Guys you wish had panned out

[Orange2389]

Mike Jones

 

[Scooch]

I wish Rick Jackson took basketball as seriously his junior year as he did his senior year. We would have won the title despite AO's injury.

 

[ImperialOrange]

this is a tough one, because I think in a lot of cases we (or at least I) am to blame because I had over-inflated expectations. So, how much goes to the player for "not panning out" and how much to me (or we) for having unreasonable expectations? We've got a whole thread where people are predicting ACC POY someday for Jerami Grant - if he tops out at, say all ACC Honorable Mention, did he really fail to "pan out"?

So, on the one hand, I can't help but think if just one of Southerland, Christmas or Coleman had played like the player I thought they'd be, SU would be national champs. But, maybe I just wildly over-estimated their top end (in Dirty's case) or their stage of developmental progression (Roc, DC2).

To be fair, RC and DC shouldn't have been expected for much since Fab Melo should've been manning the 5 and bringing us our 2nd title in a row at that spot.

That being said, I'm changing my vote to Fab Melo as my top guy not to "pan out".

 

[Cadillac]

Josh Wright is at the top of my list.. averaged around 30 ppg as a high school senior which is not easy for a 6 foot guard and how short high school games are. thought he would come here and immediately contribute and allow gmac to play off the ball more. that clearly did not happen.. although he did hit those game clinching ft's over pitt in the BE tourney in 06. so thats something atleast

Whatever message board I was on at the time, it was inconceivable that JWright would wash up.

A lot of local hype, I remember someone constantly posting JW "put the I CAN in Utican." Like someone was already writing Nike commercials for him.

It was so pervasive that when Billy E went missing in February '04, the general sense was, oh well, he wouldn't start at point next season anyway.

 

[RF2044]

Whatever message board I was on at the time, it was inconceivable that JWright would wash up.

A lot of local hype, I remember someone constantly posting JW "put the I CAN in Utican." Like someone was already writing Nike commercials for him.

It was so pervasive that when Billy E went missing in February '04, the general sense was, oh well, he wouldn't start at point next season anyway.

Other than perhaps Michael Edwards, I don't think I've ever been more underwhelmed when I saw a player in preseason practice than I was with Josh Wright. When I used to live in Syracuse, my father and I would head up to Manley dozens of times in the preseason to catch practice--and I used to do a lot of practice / player write-ups for an earlier incarnation of the board.

Wright was fast, but that was the extent of his D1 ability. He was slight of build, had a negligible handle, and was tremendously shaky offensively. He looked flat out AWFUL the first time I saw him, handling the ball against pressure. Made the same mistake over and over getting trapped against the sideline and making a weak and predictable jump pass back out toward the middle.

I knew we were in trouble with him the first time I saw him, and doubted he'd ever make an impact as a point guard here.

 

[orangefan13]

One of mine wasPaul Harris. He had the defense of a guard, the rebounding of a big, could run the floor with the ball at light speed, and was strong enough to post up against college centers.
But he always lacked the dribble breakdown and pullup for a undersized 3 which also hurt his posting up. Especially if Donte had came back and AO stayed healthy in 09-10. Devendorf, Rautins, Donte would have been nuts from the perimeter. imo Jr Rautins and Devendorf 08-09 was our best shooting two man team of the last 15 years.

Fab Melo in recent years gets a honorable. For what its worth I still wish the guy the best. Would have liked to have seen him give us a full year of 11-15 ppg offense before he left. So much potential.

Agree on Billy Edelin. Its rare to find a guard who can take his man into the lane at a slower pace.
I am hoping Ron patterson developes it becuase he lacks the dribbling finesse and dribbling into his three point shot. He does have a real long lateral sidestep (to the left especially) which is longer then any guard we have recruited in the last 10 years. And he has a constant pullup and a low to the ground speedy crossover back right to go with it. Plus he welcomes the physicallity.

 

[Chosen0ne]

Mike Jones

WHO?

 

[cto]

Yup. Bland is a good on in this topic. I'll echo Sekunda as well. It's difficult for me to say Walton because the kid never even made it to campus.

Oh, he made it to campus all right. He's even in the team's Christmas card picture from that year -- wearing #44. He just never made it onto the court.

