Had we had Bazley, where would we have ended up?

[SUFan44]

Thought it might be interesting to speculate what the team could have done had Bazley wound up coming to Syracuse.

Where would he have fit in the lineup? Who would he have taken minutes from?

My guess is he would have played the 4 and possibly the 5 in a pinch (based solely on his height and blocked shot instincts, which appeared pretty good in his film). I also would guess that he could have been susceptible to foul trouble.

Offensively, he would have taken a ton of pressure off Battle & Howard, and would have been one of the primary playmakers on the team.

In any event, it's the offseason and figured it would be interesting to see what everyone thought...

 

[Sherman20]

If Howard hadn’t gotten injured and Bazley came, team would have been much improved, probably closer to top 4 in the ACC than 6th or 7th where we ended up.

 

[rrlbees]

 

[SUFan44]

View attachment 159444

Do you truly believe this?

 

[NorSyr66]

Who is Bazely? Better yet...where is Bazely. Hope he enjoyed his past year.

 

[SWC75]

He might have been a 6-9 version of Jalen Carey.

 

[EastCoast2]

He would've been Chris McCullough here. 10 ppg, some "wow did you see that" type plays, and some "c'mon man" plays on defense. He's probably 180 lbs, lighter than Dolezaj. I don't think he would've played C, even in a pinch.

 

[UnknownOrange]

I don't think we would have done much different. Maybe a 6 seed and win 2 games? The team just wasn't that good. It was overlooked because we won some tournament games last year and brought everyone back. Adding Bazley certainly would have helped but meh

 

[hoopsupstate]

He would have been mauled if he played center. He’s a name I doubt we ever here from again. I doubt he even gets drafted.

 

[OrangeDW]

We would’ve been better offensively and better on the boards. Probably worth a couple W’s.

 

[MSOrange]

We would’ve been better offensively and better on the boards. Probably worth a couple W’s.

Agree with this. Also, don't see him getting much time at center. I think he would have cut Oshae's minutes.

 

[Brooky03]

The wth losses wouldn't have happened

 

[Tom K.]

The wth losses wouldn't have happened

That's exactly what I think. Probably enough to confidently say we get back the UCONN and ODU losses. After that it's a toss up.

 

[Melancer46]

It's hard to say considering we've never seen him outside of HS level competition. The one time he played against college competition was one of those Nike camps and he was killed over how poorly he played. I was extremely excited to have him on the team but it's no guarantee that he would have lived up to the hype.

 

[RF2044]

We'll never know what he might have produced offensively -- impossible to gauge.

But from watching him several times, one thing that isn't uncertain is that Bazley could handle and pass, and would have brought quite a bit of versatility to an offense that lacked it.

Would have been interesting to see if Bazley could have served as a de facto lead guard during Frank's absence, a la Ben Simmons. Maybe.

 

[OHIORANGES]

On probation again!

 

[General20]

The short answer is, we would have been better with him. Its absolutely impossible to say how much better though.

In high school Bazley played center on defense and point guard on offense. Last year's team definitely could have used a point-center, but could Bazley have done either of those things effectively against ACC level competition? I have my doubts.

Bazley had it easy in high school, playing against athletically inferior opponents every night. I think I watched him play 4 times and never saw anybody taller than 6'5 guarding him. I suppose those people who think Girard is going to come in and play well should also think we lost a lot when Bazley left, and those who think Girard is going to struggle against the vastly improved competition shouldn't miss Bazley as much.

 

[SU94]

Thought it might be interesting to speculate what the team could have done had Bazley wound up coming to Syracuse.

Where would he have fit in the lineup? Who would he have taken minutes from?

My guess is he would have played the 4 and possibly the 5 in a pinch (based solely on his height and blocked shot instincts, which appeared pretty good in his film). I also would guess that he could have been susceptible to foul trouble.

Offensively, he would have taken a ton of pressure off Battle & Howard, and would have been one of the primary playmakers on the team.

In any event, it's the offseason and figured it would be interesting to see what everyone thought...

We now have three more years of Braswell to look forward to (I like his game).
So, Bazley's pump fake actually provided long-term value to the Syracuse program.
Thanks, Dude!

 

[sugrad68]

He would have been mauled if he played center. He’s a name I doubt we ever here from again. I doubt he even gets drafted.

His name comes up on most mock drafts. I saw one mock draft that had him right at the bottom of the 1st round. What I believe is significant is that sitting out this year will cost him in the draft. The drafting teams have no idea how he will play against non-HS players, where a good athlete can excel against lesser players and give no indication as to how good he is in reality.(e.g. Girard). Had Bazley played at SU this past year and had a good season, my guess is his draft stock would be higher than it is today.

 

[cuseinseattle]

This impossible to answer but we finished 20-14 so I'm going to say we win 5 more games. 25-9. We would have been much better on offense with his ball handling help. I think it would have taken pressure off other people. He would not have played the 5 though. What it would have really helped with was games when Eli or OB were not playing well we could have gone with someone else on the wing and it would have provided someone who could get in the lane and pass the ball. He was such an unselfish player.

 

[jdubs30]

We now have three more years of Braswell to look forward to (I like his game).
So, Bazley's pump fake actually provided long-term value to the Syracuse program.
Thanks, Dude!

Underrated take. If Bazley comes we are better, but how much? He still doesn’t solve our low post scoring issue.

But if he comes we don’t get Braswell who very well may end being a starter and big time contributor at some point

 

[tbonezone]

dude is / was considered a draft pick. who on this roster can make that claim ?

 

[SWC75]

He was such an unselfish player.

 

[orangenauburn]

Three more regular season wins
Three more tournament wins

 

[OrangeDW]

Underrated take. If Bazley comes we are better, but how much? He still doesn’t solve our low post scoring issue.

But if he comes we don’t get Braswell who very well may end being a starter and big time contributor at some point

Im pretty sure I saw him post up and make some moves when watching him on TV last year.

Not sure how well he would’ve done that at his weight this year, but he looked like he had a decent back to the basket game at the HS level.