I think Bates recruitment is extremely interesting. Committed to M.State and always mentioned wanting to play for a hall of fame caliber coach hence his decision. He decommits in c/o and the rumors swirl about skipping college, and then ultimately ends up reclassing and committing to play for a coach who in terms of fame and camera exposure was pretty similar to Izzo. Albeit Hardaway had little to no coaching experience but it seems that Bates has always wanted to play for big name coaches (maybe that comes with wanting $ opportunities too).
What does seem odd is that he was a consensus top-5 pick in the 2023 draft heading into the season (iirc), and is deciding to stay in college and transfer rather than explore the G League or Overseas until he is eligible in ‘23. It makes me wonder how bad the injuries were, if there were attitude problems, family didn’t like Hardaway etc. Maybe he just needs a confidence boost after struggling to find his shot and Memphis wasn’t providing any help? Who knows? I love these types of recruitments.
With that being said, Boeheim fits the mold for the coaches he’s seemed to gravitate towards. Is he a great fit with the current roster? I feel he’d take over the starting role over Benny regardless of performanceand that would alienate him. I really like the potential of Benny especially after one year of experience in the zone. I don’t think Bates would come here unless he was promised a starting role with a good amount of minutes to go along with it. So, I don’t see much way around that unless Benny plays the 3 while Edwards and Bates are on the court.
The obvious need glaring us all in the face is that we need to focus on replacing the scoring rather than specifically focusing on filling the backup center role. We get a stretch 4 who can shoot the 3 and score against ACC comp and slot over for some backup mins at C if needed. Going after the Ballards just so they can take up mins to fill a role with the amount of scoring and shooting ability we’re losing just won’t cut it anymore. Going after the types of players like Bates (underperformed w/ high upside, experienced against decent comp., or prolific, proven scorer at a mid-major who could hold their own against the good comp during the tournament or in pre-conference play) that can replace the shooting/scoring of Cole but have the ability to play some mins at C is how you fix the problem.
Carey becomes 3rd string if he doesn’t redshirt and if Bol’s healthy he can be the 4th string in a pinch/get walk-on mins. If Boeheim wants to redshirt Carey after getting him on campus and seeing how he fares against the guys on the team, then I’d still feel fine if we ended up with a player like Bates who isn’t necessarily a C. I still think Carey will surprise everyone in terms of his readiness. I predict that he plays this year and just needs a few games to get back into playing against competition in games.
Definitely will be following Bates’ transfer portal journey even if Syracuse doesn’t get involved because I feel there might be something interesting going on behind the scenes. Also very excited to see who else we go after, if anyone at all. I love this team with Mintz and on paper we just need that last experienced scorer to seal the deal in my opinion. If that happened, it would be the first time I’d be extremely confident going into a season in a long time.
What does seem odd is that he was a consensus top-5 pick in the 2023 draft heading into the season (iirc), and is deciding to stay in college and transfer rather than explore the G League or Overseas until he is eligible in ‘23. It makes me wonder how bad the injuries were, if there were attitude problems, family didn’t like Hardaway etc. Maybe he just needs a confidence boost after struggling to find his shot and Memphis wasn’t providing any help? Who knows? I love these types of recruitments.
With that being said, Boeheim fits the mold for the coaches he’s seemed to gravitate towards. Is he a great fit with the current roster? I feel he’d take over the starting role over Benny regardless of performanceand that would alienate him. I really like the potential of Benny especially after one year of experience in the zone. I don’t think Bates would come here unless he was promised a starting role with a good amount of minutes to go along with it. So, I don’t see much way around that unless Benny plays the 3 while Edwards and Bates are on the court.
The obvious need glaring us all in the face is that we need to focus on replacing the scoring rather than specifically focusing on filling the backup center role. We get a stretch 4 who can shoot the 3 and score against ACC comp and slot over for some backup mins at C if needed. Going after the Ballards just so they can take up mins to fill a role with the amount of scoring and shooting ability we’re losing just won’t cut it anymore. Going after the types of players like Bates (underperformed w/ high upside, experienced against decent comp., or prolific, proven scorer at a mid-major who could hold their own against the good comp during the tournament or in pre-conference play) that can replace the shooting/scoring of Cole but have the ability to play some mins at C is how you fix the problem.
Carey becomes 3rd string if he doesn’t redshirt and if Bol’s healthy he can be the 4th string in a pinch/get walk-on mins. If Boeheim wants to redshirt Carey after getting him on campus and seeing how he fares against the guys on the team, then I’d still feel fine if we ended up with a player like Bates who isn’t necessarily a C. I still think Carey will surprise everyone in terms of his readiness. I predict that he plays this year and just needs a few games to get back into playing against competition in games.
Definitely will be following Bates’ transfer portal journey even if Syracuse doesn’t get involved because I feel there might be something interesting going on behind the scenes. Also very excited to see who else we go after, if anyone at all. I love this team with Mintz and on paper we just need that last experienced scorer to seal the deal in my opinion. If that happened, it would be the first time I’d be extremely confident going into a season in a long time.
