Does anybody still think Edwards...

[sugrad68]

Unfortunately that’s not saying much at all.

Lol. I agree but what I meant is the upside for Edwards could be huge. A center without hands of stone and can defend.

 

[Alsacs]

This needs to posted a lot.
Listen to what the freaking opponent said coach Boeheim.

 

[Scooch]

This needs to posted a lot.
Listen to what the freaking opponent said coach Boeheim.

What does that guy know? Is he at SU practice every day?!?!

 

[RF2044]

It’s crazy ppl are acting like Edwards should have been starting all year. He’s had a few moments here and there but the JE we saw out there tonight looked like a much different player than earlier in the year. Let’s hope he’s turned a corner here because if he has that solves a lot of issues for us.

Just stop.

This board has an incredibly poor track record of gauging player's potential and where it is on their respective developmental curves, and posts like yours are no exception.

Nobody said "start." But in a year where we ***** lost our starting center 4 minutes into the season, and in a year where we're starting a 195 pound forward in the pivot, and get dominated repeatedly inside -- the notion that this kid couldn't have contributed doesn't just ring hollow, it is ASININE.

He's played significant minutes in three games this year. In all three, he's performed well. He jut had a major, major role in helping us defeat blue chip North Carolina today, a team that has consistently destroyed us inside, and he made a massive contribution to tonight's win.

Time for some to quit rationalizing. Nobody is saying he should start. But people also should quit buying into the coach's rhetoric. Is the player we've seen the last few games someone who isn't capable of contributing 6 - 8 minutes per game, in a RESERVE capacity?

C'mon.

 

[RF2044]

He had chances repeatedly. He had the ball poked out of his hands numerous times, was never strong with the ball and not very aggressive. He looked like a much different player tonight than earlier in the season. To say the JE we saw out there tonight was the same guy we’ve seen lol season is just not true.

Complete and utter BS.

Nobody is saying he's perfect, that he's not physically undersized, that he's starting caliber, etc.

The threshold for backup center should be: requisite mobility, use the five fouls, rebound some, contest some shots. He isn't capable of doing those things? BS. He's been capable of that from the beginning, despite the limitations.

And the limitations have been overblown on this forum, including by you.

Guess what's he's dispelling? The notion that he can't rebound, the notion that he can't be a physical defensive presence because he's skinny, the notion that he doesn't keep rebounds up high, the notion that he can't finish with authority, the notion that he's just a warm body.

Anything else?

6 - 8 minutes per game. Maybe more, if he earns it any given night -- like he did against GT and like he did today. The notion that he isn't capable of delivering AT LEAST that in a backup capacity is, frankly, completley false.

And please note, I fully understand that he isn't a great player, that he doesn't have limitations, etc.

But then please note that we're starting a 195 SF in the pivot who can't stop ANYBODY inside.

 

[OrangeinDC]

Complete and utter BS.

Nobody is saying he's perfect, that he's not physically undersized, that he's starting caliber, etc.

The threshold for backup center should be: requisite mobility, use the five fouls, rebound some, contest some shots. He isn't capable of doing those things? BS. He's been capable of that from the beginning, despite the limitations.

And the limitations have been overblown on this forum, including by you.

Preach!!

 

[kirbivore]

I’m not dismissing that at all. I’m sure he’s better now than he was 3 months ago and is more ready.

But there were many games where 40 minutes of Marek wasn’t going to work. He couldn’t have played 5-10?

Why does it have to be from 0 minutes to 20+ minutes?

I think JB is diabolical enough that he trying to set Jesse up to fail vs the roughest front line in the league so the old man could say I told you so if Jesse struggled. Jesse shoved it back in coach’s face

 

[Consigliere]

40 minutes of Marek at the 5 was never a good strategy. I almost think there were too many options to backup Sidibe so no one got force fed. And not having a real pre conference schedule to experiment with lineups didn’t help. Let’s keep in mind that right, wrong or indifferent Jesse might have been the fifth option at center at the beginning of the year behind Sidibe, Anselem, Dolezaj and Ajak. There is a reason the coaching staff, Jesse and his family all agreed to a redshirt before the Pandemic and NCAA made it moot.

