the portal they moved quickly with an invite, visit, and offer. Reports of the frequency of discussions with his HS coach show the commitment and value that they see in Hima. Have to trust their judgement on this one.

The other thing that has not been mentioned is that bringing in Hima will likely not scare away other higher rated centers that we might be looking at for 2023.

This!

 

[Orangezoo]

This!

Maybe... I don't know if we can count on that assumption anymore regardless of ( fill in anything).

 

[CardiacCuse]

Good points and good post, but if Benny doesn’t make the jump I think we struggle again.

i think there will actually be enough scoring regardless of what happens with benny.

judah has to be as advertised, but I expect he is.

between jesse, joe and judah...thats upgrades at PG, SG and C, imo...and a ton of scoring.

plus im pretty sure some of bunch, taylor, etc will be able to do something. ALL of the incoming players wont be zeroes across the board...

But sure if Benny makes the leap...it will take this team to a high level (just like it wouldve last season)