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 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.

 

[Irishsecra1]

I will agree that we do not have top 20 talent but that is not why we are mired in the bottom of our league. We have a coach who has no idea how to maximize the talent he has, whose culture is non existent, who seems unable to know when and how to use timeouts effectively and will never be praised for making great half time adjustments.
Outstanding talent can trump mediocre coaching.
But average talent and mediocre coaching are not winning much
This is where our program is at.

Unless Red makes vast improvements to his coaching style, we will be lucky to be a 500 team next year.

JW took a gamble hiring Red.
He should have done a national search but decided to hire in-house.

He should have picked Gerry but went with Reds seniority and better recruiting chops.
Just watch a Siena game and tell me who is the better in game coach.
And who has installed a never give up never surrender culture.

Last week they beat Quin by 9 who leads the MAAC with only one league loss.
They lost to Quin by 19 3 weeks earlier and were trailing by quite a bit in this last game.
But Gerry made some great in game adjustments, his kids dug in and played fantastic defense and they pulled out the win.

I listen to friends insisting that Red just needs to find kids with a better work ethic, kids who will listen. Well he picked most of the kids on this team. And he has made no effort to install a DART like culture.

 

[SmilinBob]

So if there is a huge player turnover next year do we have faith that Red and his staff will be able to get this team to improve or be in sync in time to make a difference?

I don't know, but I just see a bunch of players that will be wondering around on O and D with no plan how to execute on either. I hope I'm wrong.

 

[DCUNITED13]

That got them Terrence Edwards (JMU) and Chucky Hepburn as bigger gets. Two of their better players followed Kelsey from CoC. Another from Long Beach.


So Syracuse was within the range of the top NIL Collectives and we spent about the going rate for a center.

 

[DCUNITED13]

im reading a lot of comments of infusion of NIL money from Melo. From what I have seen of Carmelo Anthony business acumen, I hesitate to think it will be as much as everyone expects. He has set himself up in a few business ventures and throwing money where there is no long term return for him goes against how he is building up his business empire.

On the other hand it is his kid.

I like dashers comment about our unpreparedness (inconceivable) and how we have now plans in place to succeed. However, Rutgers is not with multi year top 20 freshmen. I see SEC teams that are loaded with NBA type bodies. We need to find some success getting these type of players on board. Kelly McCord types. A great number of these players on SEC teams are transfers. We have to get ourselves into that market. Also, looking back, we should have paid Jesse Edwards

Go Cuse

 

[Cusefan0307]

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.

No one needs to make their own narratives despite all evidence to the contrary quite like you. How long do you need to post here before your realize Dasher Isn’t blowing smoke?

 

[Newhouser]

No one needs to make their own narratives despite all evidence to the contrary quite like you. How long do you need to post here before your realize Dasher Isn’t blowing smoke?

I agree and trust Dasher's comments without question - there are differences in being papered up and being PAPERED UP. Why we were so slow to act is negligent (we are always reacting not being proactive), and now the question isn't that we are in better shape but who is our comp set in terms of available funds for next year? Duke? UVA? BC? Siena?

 

[Cusefan0307]

I agree and trust Dasher's comments without question - there are differences in being papered up and being PAPERED UP. Why we were so slow to act is negligent (we are always reacting not being proactive), and now the question isn't that we are in better shape but who is our comp set in terms of available funds for next year? Duke? UVA? BC? Siena?

Well considering we already were better off than 3 of the 4 schools in the list I would think we are still better than them. And there’s lots of schools that don’t have Dukes budget, but somehow they still find ways to be good and not go to overtime with Youngstown state and barely beat Lemoyne.

 

[Chip]

It's been blown out of proportion as an excuse for the staff's incompetence. Many other programs are out there doing much more with far, far less.

So we do have talent on the active roster?

 

[MamesJungro]

im reading a lot of comments of infusion of NIL money from Melo. From what I have seen of Carmelo Anthony business acumen, I hesitate to think it will be as much as everyone expects. He has set himself up in a few business ventures and throwing money where there is no long term return for him goes against how he is building up his business empire.

On the other hand it is his kid.

