Do any of the freshman start?

[NYCorange]

I follow your logic, but Roberson weighs 205 pounds soaking wet [or at least he did last year]. There is no way he has the size required to play the pivot defensively in our zone.

Hopefully he's hit the weight room hard. At 220 pounds, with his nose for the ball, I could see him being a dominant rebounder and tough inside scorer. But everything else being equal, I have a tough time envisioning him even playing one minute at the 5.

I totally agree. I don't think it's a good idea. But for me, it's all to easy to imagine Boeheim wanting the "safety" of Roberson at the 5 over the likely growing pains of Obokoh and Diagne.

 

[Madbiker]

KJ is going to start dispelling a lot of these opinions from those who've written him off prematurely. I'm expecting a fairly substantial sophomore jump in productivity / effeciveness.

I hope so. But if the staff was confident about KJ I don't think they would be recruiting high level 2016 PGs like Simmons, Gilbert, and now Huerter. Seems to indicate they have doubts about KJ.

 

[Orange2389]

Howard
Cooney
G
Roberson
Coleman

 

[reedny]

To be completely honest, if Coleman can't go, I wouldn't be surprised to see Roberson start at the 5. It's probably not ideal, but it feels like something Boeheim might do because he doesn't trust anyone else on D. Then Diagne/Lydon would have to man the 4. I'd probably prefer that he sacrifice optimal D against the cupcakes to try and get Diagne/Obokoh up to speed at the 5, but I'm not sure he'd let that happen.

at 6-7, 205, Roberson's already a stretch at "PF". Why would you want a player with SF size playing in the middle of the zone (besides desperation)?

 

[NYCorange]

at 6-7, 205, Roberson's already a stretch at "PF". Why would you want a player with SF size playing in the middle of the zone (besides desperation)?

Sure, but do any of us think it unlikely that Boeheim would prefer an undersized, experienced player at the most important position in the zone over a less experienced/taller player (i.e. Obokoh or Diagne)? History tells us that Boeheim values experience and consistency very, very highly.

 

[reedny]

Sure, but do any of us think it unlikely that Boeheim would prefer an undersized, experienced player at the most important position in the zone over a less experienced/taller player (i.e. Obokoh or Diagne)? History tells us that Boeheim values experience and consistency very, very highly.

I don't see it, but either way, this is the reason some of us are sweating (profusely) the front line situation this year.

Also, just a pet peeve, but "any" is singular. It's also incorrectly used in the plural (elective determiner/quantifier) sense in the OP.

 

[SWC75]

I think G-man is better for us at the '3' but he wants to play the point because he won't be an NBA '3' and playing the point here will help him get into the NBA.

 

[OttoMets]

Coleman - Very little chance Diagne starts imo. If Coleman isn't healthy, Chino has played/practiced for two years now. I am not sure Diagne would just jump into our toughest defensive assignment over Obokoh.
...

This - spot-on. It's not the popular prediction right now, but Obokoh's got a huge advantage in that he's healthy and experienced. And Boeheim favors the latter over virtually any skill-related attribute.

If Coleman's not able to play, we're going to see lots of the young man who shoots 70% from the floor and moves with concrete shoes.

 

[cuseincincy]

I have Coony, KJ, Silent G, Roberson, and Coleman starting. If that happens the bench will be very young. I know some might find away for Richardson to start but I would start Lydon and bring Roberson off the bench so that our bench can have a little experience. What do you guys think?

There is very little I am sure of but one of them is that Roberson will NOT come off the bench so the bench has more experience.

 

[reedny]

This - spot-on. It's not the popular prediction right now, but Obokoh's got a huge advantage in that he's healthy and experienced. And Boeheim favors the latter over virtually any skill-related attribute.

If Coleman's not able to play, we're going to see lots of the young man who shoots 70% from the floor and moves with concrete shoes.

Three reasons I agree:

1. Obokoh played last year when Rak ran into fouls, and although he got whistled frequently, he was not a disaster (actually showing some moxie on the boards). I expect him to play a lot smarter this year as he gets PT;

2. Not sure about Obokoh (who's from the Rochester area), but Tee actually goes to see a lot of these kids play in person. This is invaluable context, and includes the competition level, the officiating, hard-to-quantify attributes like being a "smooth" athlete, using both hands, etc...; and

3. Tee is the mack-shizzle.

 

[OttoMets]

Three things:

1. Obokoh played last year when Rak ran into fouls, and although he got whistled frequently, he was not a disaster (actually showing some moxie on the boards). I expect him to play a lot smarter this year as he gets PT;

2. Not sure about Obokoh (who's from the Rochester area), but Tee actually goes to see a lot of these kids play in person. This is invaluable context, and includes the competition level, the officiating, hard-to-quantify attributes like being a "smooth" athlete, using both hands, etc...; and

3. Tee is the mack-shizzle.

I liked that Obokoh is consistent in keeping the ball high after an offensive rebound. He was physically slow and looked confused at times, but he's got some tools to be a fine center for us (keeping in mind that we look to our center for offense about once a decade, and we've already used up that season this decade).

 

[jordoo]

I liked that Obokoh is consistent in keeping the ball high after an offensive rebound. He was physically slow and looked confused at times, but he's got some tools to be a fine center for us (keeping in mind that we look to our center for offense about once a decade, and we've already used up that season this decade).

