Does anyone have the courage to come up with an argument on how next year is better?

[sufandu]

I can do that. Now, I haven't seen anything from Red other than high school recruiting but to be fair, I will give it a go. First, while Red and Griff were on the staff during the slide, JB was the coach. And he wanted guys to play his zone. They had to recruit for it. I saw Bell at the Hall of Fame classic and reported back on this site that this kid couldn't stay in front of me and I'm in my 60's. JB didn't care because he could stick him in his zone and he was long. Converting to a man to man defense was going to take time. And with a team of nitwits, we still won 19 games. Then came the portal. Which the school was not prepared for. Just as it wasn't really prepared for NIL. Last year, the coaches were coaching and they were not ready for the portal. Didn't have the money and didn't know who was going to come available. That is different today. I have been told, and this has nothing to do with my efforts regarding AW, that we are doing very well with NIL. And we now have a GM. Klein spends his time doing a couple of things. One, watching kids that will probably be in the portal. And talking to player reps. We know who is going to be in the portal. And have an idea of what they are going to cost. You never know for sure because someone can come up with a stupid money offer but the point is that we are miles ahead of where we were last year at this time. Better players and players that really fit will give us an idea what kind of coach Red is.

Interesting. I really hope what you're describing ends up working for us. I really want this to work with Red even if I have my doubts at this point. Right now I'll let my longing for nostalgia override my logic.

 

[AlaskaSU]

Knowing what to do and being able to do it are two different be things. In this new era money buys talent. Syracuse is not monied.

 

[Scooch]

Oh man, the 2p% and 3p% in his last 5 games is HORRID lol

Can we find some guys that are efficient and can actually shoot?

If we bring in more guys from low majors I’m gonna laugh.

Jacksonville State. Unreal.

 

[FRANKIEFAN]

I think being awful with Red and the Anthony's is better than blowing a coaching hire to keep Carmelo happy.

Best case scenario is a decent young team that might be good in a year or two. But that probably means .500 and barely NIT quality.

 

[SUFan44]

I can do that. Now, I haven't seen anything from Red other than high school recruiting but to be fair, I will give it a go. First, while Red and Griff were on the staff during the slide, JB was the coach. And he wanted guys to play his zone. They had to recruit for it. I saw Bell at the Hall of Fame classic and reported back on this site that this kid couldn't stay in front of me and I'm in my 60's. JB didn't care because he could stick him in his zone and he was long. Converting to a man to man defense was going to take time. And with a team of nitwits, we still won 19 games. Then came the portal. Which the school was not prepared for. Just as it wasn't really prepared for NIL. Last year, the coaches were coaching and they were not ready for the portal. Didn't have the money and didn't know who was going to come available. That is different today. I have been told, and this has nothing to do with my efforts regarding AW, that we are doing very well with NIL. And we now have a GM. Klein spends his time doing a couple of things. One, watching kids that will probably be in the portal. And talking to player reps. We know who is going to be in the portal. And have an idea of what they are going to cost. You never know for sure because someone can come up with a stupid money offer but the point is that we are miles ahead of where we were last year at this time. Better players and players that really fit will give us an idea what kind of coach Red is.

Only quibble I have with this, and it is a big one, is that we didn't have the money last year. That's simply not true. We had money. We did not appropriate it properly.

Lampkin, Carlos, Taylor, Davis weren't free. They all got something. And they all, in total, along with the $ they spent retaining, add up to something.

Was it SEC level money? No. Was it top ACC money? No. Was it enough to be competitive against the middle of the pack in the ACC (Stanford, Wake Forest, Pitt)? Absolutely it was.

We have won 10 games. We are 15th in an 18-team league. And our talent level is below many, many other programs who had a fraction of the money we had available to us.

To say 'we didn't have the money' is misleading and wrong. We had enough money to put together a much better team than is currently put together.

 

[SUFan44]

Yep, I just keep remember this post from the offseason when it comes to the future.

I'm supposed to think this staff thought this year's team was gonna be good...but next year will be different.

Are we done with adding players for 2024-25?

Agument is that there will be some improvement in at least some of the five returnees and that Lampkin + Davis + Carlos + Freeman + Moore > Hima + Mintz + Taylor + Copeland + Brown + Carey There is no one on the team that has more talent or is better than Judah or Maliq. I get the whole is...

syracusefan.com

The thread's OP was really spot on with that evaluation.

**Checks Notes**

Oh, that's me.

If I, the lowly guy on a message board at 1:30am on a Friday morning, had an inkling things could be funny... don't you think the handsomely paid head coach should have had the same thought?

Nothing about this year has led me to believe next year will be better. All of the things about NIL being improved, having a GM, etc., are great -- but having a head coach who didn't realize the talent on the team couldn't compete in a VERY mediocre ACC is the thing I can't and won't get over.