I like dashers comment about our unpreparedness (inconceivable) and how we have now plans in place to succeed. However, Rutgers is not with multi year top 20 freshmen. I see SEC teams that are loaded with NBA type bodies. We need to find some success getting these type of players on board. Kelly McCord types. A great number of these players on SEC teams are transfers. We have to get ourselves into that market. Also, looking back, we should have paid Jesse Edwards

Go Cuse

This is the correct take. Celebrities, by and large, do not give money. They lend their cache and visibility, and that is what convinces rich (but not cool) guys to give their money to be in proximity to that celebrity. Weitsman is the perfect example of this.

 

[eastcuse]

So we do have talent on the active roster?

We technically have 5 top 100 recruits on our roster. Which is more than we've had in almost a decade. Granted, one is Chance who hasn't played and one is Donnie, but injuries happen almost every year. Drake is 21-2 with wins over several P5 opponents and their top three scores were Division II players last year. The difference? A coach who establishes an identity and habitat of a winning culture. Our talent level is not the best we've ever had, but there is no excuse to be as bad as we are.

 

[ar inj]

JJ (and others) cannot get off the bench because his defense is not good enough

 

[RF2044]

We technically have 5 top 100 recruits on our roster. Which is more than we've had in almost a decade. Granted, one is Chance who hasn't played and one is Donnie, but injuries happen almost every year. Drake is 21-2 with wins over several P5 opponents and their top three scores were Division II players last year. The difference? A coach who establishes an identity and habitat of a winning culture. Our talent level is not the best we've ever had, but there is no excuse to be as bad as we are.

Love the Drake comparison.

Both because the Drake coach is a young up-and-comer who EXCELLED at a lower level before getting a D1 opportunity, but also because it demonstrates what happens when you have a competent coach who has great systems, a proven track record as a winner, and who excels at teaching the game of basketball at the helm.

Drake's roster isn't optimized -- far from it. And yet, they beat P5 teams with higher rated players. Because they are well coached, and their players know how to play.

Would kill to have a head coach like this. This is EXACTLY the type of profile of coach we should have been targeting to replace JB.

 

[sufan59]

We technically have 5 top 100 recruits on our roster. Which is more than we've had in almost a decade. Granted, one is Chance who hasn't played and one is Donnie, but injuries happen almost every year. Drake is 21-2 with wins over several P5 opponents and their top three scores were Division II players last year. The difference? A coach who establishes an identity and habitat of a winning culture. Our talent level is not the best we've ever had, but there is no excuse to be as bad as we are.

A recruiting analyst would say we are far underperforming based on the ratings. In the final Boeheim years our records reflected our recruiting which was on a downward trend. Our roster composition has supposedly gotten better, but pretty much all of the 5 top 100 guys are underperforming. It’s a much bigger problem because we should have the guys to be a top 40 team atleast. The program thrived on high end 4 stars and low end 5 stars performing to and sometimes outperforming their rankings. Boeheim issue at the end was we weren’t getting enough of the high end 4 stars and low end 5 stars.

 

[jdubs30]

Love the Drake comparison.

Both because the Drake coach is a young up-and-comer who EXCELLED at a lower level before getting a D1 opportunity, but also because it demonstrates what happens when you have a competent coach who has great systems, a proven track record as a winner, and who excels at teaching the game of basketball at the helm.

Drake's roster isn't optimized -- far from it. And yet, they beat P5 teams with higher rated players. Because they are well coached, and their players know how to play.

Would kill to have a head coach like this. This is EXACTLY the type of profile of coach we should have been targeting to replace JB.

Previous head coaching (and ideally program building) experience needs to be an absolute must. If we hired Langel instead of Red 2 years ago I’m curious what we’d look like. You could definitely argue the recruiting would suffer but I highly doubt we’d be questioning Langels ability to coach

 

[Fly Rodder]

So we do have talent on the active roster?

Depends on when & who you’re asking. Quite few folks have changed their opinion from the preseason.

 

[Scooch]

So we do have talent on the active roster?

Depends on when you're asking.

Now? No, no talent at all.

6 months ago? Super talented.

 

[EnviroSciGuy]

So we do have talent on the active roster?

Absolutely.

So did my team in gym class.

Is there any additional context that you'd like to include?

 

[kcsu]

This is what I would love to hear more about from Red. Literally the only answer I have ever heard is that he wants to run. If that is true, recruiting the players we currently have makes no sense at all towards that goal. And what is our defensive identity supposed to be? To some extent, the lack of identity bothers me more than the poor results.

How do you want to run and bring in Eddie as your center

 

[Cusefan0307]

How do you want to run and bring in Eddie as your center

He was a major upgrade though!

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