 

[RF2044]

40 minutes of Marek at the 5 was never a good strategy. I almost think there were too many options to backup Sidibe so no one got force fed. And not having a real pre conference schedule to experiment with lineups didn’t help. Let’s keep in mind that right, wrong or indifferent Jesse might have been the fifth option at center at the beginning of the year behind Sidibe, Anselem, Dolezaj and Ajak. There is a reason the coaching staff, Jesse and his family all agreed to a redshirt before the Pandemic and NCAA made it moot.

Just imagine if maybe he'd gotten some more developmental PT -- because he ISN'T a finished product by any means -- prior to this week.

By the way, starters sometimes have off-games. Everybody [most posters?] recognize that Kadary has the tools to be a game changer, but even he doesn't bring it every game -- which is exactly what you'd expect from a young, inexperienced player. Nobody is suggesting that Jesse will be great [relatively speaking, he was "great" tonight, given the limited role expectations] -- but we HAVE had a massive need for an inside presence on BOTH ends of the floor from game 1, when Sidibe went down.

Does anyone honestly think that this kid couldn't have contributed? I'm not saying play "great" -- the barometer is CONTRIBUTE, in a reserve capacity? Or that he might not be further along, if he'd played more consistently? Or that we might have had some different outcomes if he's played a little more, and helped alleviate the team's PRIMARY defensive weakness?

I view Jesse as primarily a better offensive player than a defensive one -- and thus, kind of a misfit in how we use our "project" bigs. But the last couple of games, we've seen a guy who can get rebounds [and has had some poked away, granted -- no surprise, because he isn't strong]. We've seen a guy who can contest shots, who keeps his hands up and stops guys when they drive, seen a guy who's had some big blocks.

We've also seen a guy -- to my point about his offensive skills -- who finishes with authority. And admittedly also makes some mistakes. Which I chalk up to inexperience, and the aforementioned lack of strength. But c'mon -- what if this guy played 6 - 10 minutes per game, and then you roll with him more if he contributes, and don't if he doesn't play well? Does anybody honestly believe that he couldn't have helped us this year, based upon the three games [Miami, GT, UNC] where he played significant minutes and PRODUCED?

 

[tbonezone]

40 minutes of Marek at the 5 was never a good strategy. I almost think there were too many options to backup Sidibe so no one got force fed. And not having a real pre conference schedule to experiment with lineups didn’t help. Let’s keep in mind that right, wrong or indifferent Jesse might have been the fifth option at center at the beginning of the year behind Sidibe, Anselem, Dolezaj and Ajak. There is a reason the coaching staff, Jesse and his family all agreed to a redshirt before the Pandemic and NCAA made it moot.

wait a sec. we are repeatedly told as fans that we don't see these players every day in practice therefore we are clueless. so our coaching staff sees these kids every day in practice and they are clueless as well ? somebody who's job it is to know better than us is missing something more obvious. .

 

[CuseFaninVT]

He came to SU as a very raw recruit who played on the IMG "B" team. He was abroad until early in the semester when his visa came through. Not sure he had any training regimen in Holland before he arrived in the fall. Also, for what ever reason, Jon Bol seemed to be Boeheim's #2 center based on practices and Edward's questionable play.

No need to blame the coaching staff here, we should just be happy he's starting to emerge as a legit big man who may help us win a game or two down the stretch. Huge credit to what ever assistant coach works with the bigs. I'm more in the camp of those that think he wasn't playing due to not being ready not some belief that JB just didn't see his obvious talent.

The future is definitely brighter at the center position and we haven't seen what a year of redshirting may do for the 3rd center. Boeheim has repeatedly said "he's not ready" so have to accept that as a fact.

Plenty of video on here showing Jesse got more run over the summer than most of our other guys.

