Fab melo

[Knicks411]

Who cares what the respective ratings were? This is an example of where looking at the numbers doesn't tell the interpretive story. KU played man to man, often full court, which played right into UK's up-tempo hands. Whereas we would have played a style that would have been [1] unfamiliar to them, and [2] wouldn't have ratcheted up the tempo.

Now, if Kentucky had hit all of those threes that they did against Kansas, nobody would beat them. The question is: would they have hit them all against us, or even had those same looks?

Please note that I'm not suggesting that we WOULD have beaten them, just that I believe that we COULD have. We were one of the few teams that year that could have.

Yeah I don't think we're very far off. I would have favored UK, but we definitely would have had a chance.

The unfamiliar style would have been a positive in our favor, no question.

Which also brings up a somewhat related point; I think Gasaway wrote an article on ESPN a few months back (I'm sure it was linked here) saying that we might outperform a little, so to speak, this year, since we're facing a ton of teams and coaches that haven't played our zone before. Or at least not on an every year basis.

 

[Rocco]

Dominating? Not quite. He was strong defensively, but far from being a dominating player.

He was Jeremy McNeil plus a couple inches and a slightly better touch on offense.

Don't you dare speak of my favorite Cuse player in the same sentence as Fab Melo again.

 

[jekelish]

Don't you dare speak of my favorite Cuse player in the same sentence as Fab Melo again.

Hey, I love Jeremy. He was literally one of the first people I met at Syracuse, like the second day I was on campus. I had a class with him second semester freshman year and he always walked over to me to fist bump me whenever he saw me out drinking on M-Street, and freshman year when we met (coming out of a math placement exam, and we wound up walking to Schine together, he told me his name was Jeremy and I pieced together who he was and he was shocked I knew who he was and that led to me talking about what a die hard fan I am) he actually apparently talked to the coaches about getting them to open up a manager spot for me...which I stupidly then declined.

Regret that decision every day since I would have been a senior in 02-03 and therefore likely would have been on the bench in New Orleans.

 

[tee1222]

Hey, I love Jeremy. He was literally one of the first people I met at Syracuse, like the second day I was on campus. I had a class with him second semester freshman year and he always walked over to me to fist bump me whenever he saw me out drinking on M-Street, and freshman year when we met (coming out of a math placement exam, and we wound up walking to Schine together, he told me his name was Jeremy and I pieced together who he was and he was shocked I knew who he was and that led to me talking about what a die hard fan I am) he actually apparently talked to the coaches about getting them to open up a manager spot for me...which I stupidly then declined.

Regret that decision every day since I would have been a senior in 02-03 and therefore likely would have been on the bench in New Orleans.

Tough one to regret, but still, very cool that you knew him and that he even extended that invitation!

 

[igor]

I would say Fab may have been more dominant defensive than Hak was offensively (Hak was first team AA as a senior...) but Hak could do more on D than Fab on offense

the most important defensive play in su history is when hak defies his coach and breaks the rules and blocks the shot vs kansas

 

[albanycuse]

the most important defensive play in su history is when hak defies his coach and breaks the rules and blocks the shot vs kansas

Yes thats what we were all thinking verbatim.


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[OrangeDW]

the most important defensive play in su history is when hak defies his coach and breaks the rules and blocks the shot vs kansas

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v633/TLCliyah182/icons/Gifs/ShutTheUp.gif

 

[albanycuse]

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[orangefan13]

the most important defensive play in su history is when hak defies his coach and breaks the rules and blocks the shot vs kansas

Yes 100 true same game stategy as when howard triche was in the air instead of on the ground against keith smart. Couldn't agree anymore.

Reminds me of the time jb cursed out jason cipollla for shooting that buzzerbeater down 2 from the corner against Georgia in 96 as well. He told him to dribble and hope to get fouled before the clock ran out. Spent the entire overtime screaming at him on the bench wasn't even watching the game.

 

[two3zone]

Yes 100 true same game stategy as when howard triche was in the air instead of on the ground against keith smart. Couldn't agree anymore.

Reminds me of the time jb cursed out jason cipollla for shooting that buzzerbeater down 2 from the corner against Georgia in 96 as well. He told him to dribble and hope to get fouled before the clock ran out. Spent the entire overtime screaming at him on the bench wasn't even watching the game.

Is that really true? That is awesome lol

 

[billsin01]

Dominating? Not quite. He was strong defensively, but far from being a dominating player.

He was Jeremy McNeil plus a couple inches and a slightly better touch on offense.

To be fair, if you're adding a couple inches and better touch on offense then that player happens to cease being Jeremy McNeil. McNeil was a solid guy but his hands and overall offensive game make Baye Keita look like Tim Duncan.

As for the original question, I was as big a critic of Fab as any on this board but he was truly pretty special defensively. Not sure I remember a guy combining the size and athleticism he did. He covered a truly remarkable amount of ground in the middle of the defense. As to what he could have become, the question is futile. It just didn't seem to really be in him to be that guy.

 

[billsin01]

Hakim was a dunking machine who could score. He didnt impact the game offensively like fab did defensively.

Yeah, I'm not sure he had quite the impact of Fab on the defensive end but that tends to be an argument of semantics since both were extremely valuable in their own way.

But Hak made roughly 675 FGs total his final three seasons. He was far, far more than a dunk machine.

 

[albanycuse]

Yeah, I'm not sure he had quite the impact of Fab on the defensive end but that tends to be an argument of semantics since both were extremely valuable in their own way.

But Hak made roughly 675 FGs total his final three seasons. He was far, far more than a dunk machine.

A dunk counts as a fg.


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[Jeremy L.]

Wes Johnson was pretty dominating in my opinion.

 

[AZOrange]

Wes Johnson was pretty dominating in my opinion.

Totally agree. Dion too

 

[tbonezone]

nothing against fab personally. hey do your own thing. but as a player he let his team down by not putting in the effort academically to help this top ranked team in what might have been a special season. he's dead to me.

 

[AlaskaSU]

Totally agree. Dion too

But the quickest player in SU history is Stevie Thompson.

 

[billsin01]

A dunk counts as a fg.


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Right. And you see a lot guys averaging 20 a game on 225 dunks a year? I don't actually have to spell this out for you, right? Although classifying Hak as little more than a dunker says a lot I suppose.

 

[albanycuse]

Right. And you see a lot guys averaging 20 a game on 225 dunks a year? I don't actually have to spell this out for you, right? Although classifying Hak as little more than a dunker says a lot I suppose.

I said he was a dunking machine, not one dimensional. He had a little j going on.

 

[billsin01]

I said he was a dunking machine, not one dimensional. He had a little j going on.

Sorry, I misinterpreted dunk machine. Anyway, general point is that Fab was remarkable defensively. Not sure if Hak was quite that good offensively, but a post player averaging north of 15 for three years while adding some pretty impressive rebounding numbers. Just feel like dunk machine is a pretty big undersell.

 

[Mano22]

His irresponsibility squandered an opportunity for a great SU team to get a championship.
His continued travails indicate that it was NOT a random occurence.
In other words, he's a knucklehead.
He's dead to me.

This. He is, and was, a loser who was given EVERYTHING and just could not get hit together. I am actively rooting for him to fail in the NBA, and in life.

 

[Zelda Zonk]

He was very dominating at times. We can agree to disagree i guess.


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I agree. He had an impact on both sides of the court. Blocks, and alley-oops. I used to love seeing him flying down the lane on the break. Methinks his departure soured and perverted a lot of memories.