Portal. Portal. Portal. I think the thing everyone misses is kids have to WANT to come here. The jury is still out on Red, but the biggest concern has to be his ability to recruit to what is a mediocre program. Ever wonder why mediocre programs stay mediocre programs? Because they’re mediocre and the best players don’t want to go there. You need something or someone to break that paradigm. Red got Freeman and Moore. Good start, but we need much, much more. Can he keep closing? Can he build a complete roster? Time will tell. Probably too early right now to judge.
But, here’s a scenario for you:
Player A lives in Philly. He’s a top flight prospect and is a beast. He wants to stay in the North East and play a tough, in your face style of hard nosed basketball like they play on the blacktop. Where does he choose to go to school?
Player B also lives in Philly and also is a 5 star caliber player, except his game is a little more finesse and skill. He favors a conference with cachet where he can show his skills on the biggest stages with the most attention. Where does player B decide to go?
The answer since our move to the ACC for both these questions is NOT Syracuse.
In the old days, player A would’ve dreamed about playing for the top dog(s) in the BigEast, which was SU (UConn etc). Now, that player still goes to UConn or Nova (or maybe now SJU or Gtown), but it’s no longer Cuse. We are out of that equation.
As far as player B is concerned, where is he going to go??? It’s Duke or Carolina. Full stop. Cuse isn’t in that consideration set either. I mean, if I’m elite and I want to play somewhere like the ACC, I’m going to Duke or Carolina (or maybe I go to Kentucky). Those are my choices. SU is not a part of the conversation.
So there we are. Lost between two worlds. A world where we used to be king and another where we’re just a serf living on someone else’s land. Cuse is in a tough spot. Throw in mediocrity for a decade and it’s a dire situation.
So, the question of Red’s recruiting is really front and center. Freeman holds great promise because he’s the type of player painted in scenario A but he DID choose SU. We need lots more of players like him.
Red has to somehow keep going into the Bronx, Brooklyn, Philly, New England etc and somehow convince the kind of player that Hurley has gotten at UCONN to want to play in the ACC and kick some Duke/UNC butt. We need to bring Big East basketball to the ACC. We need to kick the crap out of teams like they’re playing us at MSG not some dump in Greensboro.
Can Red make players WANT to play here under the current conditions? I wish things were going better on the court against Duke, UNC etc to demonstrate the vision but we don’t have the players yet. However, if we can beat the rest of the schedule and show promise, maybe he can entice more top talent to come. That’s why this Pitt game may be the biggest of the year. We need to answer this loss big time.
