Hats off to the staff on this "reload"

[RF2044]

At the beginning of June, when Mali elected to remain in the draft, the coaching staff was faced with a situation where they only had 7--SEVEN--scholarship players returning! And of those 7, we were imbalanced by being frontcourt heavy, and only had two guards heading into next year. That meant limited depth and not much margin for error--especially in the backcourt, and not having the ability even practice 5 on 5 with scholarship players.

We thought we were in a good position to add a grad transfer who was a shooter, but who could also fill in at the point, who would have bolstered depth--but the staff lost him to Cal, and things looked dire.

Fast forward 6 weeks:

• We added Gillon, who is a better player than Mullins
• We added Taurean Thompson, after a topsy-turvy recruitment process
• Reportedly, we've added Andrew White

Net result:

• Backcourt depth has been significantly bolstered
• We added extensive experience, with two fifth year grad transfers
• We filled a major roster gap at SF
• We've added more size / versatility to an already talent rich frontcourt
• We've added lots of proven / double digit scoring pop to an unproven roster
• We added a LOT of shooting in Gillon / White

Hat's off to JB and the coaching staff for making things happen this summer! The roster composition looks a LOT different than it did at the beginning of June. Not saying that it is going to happen for sure--anything can happen in march madness, as we saw last year--but this has the makings of a top 10 team that could be a true title contender if a few things fall into place.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Pretty crazy to add that much impact so late in the recruiting cycle.

Odd set of circumstances got us there, but it's as promising a roster rally as we could have hoped for.

 

[Trueblue25]

Already looking forward to Duke/UVA/UL/Pitt/UNC etc.

 

[General20]

At the beginning of June, when Mali elected to remain in the draft, the coaching staff was faced with a situation where they only had 7--SEVEN--scholarship players returning! And of those 7, we were imbalanced by being frontcourt heavy, and only had two guards heading into next year. That meant limited depth and not much margin for error--especially in the backcourt.

We thought we were in a good position to add a grad transfer who was a shooter, but who could also fill in at the point, who would have bolstered depth--but the staff lost him to Cal, and things looked dire.

Fast forward 6 weeks:

• We added Gillon, who is a better player than Mullins
• We added Taurean Thompson, after a topsy-turvy recruitment process
• Reportedly, we've added Andrew White

Net result:

• Backcourt depth has been significantly bolstered
• We added extensive experience, with two fifth year grad transfers
• We filled a major roster gap at SF
• We've added more size / versatility to an already talent rich frontcourt
• We added a LOT of shooting in Gillon / White

Hat's off to JB and the coaching staff for making things happen this summer! The roster composition looks a LOT different than it did at the beginning of June. Not saying that it is going to happen for sure--anything can happen in march madness, as we saw last year--but this has the makings of a top 10 team that could be a true title contender if a few things fall into place.

Boy are you right on that. It was something like two years ago when I targeted this year as our last best chance to win a title under Boeheim. At that time I thought we needed to recruit Battle and Bryant to get there, but when Battle went to Michigan and Bryant went to Indiana, I pretty much let that idea go.

Then Battle switched to Syracuse and Chukwu transferred from Providence and I starting thinking about winning another championship again . . . so long as Malachi didn't go pro.

When Malachi did go pro, I still thought we'd be top 15 (we already had Gillon by that point) but not top 5. Now, assuming White comes, I can go back to dreaming of tournament success. That's a lot of hustling by the staff, and a lot to show for their hard work. Hall of fame performance.

 

[SUFan44]

Crazy thing is that even without Gillon/White, I think the team we had coming back with Battle/Thompson/Chukwu added would have been pretty good. Those two guys could put us into the upper echelon with a realistic chance of getting to April.

 

[Cusefan0307]

This is also great for future recruiting. People can stop their grumbling (myself included) that JB and staff don't grind as hard as some others.

 

[Deano]

Remember last year when some of the naysayers thought the sky was falling after the probation announcement and thought SU hoops was doomed and gloomed for the future. Would love to hear from some of those peeps now.

 

[tee1222]

Remember last year when some of the naysayers thought the sky was falling after the probation announcement and thought SU hoops was doomed and gloomed for the future. Would love to hear from some of those peeps now.

It's what the naysayers do.
They say nay.
While we say yay! And man, it feels so good to say it the right way.

 

[kuethstheman]

Remember last year when some of the naysayers thought the sky was falling after the probation announcement and thought SU hoops was doomed and gloomed for the future. Would love to hear from some of those peeps now.

Are you seriously calling out SU fans for feeling gloomy at that point?

 

[Deano]

Are you seriously calling out SU fans for feeling gloomy at that point?

Not at all. Some fans didn't have any faith at the time while a lot of us still did.

 

[JBA8481]

Did the NCAA actually help us?

