Donnie said Betsey will surprise | Syracusefan.com

Donnie said Betsey will surprise

I've long thought this has potential to be one of the sneakiest high impact transfers. He played at a high quality prep school against top competition and looked the part. He had the recruiting pedigree for a reason. Even before portal mania things didn't always work out at a player's first destination.
 
I had almost completely forgotten about Betsy. Stealth portal add that will most likely be a pleasant surprise.

I love all the athletes we’ve assembled this year. Hope they are able to shoot consistently. I see that as one of the only weak spots.
 
I don’t even know who Betsy is. Example of How far I’ve slipped in my fandom. I need to be better

Heavens to Betsey!!

Was a top 50-ish croot, went to Cincy for 1 year, now he’s here.

Solidly built. puts the “power” into Power Forward.
Could/should be a decent rotation piece for us this year.
 
Will be interesting to see who gets more minutes off the bench at forward between Betsey and Sadiq White. You assume Donnie will get 30 plus minutes and Kingz probably will too. That leaves approx 20 minutes at forward with 2 guys that seem ready to play off the bench. As they say, good problem to have!
 
Will be interesting to see who gets more minutes off the bench at forward between Betsey and Sadiq White. You assume Donnie will get 30 plus minutes and Kingz probably will too. That leaves approx 20 minutes at forward with 2 guys that seem ready to play off the bench. As they say, good problem to have!
I see Kyle as a 18-24 minute type. I think that’s the spot that allows you to get White Anthony or Betsy a few extra minutes. I actually hope Freeman plays the five with the second unit. He is not a liability defensively against backup centers, and on offense, oh boy would he eat.
 
Cross posting something I wrote in another thread this week.

Betsey is interesting as a prospect and as a player.

He came out of high school in the 2024 class ranked 45th overall. Sometimes rankings are wrong (nobody remembers Benny Williams, do they?), but sometimes players just take a while to live up to their rankings.

His high school rankings were for a 6'8" 185 lb wing player with guard skills and a very nice looking 3 point form. As recently as September 2023, ESPN had Betsey listed as a 6'6" 185 small forward. Several others had him at 6'8, but agreed he was 185.

I have mentioned this before, but Betsey was listed at 225 as a true freshman at Cincinnati before last season. The accuracy of heights and weights taken anywhere but the NBA combine are extremely suspect, but let's just say Betsey gained 40 lbs in a little more than a year. Looking at his highlights from high school and Cincinnati, he definitely gained a ton of weight. Maybe 40 lbs, it's hard to guess on a 6'8" guy.

That kind of weight gain will definitely affect your game. He looked slower and less explosive.

Fast forward a year, he's still listed at 225 lbs, and had a summer working with Rob Harris, who looks like he can scare a herd of cows into fine condition.

I think Betsey is going to look like the full grown version of that skinny kid from 2023 this year. Athletic, long limbed, agile and skilled, but now strong enough to defend power forwards in the post. He's going to sub in at both the 3 and 4, giving us a shooting and dribble penetration threat from the bench.

I think Betsey will be at least a regular on the floor, having averaged 12 minutes with Cincinnati, he's primed for a sophomore leap.
 
It’s extremely difficult to get your head around the roster turnover until you actually lay eyes on the players in live games and get a feel for who they are. Right now it’s just an obscure name.
I was active in each players thread as they committed to us, and watched a ton of video. (We all need hobbies).

I still can't tell them apart reliably. Its hard having 11 new players. Usually its only a football problem.
 
Will be interesting to see who gets more minutes off the bench at forward between Betsey and Sadiq White. You assume Donnie will get 30 plus minutes and Kingz probably will too. That leaves approx 20 minutes at forward with 2 guys that seem ready to play off the bench. As they say, good problem to have!
The depth improvement year over year is astounding.

Our second unit of Souare, White, Betsey, Anthony and Fennell would beat our post Freeman injury starters from last season.

Lampkin, Davis, Lucas Taylor, last year's Starling and Carlos would be lucky to win 1 game in a 7 game series.
 


This one has some bonus Georgia Tech highlights. One interesting moment at about 8:35 is George getting switched to a big and playing halfway decent post defense against a guy much taller.

One thing to note when thinking about Betsey is that Cincinnati seemed to use him as a three point specialist. In their half court offense, he definitely hung around the perimeter and didn't attempt to penetrate. His high school highlights show a kid with a good shot, but also a decent handle.

Maybe the handle didn't translate to college right away? I wonder if his increased size bled enough speed from him where they didn't want him trying to dribble penetrate. If so, another off season of practice and S&C might have helped him in this area.
 
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Betsey is 6-8 225lbs and reportedly a good shooter. Can probably play both forward spots in various lineups.

Definitely will have some value this year for the team.
Between Donnie, White and Betsy I think we have a nice group of long and athletic forwards that can play both forward spots. We can also go small with Kingz or Kiyan playing the 3. Could see some interesting lineups. Lots of interchangeable pieces between the 2, 3 and 4 slots, with the 3 being the flex piece.
 
Managing minutes and the game will be the biggest test of Coach A’s abilities, especially now that he has a talented team. Because our forwards are quick and skilled, I hope that we at times go center-less and force the opposing team to sit their center at times, especially if that center is of the traditional type and cannot run the floor well or guard the perimeter. I hope we play aggressively and try to dictate the game as opposed to last year when we seemed timid and unsure, or just lacked a game plan. I’m excited most of all because we have a proven point guard.
 
I had a work purpose to be at Lally last week. While I was there, I heard the familiar squeaking sounds of sneakers and voices that sounded like activity in the Melo Center.

So, on my way out, I walk down the hallway and lo and behold, the team was practicing. I watched about five minutes through the window.

They were working on conditioning. The only real Takeaway I had from watching was that we certainly have size and athleticism beyond what we’ve had in recent years.
 
I had a work purpose to be at Lally last week. While I was there, I heard the familiar squeaking sounds of sneakers and voices that sounded like activity in the Melo Center.

So, on my way out, I walk down the hallway and lo and behold, the team was practicing. I watched about five minutes through the window.

They were working on conditioning. The only real Takeaway I had from watching was that we certainly have size and athleticism beyond what we’ve had in recent years.
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I was active in each players thread as they committed to us, and watched a ton of video. (We all need hobbies).

I still can't tell them apart reliably. Its hard having 11 new players. Usually its only a football problem.
It's the helmets, man. Can't see anything in there!
 

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