Fun Game: Pick a Player To…

[orange79]

Jeremy McNeil at the end of the Pitt game in 2003. There has to be more but that’s the first one that comes to mind.

Dave Johnson at the end of the Duke game at Duke in the first ACC-BE Challenge.

 

[OttoMets]

Hopkins made one at the end of the UConn game in 1992. Airballed the second, but the first was the margin of victory.

 

[TinyManInside]

Thinking about it, Matt Roe should get a lot more votes for "make a 3". Kid was a fantastic three point shooter.

 

[OrangeDW]

Pick one former SU player that you need to…

Get a bucket:
Create a bucket for a teammate:
Get a defensive stop:
Make a three:
Get a rebound:
Make 2 free throws:
Go for 30 points in a game:

Pick a different player for each one and GO!

Wallace
Douglas
Etan
Rautins
Coleman
GMac
Carmelo

 

[MadNY3]

Pick one former SU player that you need to…

Get a bucket:
Create a bucket for a teammate:
Get a defensive stop:
Make a three:
Get a rebound:
Make 2 free throws:
Go for 30 points in a game:

Pick a different player for each one and GO!

Get a bucket: Melo (Dion, Jonny Flynn runner-ups)
Create a bucket for a teammate: Sherman Douglas
Get a defensive stop: Etan Thomas (If in the press Jeremy McNeill)
Make a three: GMac
Get a rebound: Derrick Coleman
Make 2 free throws: GMac
Go for 30 points in a game: Bing

 

[kcsu]

Pick one former SU player that you need to…

Get a bucket:
Create a bucket for a teammate:
Get a defensive stop:
Make a three:
Get a rebound:
Make 2 free throws:
Go for 30 points in a game:

Pick a different player for each one and GO!

Waiters/Flynn
Sherm/ Pearl
Hart/harris
Gmac/Shump
DC/Rosie
Head/Kid
Melo/Sweet D

 

[721Comstock]

Thinking about it, Matt Roe should get a lot more votes for "make a 3". Kid was a fantastic three point shooter.

3pt shot was mostly a novelty then, teams didn’t defend against it like they do now;
the line was shorter, and he was the 5th option on the floor for opponents D gameplan.

Same can be said for Greg “Money” Monroe.

Which is why they both are 1 & 2 for 3pt % for a season in Cuse history.
It was a totally different game back then.

Syracuse Orange Season Three Point Leader

orangehoops.org

Nobody did volume + accuracy quite like DNic’s big season;
but I still went w Andrew White III-
because he has the single season 3pt makes record, was still over 40%, and many of them were really tough, well-contested shots.

 

[kirbivore]

Get a bucket: Carmelo Anthony
Create a bucket for a teammate: Sherman Douglas
Get a defensive stop: Michael Carter Williams
Make a three: Gerry McNamara
Get a rebound: Derrick Coleman
Make 2 free throws: Mike Hopkins
Go for 30 points in a game: Lawrence Moten

 

[TinyManInside]

3pt shot was mostly a novelty then, teams didn’t defend against it like they do now;
the line was shorter, and he was the 5th option on the floor for opponents D gameplan.

Same can be said for Greg “Money” Monroe.

Which is why they both are 1 & 2 for 3pt % for a season in Cuse history.
It was a totally different game back then.

Syracuse Orange Season Three Point Leader

orangehoops.org

Nobody did volume + accuracy quite like DNic’s big season;
but I still went w Andrew White III-
because he has the single season 3pt makes record, was still over 40%, and many of them were really tough, well-contested shots.

Of course context matters, but I was sort of judging everyone within the timeframe in which they played. If you time-machined SR Nichols into 1988 he'd have been completely unguardable. Likewise if you took 1990 Derrick Coleman and time machined him into 2022, he wouldn't have quite the physical advantages that he had 30 years before because on average the players now are a lot stronger.

