Christmas

[HoustonCuse]

I realize I'm not saying anything earth shattering here, but what a joy it is to watch Rak play. He's not just putting up stats because there aren't a lot of other options, he's displaying amazing skill, strength, poise, and toughness. At this point he is seamlessly ambidextrous, he has great footwork and positioning, great hands, power finishes and finesse shots and a really nice FT stroke and 15 foot jumper. What a revelation this kid has been. Truly one of the great improvements we've ever seen or are likely to see.

Thanks for tube hard work Rakeem and coaches!

 

[Shark58]

he gone

 

[44cuse]

I realize I'm not saying anything earth shattering here, but what a joy it is to watch Rak play. He's not just putting up stats because there aren't a lot of other options, he's displaying amazing skill, strength, poise, and toughness. At this point he is seamlessly ambidextrous, he has great footwork and positioning, great hands, power finishes and finesse shots and a really nice FT stroke and 15 foot jumper. What a revelation this kid has been. Truly one of the great improvements we've ever seen or are likely to see. Thanks for tube hard work Rakeem and coaches!

Without question the highlight of the season. I was thinking the same thing today as a couple bricks were being launched by the younger guys. . Weird season...down year, but really really nice to see how Rak is playing/developing. Queue the "would have been nice if he did this last year" crowd because they will eventually come. Crush the joy out of anything positive an individual player does.

Poise (the kick from the post off one foot back out to Cooney top of key for the three), confidence, finishing strong with both hands, the 14 ft jumper...all fun to watch.

44cuse

 

[Cowtown]

No disagreement. The next growth step for him will be when he realizes he can't block every shot, and gets through the first half with less than 2 fouls. I like him, I'm glad he plays at SU. He's developed well. But he can get better, and the team needs him to. Especially the way it's looking with CM ...

 

[jec1521]

He's a grown man out there. That's for sure.

Now we know why he would get all upset last season when he didn't get the ball after working his butt off down low. I think a lot of his improvement is opportunity based.

 

[realorange]

I realize I'm not saying anything earth shattering here, but what a joy it is to watch Rak play. He's not just putting up stats because there aren't a lot of other options, he's displaying amazing skill, strength, poise, and toughness. At this point he is seamlessly ambidextrous, he has great footwork and positioning, great hands, power finishes and finesse shots and a really nice FT stroke and 15 foot jumper. What a revelation this kid has been. Truly one of the great improvements we've ever seen or are likely to see.

Thanks for tube hard work Rakeem and coaches!

Just think how good he could be if we had a big man coach.

 

[OttoMets]

I realize I'm not saying anything earth shattering here, but what a joy it is to watch Rak play. He's not just putting up stats because there aren't a lot of other options, he's displaying amazing skill, strength, poise, and toughness. At this point he is seamlessly ambidextrous, he has great footwork and positioning, great hands, power finishes and finesse shots and a really nice FT stroke and 15 foot jumper. What a revelation this kid has been. Truly one of the great improvements we've ever seen or are likely to see.

Thanks for tube hard work Rakeem and coaches!

Forgetting our selfish fandom and everything else, this team needs to win for Christmas. He deserves All American attention for this year (well, assuming he doesn't have too many more 12-30 streaks).

Best Syracuse center since Otis Hill. Maybe since Seikaly.

 

[Nicknack]

Forgetting our selfish fandom and everything else, this team needs to win for Christmas. He deserves All American attention for this year (well, assuming he doesn't have too many more 12-30 streaks).

Best Syracuse center since Otis Hill. Maybe since Seikaly.

I like your spirit but let's not get carried away. NO player or coach is bigger than the program (that obviously includes our HOF coach). He needs to play well for Syracuse, not the other way around. I would love to see him earn all kinds of accolades, but much more important is how well the team does. This is also coming for someone who absolutely loves Christmas.

 

[OttoMets]

I like your spirit but let's not get carried away. NO player or coach is bigger than the program (that obviously includes our HOF coach). He needs to play well for Syracuse, not the other way around. I would love to see him earn all kinds of accolades, but much more important is how well the team does. This is also coming for someone who absolutely loves Christmas.

No, I mean that it would be a shame if this average SU team has an NIT year because it would kind of waste a tremendous individual performance the likes of which we rarely see.

SU has a great center, what, once every two decades? We've got one now and he deserves some national awards. So his coaches and teammates need to get this group to the second weekend of the NCAAs and allow that to happen.

 

[NKR1978]

One of my biggest disappointments with our current staff has been the lack of development of big men.

Feels so good to be wrong about the staff and to see Rak just explode in ability this year. Guys like him are what makes it really fun to follow college basketball.

 

[ebucklewis]

One of my biggest disappointments with our current staff has been the lack of development of big men.

Feels so good to be wrong about the staff and to see Rak judt explode in ability this year. Guys like him are what makes it really fun to follow college basketball.

agree - and it's not just his play on the court - graduating early, going to grad school - truly great story

 

[MSOrange]

Forgetting our selfish fandom and everything else, this team needs to win for Christmas. He deserves All American attention for this year (well, assuming he doesn't have too many more 12-30 streaks).

Best Syracuse center since Otis Hill. Maybe since Seikaly.

What about Etan Thomas?

 

[OttoMets]

What about Etan Thomas?

So much more offensively skilled than Etan.

Also, there could be a bit of recency bias here, but I think a lot of our current players are better zone defenders than guys in the '80s and '90s. There are exceptions, of course, but more is expected of Syracuse defenders these days.

 

[stuckinbig11]

What I enjoy most is his attitude on defense: I OWN THIS TERRITORY !

 

[realorange]

So much more offensively skilled than Etan.

Also, there could be a bit of recency bias here, but I think a lot of our current players are better zone defenders than guys in the '80s and '90s. There are exceptions, of course, but more is expected of Syracuse defenders these days.

Many of the 80s and early 90s teams could put big numbers on the scoreboard. They didn't have to worry about defense quite as much. Plus a number of those teams played a fair amount of man to man.