The game is changing offensively though. Its going to get harder and harder to play guys who aren't at least some type of offensive threat. I think you need to have multiple shooters, handlers and passers out there at all times and the more the better. Your post needs to be able to take advantage of the spread floor and ball movement. I think Obokoh will be fine as a backup center if needed this year as he was at least showing signs of understanding where to be on defense and as noted he did go after the rebounds pretty well.

 

[reedny]

I liked that Obokoh is consistent in keeping the ball high after an offensive rebound. He was physically slow and looked confused at times, but he's got some tools to be a fine center for us (keeping in mind that we look to our center for offense about once a decade, and we've already used up that season this decade).

Exactly, DC2 is one-thing (8-10 ppg?). With Obokoh, you're not looking for offense (except put-backs/dunks); just defend the rim, come out on penetrators (and pray the forwards remember to pinch in), and fly to the weak side corner for shooters.

 

[Cusefan0307]

The game is changing offensively though. Its going to get harder and harder to play guys who aren't at least some type of offensive threat. I think you need to have multiple shooters, handlers and passers out there at all times and the more the better. Your post needs to be able to take advantage of the spread floor and ball movement. I think Obokoh will be fine as a backup center if needed this year as he was at least showing signs of understanding where to be on defense and as noted he did go after the rebounds pretty well.

Agreed. I thought this killed is in 12-13 when we went to the final four and 13-14 when we lost in the first round. Both years we played 4 on 5 with Rak/Keita just in there screening for shooters, finishing layups/dunks, or playing defense. They literally did nothing on offense unless they caught it 2 feet from the basket.

It's refreshing to see us go after skilled bigs like Lydon/Diagne, and one reason I would love us to add Huerter to this years class even if we get Battle. You never can have to much offensive firepower, and the two best teams on offense last year made the National Title game.

 

[reedny]

Agreed. I thought this killed is in 12-13 when we went to the final four and 13-14 when we lost in the first round. Both years we played 4 on 5 with Rak/Keita just in there screening for shooters, finishing layups/dunks, or playing defense. They literally did nothing on offense unless they caught it 2 feet from the basket.

It's refreshing to see us go after skilled bigs like Lydon/Diagne, and one reason I would love us to add Huerter to this years class even if we get Battle. You never can have to much offensive firepower, and the two best teams on offense last year made the National Title game.

Totally agree (inside balance is necessary, and the lack of it doomed us to failure 2 years ago). That said, we can't expect much offense from a backup like Obokoh. DC2, on the other hand, needs to be a scoring threat. Not sure about his legs, but he HAS the bb IQ to score or pass out of a double.

 

[tee1222]

Three reasons I agree:

1. Obokoh played last year when Rak ran into fouls, and although he got whistled frequently, he was not a disaster (actually showing some moxie on the boards). I expect him to play a lot smarter this year as he gets PT;

2. Not sure about Obokoh (who's from the Rochester area), but Tee actually goes to see a lot of these kids play in person. This is invaluable context, and includes the competition level, the officiating, hard-to-quantify attributes like being a "smooth" athlete, using both hands, etc...; and

3. Tee is the mack-shizzle.

Wait...word?

Serious. Much thanks bud, I appreciate that.

 

[two3zone]

Three reasons I agree:

1. Obokoh played last year when Rak ran into fouls, and although he got whistled frequently, he was not a disaster (actually showing some moxie on the boards). I expect him to play a lot smarter this year as he gets PT;

2. Not sure about Obokoh (who's from the Rochester area), but Tee actually goes to see a lot of these kids play in person. This is invaluable context, and includes the competition level, the officiating, hard-to-quantify attributes like being a "smooth" athlete, using both hands, etc...; and

If Obokoh wasn't a disaster I'm not sure what would define disaster. He's not a good basketball player.

 

[Orange2389]

obokah has to go imo. no room for a project. frankly maybe these sanctions will push SU in the right direction regarding recruits. that is recruiting only the best of the best and no more project kids. I still think the best kid from this class will be howard.

 

[orangefan13]

One thing that just jumped in my mind today about Cooney.

Cooney is more of a go around his defender and pull up like Gmac/Dnic type of shooter.
Where guys like Devendorf/Scoop/Rautins/Wes Johnson/MCW were likely to pull up while they were facing their defender straight on.

I am just curious where does this thinking come from?
Sometimes I wonder if this is a psychologoical thing some shooters struggle with. You look at the great NBA scorers of the old days and you see they would prefer to pull up with a man right in front of them, it was second nature to them. Even power forwards and centers.

Comparing Cooney to two other shooting guards.
I wonder if Rautins ability to throw the ball into the low post from outside helped his one on one shooting game. I remember against butler for example us putting Wes in the low post and as as soon as we did rautins started scoring in the second half from outside and rifled the ball into wes into the low post to score (then we didn't stick with it :bang. I don't think Cooney will ever develop that but it would be something to atleast attempt over the summer maybe.

And I think back to Devendorf he would drive right from the three point line and finish so well with that left around the backboard from 6-8 feet out. Cooney early on in the season last year really,really started to drive more from the perimeter especially going left, and taking it all the way to the rim, but as the season went on that is much tougher to score off of, espeically going parrallel instead of perpidicular along the baseline. Triche and Dion would attack right into the lane.

Anyway, Devendorf has maybe 1 inch on Cooney and I do not believe he was faster then cooney or had a much better handle. But his desire and ability to take his man right into the lane and finish with the left hand high off the backboard would be something that cooney could work on more over the summer maybe. Not to mention something that could also really really help Malachi and Howards Games.