 

[SUOrangeSU]

How this is even a debatable topic is beyond me? He should have been getting time all year. No one is saying he average 35mpg but come on

 

[jdubs30]

Just listened to the presser - clearly isn’t still bought in on Jesse

 

[upperdeck]

first game in his career that he played tough the whole time he was out there.. he has some nice tools on offense.. he just needs some body to go with the tools.. he fought through every ball tonight.

 

[EnviroSciGuy]

This needs to posted a lot.
Listen to what the freaking opponent said coach Boeheim.

Oh c'mon, Bacot is just trying to be a properly devious opponent and trick JB.

 

[RF2044]

How this is even a debatable topic is beyond me? He should have been getting time all year. No one is saying he average 35mpg but come on

Spot on. 6 - 8 minutes in a reserve capacity, which would have kept Marek out of foul trouble more, and would have given us a bigger presence inside with 5 additional fouls. Even that would have been a solid contribution in a reserve capacity, on a team that lost it's starting center 4 minutes into the season.

And on nights where he produces more, he gets more run. And on nights where he doesn't, he's just a guy to spell some minutes.

 

[Alsacs]

Spot on. 6 - 8 minutes in a reserve capacity, which would have kept Marek out of foul trouble more, and would have given us a bigger guy inside with 5 fouls.

And on nights where he produces more, he gets more run. And on nights where he doesn't, he's just a guy to spell some minutes.

Is their anything to the idea that Jesse playing means one of the forwards has to actually sit?

 

[STEVEHOLT]

7'5 wingspan-Check
Good touch-Check
Good hands-check
Good athlete for size-check
Strength-TBD
IF he can put on 10 pounds of muscle, I think he has a chance to last 10 years in the NBA.

He has the frame to add weight .. his shoulders are very wide .. not like most of our bigs who lack even the frame to add much

 

[NorSyr66]

Kid could breakout and have a huge year.

Take care of business on Wednesday night and we may not be done this year yet!

 

[CuseFaninVT]

Spot on. 6 - 8 minutes in a reserve capacity, which would have kept Marek out of foul trouble more, and would have given us a bigger presence inside with 5 fouls.

And on nights where he produces more, he gets more run. And on nights where he doesn't, he's just a guy to spell some minutes.

Using him more against the bigger front lines and less against smaller ones.

 

[NineOneSeven]

Spot on. 6 - 8 minutes in a reserve capacity, which would have kept Marek out of foul trouble more, and would have given us a bigger guy inside with 5 fouls.

And on nights where he produces more, he gets more run. And on nights where he doesn't, he's just a guy to spell some minutes.

If you have a guy like Rak senior year, sure he's going to play most of the minutes and it's going to be challenging to justify playing basically anyone else at that position given the production the better player provides. But, we are not in the same stratosphere as that. We are talking about playing a center, for maybe 25% of the game, over a non-center. It's simply illogical.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

Wasn’t ready early. And development hurt by delay getting to campus. Give the coaches some credit for working with him in December and January so he can contribute in late February and March. In retrospect, the times we went on pause and players worked one on one with their position coaches may have worked in his favor.

Very strange how his readiness to play just happened to perfectly coincide with Boeheim having absolutely no choice but to play him

 

[CuseFaninVT]

Is their anything to the idea that Jesse playing means one of the forwards has to actually sit?

I think so. Pushing marek to forward does cut down our shooting potential, although griffin hasn’t been doing much from outside lately. But this was a legit concern earlier in the year when griff was on.

 

[Cusesky8214]

People acting like he didn't show some promise last season as well. I don't think anyone here is saying he should be starting or getting 35+ minutes. I think everyone with 2 eyeballs could see that we could've used him some more early in the season. JB is being stubborn and it makes no sense some of the comments he makes...its maddening. He was brilliant tonight and played the right guys and did a great job coaching...its crazy he has to say the things he does.

 

[ElwoodJBlues]

If there were more non-conference games and the team didn’t have so much trouble padding leads early in other games, Jesse would have played more earlier in the season.