 

[sufandu]

Pick one former SU player that you need to…

Get a bucket:
Create a bucket for a teammate:
Get a defensive stop:
Make a three:
Get a rebound:
Make 2 free throws:
Go for 30 points in a game:

Pick a different player for each one and GO!

1. Carmelo
2. Sherm
3. Tie: Etan for the block inside and Hart on the perimeter
4. GMac (I know he's not the best in our history by percentage, but he probably hit more clutch 3's in our history than everyone else combined) I'm not familiar enough with our players pre-mid 80's to know if they were more clutch from deep
5. DC
6. JG3
7. Bing

 

[sufandu]

Of course context matters, but I was sort of judging everyone within the timeframe in which they played. If you time-machined SR Nichols into 1988 he'd have been completely unguardable. Likewise if you took 1990 Derrick Coleman and time machined him into 2022, he wouldn't have quite the physical advantages that he had 30 years before because on average the players now are a lot stronger.

I don't agree on your assessment of eras. When DC went to the association, he was immediately facing off with guys bigger and stronger than him like Karl Malone and Charles Barkley (not taller, but bigger) and he was immediately really good, averaging a double/double as a rookie. He wasn't simply a product of physical advantage. He was incredibly skilled.

 

[sufandu]

Get a bucket: John Wallace 1996. Criminally underrated SR year. Melo 03 neck-and-neck with JDubs. Moten needs some minor consideration here.
Create a bucket for a teammate: SR Laz Sims (in halfcourt), SO Michael Carter-Williams (in halfcourt) / SR Sherm (in fullcourt)
Get a defensive stop: Etan Thomas, best rim protector in SU history. 2-3 zone makes it hard to assign a specific player to get a stop since it is more of a team concept D rather than individual lock-down D.
Make a three: GMac in clutch situations. Tough to choose between SR Shumpert, SR White, and SR Nichols for overall consistency
Get a rebound: Coleman. Any answer other than DC is WRONG. Second would be SR Rick Jackson but there is a wide gap between him and Coleman.
Make 2 free throws: GMac/Marty Headd. Girard (most, but not all, of his career)
Go for 30 points in a game: Melo '03

For rebound I might go Seikaly over Jackson for second.

 

[rrlbees]

1. Carmelo
2. Sherm
3. Tie: Etan for the block inside and Hart on the perimeter
4. GMac (I know he's not the best in our history by percentage, but he probably hit more clutch 3's in our history than everyone else combined) I'm not familiar enough with our players pre-mid 80's to know if they were more clutch from deep
5. DC
6. JG3
7. Bing

Ha. Mind would be exactly the same except I would have just Hart as the defensive stopper. I have a hard time choosing a center as a defensive stopper even if they were a great shot blocker. The rule was using a player only once, which you did, otherwise I would have chosen GMac for the FTs. So we go with JG. Good job .

 

[OttoMets]

I don't agree on your assessment of eras. When DC went to the association, he was immediately facing off with guys bigger and stronger than him like Karl Malone and Charles Barkley (not taller, but bigger) and he was immediately really good, averaging a double/double as a rookie. He wasn't simply a product of physical advantage. He was incredibly skilled.

I think that he and a lot of excellent and skilled former SU 4s would be disadvantaged in today's college game because so much physicality is involved now.

 

[sufandu]

Ha. Mind would be exactly the same except I would have just Hart as the defensive stopper. I have a hard time choosing a center as a defensive stopper even if they were a great shot blocker. The rule was using a player only once, which you did, otherwise I would have chosen GMac for the FTs. So we go with JG. Good job .

I debated whether to use GMac at 3 or FT. His knack for nailing big shots at the end of games or going off in big games forced me to use him at 3 since I didn't think anyone else was close in that respect and I GJ3 was a pretty close 2nd from the FT line.

 

[sufandu]

I think that he and a lot of excellent and skilled former SU 4s would be disadvantaged in today's college game because so much physicality is involved now.