 

[OttosBestFriend]

No one's mentioned Donte Greene... Just because he was drafted doesn't mean he ever lived up to the hype/potential. IMO, Donte could've been a top-5 'Cuse legend if he played 2 more years.

And to go along with a previous poster, I thought Dayshawn Wright was gonna be a forward we talked about for decades to come.

Same with Terrance Roberts... I expected the second coming of Derrick Coleman and we got a more athletic version of Jeremy McNeil.

Not sure why, but I always thought Luke Jackson would average 16-18 ppg, but it never happened.

Tiki Mayben was - according to some services during his frosh and soph high school years - the #1 recruit in America... But it was all downhill from there.

 

[Toga]

Michael Brown

 

[OrangeDW]

Surprised more have not said Paul Harris.

Biggest discrepancy between preseason hype and actual results that I can remember.

I'm surprised anyone has mentioned him. He averaged 14 and 9 his soph. year., he really doesn't fit here.

 

[SWC75]

Players who jumped to the pros should not be in this group- they must have "panned out" for the pros to have any interest.

Regarding players who transferred to another school- they only panned out if they played well for their other school. Most of them bounced around and never did anything.

Earl Duncan http://www.orangehoops.org/EDuncan.htm

and

Keith Hughes did well at Rutgers: http://www.orangehoops.org/khughes.htm

Bobby Lazor did well at Arizona State: http://www.thesundevils.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/bobby_lazor_28166.html

Richard Manning did well at Washington http://www.basketballreference.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=MANNIRI01

The thing is, they all played behind even better players: Sherman Douglas, Derrick Coleman, John Wallace and LeRon Ellis. You just wish they'd been more patient. The one we missed the most was Duncan who would have been the point guard we needed in 1989-90 when we had everything else. He's have been in the starting line-up with Stevie Thompson, Billy Owens, Derrick Coleman and LeRon Ellis with Dave Johnson, Mike Hopkins and Conrad McRae coming off the bench. Get outta our way!

As far as guys who stayed, the #1 guy has to be Edelin. As another poster has described, GMAC was a 2 guard forced into being a point guard. Edelin's drives to the basket would have set up Gerry's outside game perfectly. I agree that Paul Harris didn't live up to the hype but had a productive career in any case. He wasn't a bust.

 

[cuseattle]

NYS player of the year Andre Hawkins. The original Paul Harris.
Although PH was a much better player for us...

 

[HOFCeluck]

I'm surprised anyone has mentioned him. He averaged 14 and 9 his soph. year., he really doesn't fit here.

... and that's how much hype he had.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

You could argue about TRob and Mookie Watkins too, but they were who they were and stayed all four years. Terrence was never going to be a scorer.

I still wish we could have seen one more year from Mookie. He really seemed to be coming around his senior year. Don't forget the thumb injury that might have gotten him a medical redshirt early on in his career when he was lightly used anyway.

 

[Cadillac]

Other than perhaps Michael Edwards, I don't think I've ever been more underwhelmed when I saw a player in preseason practice than I was with Josh Wright. When I used to live in Syracuse, my father and I would head up to Manley dozens of times in the preseason to catch practice--and I used to do a lot of practice / player write-ups for an earlier incarnation of the board.

Wright was fast, but that was the extent of his D1 ability. He was slight of build, had a negligible handle, and was tremendously shaky offensively. He looked flat out AWFUL the first time I saw him, handling the ball against pressure. Made the same mistake over and over getting trapped against the sideline and making a weak and predictable jump pass back out toward the middle.

I knew we were in trouble with him the first time I saw him, and doubted he'd ever make an impact as a point guard here.

Good stuff. The roster was definitely favorable toward him early, with Billy, Louie, and an oftentimes overwhelmed GMac.

"Not ten games" was no hyperbole.

 

[Cadillac]

Surprised more have not said Paul Harris.

Biggest discrepancy between preseason hype and actual results that I can remember.

It has to be said, it was a message board given that he was a point guard.

That led to a lot of confusion when an unknown Flynn committed on the same day.

I think moqui came up with Kelvin Torbert but IIRC only if Paul was used at the 2 or 3.

