Chance Westry / Portal from UAB
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sufandu
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Beats me. I suppose a bargain is what you pay for the 10th guy on the bench. Then if he outplays that, you get a steal.
SaveSUHoops
Walk On
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Seems like there is no Chance at a reunion here. Providence reaching out is interesting...
It appears Enis is not following Hodgson and I think it's possible Hodgson is really leaning into the positional size thing with him now being in the Big East.
capeorange
All Conference
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Sherman20
2018 Iggy Leading Scorer Winner
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Chance had a high ceiling. It’s really unfortunate what went down here. I always wanted to see what he could do when healthy. He obviously has suitors. Not sure why everyone is so negative about him. UAB is a decent program and he did well there.
RF2044
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It's pretty crazy how that first class Red brought in got everybody so excited, but almost all of them flamed out. This post is not intending to trash Red, just to look back on how things turned out for that class.
It IS important to note that as soon as he got the job, Red reeled in a bunch of guys that made it seem like he [and the staff] were bulldog recruiters, which was a welcome change given how the talent pool had dwindled toward the end under JB. Right out of the gate, here's who Red landed:
- Donnie Freeman -- McDonald's All American, Team Takeover guy who wasn't going to come here under JB, but we landed him as soon as Straughn was hired. This "get" suggested that not only was Straughn a top flight recruiter, but that we were poised to mine TTO talent moving forward.
- JJ Starling -- both a former McDonald's All American and a local kid, who snubbed his hometown school because he didn't want to play for JB. Had a so-so first year at Notre Dame, but came home for the change of scenery.
- Chance Westry -- a highly rated player we'd been linked to during the short-lived Dior debacle, but who eventually snubbed us for Auburn. Came off an injury, but was exciting to think that we landed a third top-flight caliber talent in this first incoming class.
- Kyle Cuffe -- a NYC high flyer who went to Kansas, and was looking for a fresh start after an injury plagued first two years. Unproven, but a fourth guy with an elite pedigree that made it seemed like Red was recruiting like gangbusters.
And then, to a lesser extent, the following two guys:
- Naheem McLeod -- a 7-4 athlete who could run, was big and strong, and offered a tantilizing potential for rim protection. With all these other scorers, he seemed like the perfect role player to make everyone say: "Jesse who?"
- William Patterson -- a 7-2 project, but one who one of the AC's [AG] hyped up during preseason practice before the 2023-2024 season.
But here is how things turned out [these are my opinions only -- I invite debate from anyone who sees things differently] -- because I don't think any of these players delivered much:
- Freeman -- injured both years in Orange. Impressive blend of athleticism / perimeter skill, but he was a big guy who shied away from inside play. Basically, played only a bit more than one full season @ Syracuse, and is transferring out before actualizing his potential. Syracuse had losing seasons both of the years he was here, so he never improved the team and never pushed us into postseason play.
- Starling -- class act, good student, and nice kid -- but he proved to be damaged goods. Never shot the ball consistently due to lingering shoulder problems [a big issue for a shooting guard], and got the yips his senior year at the FT line. Was here for three seasons, we had losing records the last two, and never lived up to the McD's AA hype. Unfortunately, also never made the NCAA tournament in any of his four collegiate seasons.
- Westry -- colossal bust at Syracuse. Never scored a single point, was often injured, and had alleged off the court issues. Transferred down a level to UAB, and had a good year that could position him for a jump back up. But for all of the excitement surrounding his transfer to SU, he delivered ZERO.
- Cuffe -- hard worker defensively, and he could really dunk... but that's about all he produced. Classic 'tweener -- too small to be a SG [his natural position] in the ACC, lacked any semblance of playmaking needed to be a PG. Transferred down a level to Mercer, and averaged a career high 7.3 ppg last year, on 39% FG shooting. Given the Kansas / Syracuse pedigree, he seems like a borderline bust.
- McLeod -- started, quickly got injured, then barely played his entire second year. Despite the physical tools and solid athleticism / strength for a guy his size, he couldn't put it together. Barely made a dent at three collegiate stops. Another bust.
- Patterson -- Redshirted, didn't see the floor, transferred down a level to New Orleans, averaged 0.3 points for them this past year, only appearing in 7 games. While he was considered a project with solid athleticism coming out of HS, he is also clearly a bust.
So to recap:
- We brought in TWO McDonald's all americans, plus two 4-stars from premier programs [Kansas and Auburn, respectively] yet failed to make an NCAA tournament, while posting two consecutive losing seasons
- Despite the immense potential of several of these guys, not one of them lived up to the billing
- Freeman -- whose camp reportedly viewed him as a potential one-and-done -- didn't scratch the surface of his potential, and his NBA prospects seem tenuous at best.
- JJ was the leading scorer on a lousy team his junior year, and regressed as a senior. Great kid who put up decent numbers, but these were often mainly garbage stats. His game did not translate into helping the team win, and he was a horrendous defender.
- Westry literally produced nothing for Syracuse.
- Cuffe was ok as a reserve, but was subpar... as his transfer to Mercer has proven.
- McLeod's contributions were negligible.
- Patterson can't even contribute at New Orleans.
Epilogue: on paper, Red's first class seemed to be a sign that our moribund recruiting days were over, and that he and the staff were going to bring top flight talent to the hill again. Some of it is due to injuries, maybe some also due to bad luck, but this class had a shockingly low impact on program success. In fact, the failings of the last few years are in no small part attributable to some of these players being busts.
And it isn't just the poor head coaching. For all of the accolades for Straughn -- and keep in mind that when he arrived, people were calling him a bulldog recruiter who was going to be able to go head-to-head with any program and help Syracuse reel in top flight talent -- were vastly overblown.
Even that first year, and again the next year, we were linked to several prominent former TTO players who were at big time programs, and were looking to transfer. Several of them DID consider Syracuse, at least on paper, but in actuality only used us as leverage to secure bigger NIL deals from either the school they were already attending, or other bigger programs that they eventually landed out. The only TTO prospect we landed from Straughn was Donnie, who failed to produce.
Probably, the "best" recruit we landed under Red was Sadiq White -- and I readily acknowledge that it is too premature to declare that. Its also more of a commentary on the other recruits / transfers we landed during the three year Red era than it is about White's production to date.