I don't think so. The NBA was way more physical then than it is now and he was a very good player as a pro until his health failed him. If physicality was an issue, that wouldn't have been the case. Jeremy Grant played the four for us not all that long ago. Do you think he was more physcial than DC?

 

[OrangeDW]

For rebound I might go Seikaly over Jackson for second.

Crazy thing is Carmelo is in the running too. I’m thinking Melo and Jackson are the only guys to average 10 rebounds per game in the 2000’s? Don’t think Christmas quite got it. Warrick didn’t.

 

[721Comstock]

Crazy thing is Carmelo is in the running too. I’m thinking Melo and Jackson are the only guys to average 10 rebounds per game in the 2000’s? Don’t think Christmas quite got it. Warrick didn’t.

You are correct sir! Yes!

Also - Dave Bing was a stud rebounder back in the day.
Because of course he was - dude was just dominant at everything.

But - the all-time Rebound King (and All Name Team) is….

Jon Cincebox.

Career 14.6 reb/game.

Syracuse Orange Season Rebounding Leaders

List of Syracuse Orange basketball season leaders for rebounds

orangehoops.org

Seems like he was the team’s “designated rebounder” and everybody else left it to him.

 

[Scotch]

Carmelo
Sherman
Etan
GMac
Derrick
Johnny Flynn
Moten

 

[sufandu]

Crazy thing is Carmelo is in the running too. I’m thinking Melo and Jackson are the only guys to average 10 rebounds per game in the 2000’s? Don’t think Christmas quite got it. Warrick didn’t.

And I was looking a little beyond the numbers too. Seilaly was a little under 10 as a senior but he was playing beside a DC that averaged over 10. I have to believe that absent a DC gobbling up so many, a couple more per game go to him.

 

[sufandu]

You are correct sir! Yes!

Also - Dave Bing was a stud rebounder back in the day.
Because of course he was - dude was just dominant at everything.

But - the all-time Rebound King (and All Name Team) is….

Jon Cincebox.

Career 14.6 reb/game.

Syracuse Orange Season Rebounding Leaders

List of Syracuse Orange basketball season leaders for rebounds

orangehoops.org

Seems like he was the team’s “designated rebounder” and everybody else left it to him.

Does anyone know why rebounding numbers were so much higher years ago? From the '50's through the early '70's it was common for the NCAA to average over 20 per game. Nobody has done that since '72-'73. And that includes some absolute studs like Olajuwon, David Robinson, and Shaq. Were shooting percentages lower? Were teams playing at a faster pace and putting up more shots despite no shot clock?

 

[br801]

Does anyone know why rebounding numbers were so much higher years ago? From the '50's through the early '70's it was common for the NCAA to average over 20 per game. Nobody has done that since '72-'73. And that includes some absolute studs like Olajuwon, David Robinson, and Shaq. Were shooting percentages lower? Were teams playing at a faster pace and putting up more shots despite no shot clock?

Lower shooting percentages, more shots, more missed shots, more opportunities for rebounds.

 

[Jake]

Pick one former SU player that you need to…

Get a bucket:
Create a bucket for a teammate:
Get a defensive stop:
Make a three:
Get a rebound:
Make 2 free throws:
Go for 30 points in a game:

Pick a different player for each one and GO!

Melo
Sherm
Etan
Gmac
DC
Buddy
Moten

 

[tbonezone]

i think sonny spera checks all those boxes.
except for the free throws. then i want stevie thompson. (perhaps my all-time favorite player.)

"i believe..i believe...it's crazy but i believe...

 

[cuseincincy]

Pick one former SU player that you need to…

Get a bucket:
Create a bucket for a teammate:
Get a defensive stop:
Make a three:
Get a rebound:
Make 2 free throws:
Go for 30 points in a game:

Pick a different player for each one and GO!

Melo
Sherm
Hart
Andy Rautins
DC
Hal Cohen
Bing