 

[RoysRunts]

This seems like a good topic for the off season - which Syracuse players were you really excited about when we signed, that never really panned out?

Here's my list -

Rock Lloyd was totally different from typical Syracuse guards. I really think he could have been an interesting player for us, but supposedly he got in the dog house and didn't fight his way out and ended up transferring.

Lasean Howard had some great moments including an out of left field monster performance in over time late in his sophomore season (can't remember the opponent, but he was forced into playing time and responded in a huge way). As I recall, he ended up doing pretty well at the school he transferred to.

Eric Williams looked like a guy that was so close to being pretty good, but just never put it together. He could have been a really intriguing power forward.

Winfred Walton could have been an all-time great. Him not being able to suit up really hurt.

Any others you have a soft spot for?

Rodney Walker
Michael Lloyd
Rock Lloyd
Mike Jones
Glen Sekunda

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Michael Lloyd

Michael Lloyd? Were you hoping for another season? That's one of the really interesting names anyone has mentioned.

 

[Opus]

I'll pick on the foreigners.

Ongenaet : Yes he hustled and had moments but I always expected a little more.
Ovcina : Fell in love with the 3 point shot at which he was adequate at but not what I want from a center.
Papdakos : 7 footer out of Canada. He was athletic and mobile albeit thin. Had a good career at Mich St after and in Europe post college.

 

[RF2044]

Michael Lloyd? Were you hoping for another season? That's one of the really interesting names anyone has mentioned.

I liked Michael Lloyd a lot, and think he could have been a very good player for us had he stayed another year. Guy had NBA athleticism, and was playing PG for the first time in his career and just beginning to figure things out.

But I'm not sure that we go to the '96 championship game with him at the helm instead of Z. The stars really aligned for that team, with a superstar like John Wallace deferring to Z as the on the court quarterback.

Then again, maybe Lloyd would have shifted off the ball and given us more scoring than what Cipolla / Janulis provided. Guess we'll never know.

 

[OttoMets]

...

Earl Duncan is another one that really bothers me--maybe more than anybody else. Huge recruit, who just couldn't co-exist with Sherman. He bailed and went to Rutgers. Meanwhile, our 1990 team was freaking LOADED, but lacked a true point guard. If Duncan had stuck it out at SU, we would have on paper been so much better that year--maybe even national championship good.

Almost all of these are good choices (hey, it's easy to be bullish on players who only play here for a short time and don't fully develop), but if there's a best answer to this question, it's Duncan.

I don't know that the mindset of those late-'80s teams would ever have gotten us to a national championship, but I do know that Syracuse would have been the best team in the country in both 1989 and 1990 with Duncan on the roster. 40% three-point shooters who could play both guard positions were there only thing that was missing.

 

[OttoMets]

I had Dayshawn Wright penciled in as the next Ron Artest. Not sure the specifics on his departure but was sorry to never really get to see him play.

I remember Hopkins saying in the fall of 2004 that Wright was the best rebounder on the team (keep in mind that Warrick and Roberts were on that roster).

He didn't just not pan out; he kind of disappeared quietly into the night.

 

[ImperialOrange]

I remember Hopkins saying in the fall of 2004 that Wright was the best rebounder on the team (keep in mind that Warrick and Roberts were on that roster).

He didn't just not pan out; he kind of disappeared quietly into the night.

There was a friend or family member of his on this board that responded to some of my posts about him. Wonder if their still around to shed some light on it? Last time I heard they were trying to get Dayshawn to ply his trade overseas.

 

[OttoMets]

I wish Rick Jackson took basketball as seriously his junior year as he did his senior year. We would have won the title despite AO's injury.

Fitness-wise, that's a very good point.

Both bigs played so well against Villanova. Two nights later, on Senior Night, Ricky took the ball at the high post, made a spin move, and tried to dunk over the whole St. John's team. It was a remarkably fluid move, something I'd never seen him attempt before (I wonder if anyone has a clip of this). He missed, and Boeheim flipped out. He was really irate. Benched him for some time, and Jackson spent the next five games playing well below that Nova level.

His effort was awesome as a senior, but the tail end of 2010 was weird and disappointing.