 

[chugg21]

Remember last year when some of the naysayers thought the sky was falling after the probation announcement and thought SU hoops was doomed and gloomed for the future. Would love to hear from some of those peeps now.

Don't think too many people were jumping for joy after the Battle & Bryant commitments.

 

[two3zone]

Crazy thing is that even without Gillon/White, I think the team we had coming back with Battle/Thompson/Chukwu added would have been pretty good. Those two guys could put us into the upper echelon with a realistic chance of getting to April.

We'd have 2 guards if we didn't get Gillon, one who can't shoot and looked lost outside of his court vision and a freshman. We had 10 years of college basketball experience in our back court and were a bubble team, not sure how we would have been pretty good.

Gillon was probably our most important move this off season, if White can even come to 75% of his production he turns us into a legit contender. Can't downplay what Gillon and White bring to the table.

 

[CusefanATL]

Remember last year when some of the naysayers thought the sky was falling after the probation announcement and thought SU hoops was doomed and gloomed for the future. Would love to hear from some of those peeps now.

Another case of overblowing history. No one was saying Cuse hoops was falling into the dark ages.

Was their fear of the future, of course. If you weren't at least queesey than you have blind faith with nothing to back it up which is just as dumb as being a naysayer. No way you would have predicted Andrew white. He wasn't available.

You're never as good as you think you are, you're never as bad as you think you are.

 

[two3zone]

Remember last year when some of the naysayers thought the sky was falling after the probation announcement and thought SU hoops was doomed and gloomed for the future. Would love to hear from some of those peeps now.

I love posts like these. You guys take quotes from one or two idiots and spread them around like everybody was wrong and you were right. I don't get it.

As great a job the staff did filling the roster this year there are still a lot of question marks and a lot to be done. We are going to have 3 guys (maybe 4) in the starting lineup or get starters minutes, who've never played a minute of our complex defense.

 

[jr4750]

Definitely have seen JB make a few changes to his usually rigid routines, albeit mostly out of necessity. Rarely have we brought in transfers in his 40+ years, and on next years team we will have 3. Last year our best player was a transfer, although he was developed by our coaches. It's a new game. There is almost a free agent market in college hoops. With guys leaving early, its essential we play that game to stay on top. Kudos to the coaches for sure.

 

[SUOrangeSU]

get your tickets for phoenix!!!
Linda and I will shack everyone up from the website LOL

 

[Cusefan0307]

Don't think too many people were jumping for joy after the Battle & Bryant commitments.

We could have signed Bryant and we still wouldn't have beat UNC...

 

[two3zone]

get your tickets for phoenix!!!
Linda and I will shack everyone up from the website LOL

I'll take you up on that! Just a short ride from Vegas.

 

[dasher]

I love posts like these. You guys take quotes from one or two idiots and spread them around like everybody was wrong and you were right. I don't get it.

As great a job the staff did filling the roster this year there are still a lot of question marks and a lot to be done. We are going to have 3 guys (maybe 4) in the starting lineup or get starters minutes, who've never played a minute of our complex defense.

It wasn't just one or two idiots. there was a long thread about what the new normal was for Syracuse. How it would take years for us to get back to being Syracuse. Well, we went to the final four this year and we are loaded next year. You will forgive those of us who poo pooed the naysayers if we strut around a bit.

 

[Briancuse]

I have to admit after Mali declared, and before Gillon committed, I was worried, what a great job done by the staff to reload.

 

[two3zone]

It wasn't just one or two idiots. there was a long thread about what the new normal was for Syracuse. How it would take years for us to get back to being Syracuse. Well, we went to the final four this year and we are loaded next year. You will forgive those if us who poo pooed the naysayers if we strut around a bit.

I'm sure I'll be able to predict how that long thread went.

1) Doom and gloom, new norm topic.
2) Three people can in and bashed the OP
3) One guy came in and made a logical post on how the OP could be right and there is cause for concern.
4) 8 people came in and tore apart logical poster and OP.
5) The 8 people keep posting and quoting each other about how stupid these posts were.
6) Thread gets locked.

I don't understand how it's "poo pooing" when fans are generally concerned by the sanctions, losing big recruits, and guys leaving early that probably shouldn't. It's in poor taste to point fingers at the people predicting 28 wins last season just as much as it is to point fingers and laugh at those who didn't think the Final Four was a possibility.

I for one and very happy with where we are considering and it really shows how much work the staff did. We have ANY other staff in basketball, those doom and gloomers may have been right.

 

[skurey]

I will always be head of the doom and gloom camp.

But with what we were looking at the staff seems to have done as good as possible. Now to see if it translates to the court.

 

[dasher]

I'm sure I'll be able to predict how that long thread went.

1) Doom and gloom, new norm topic.
2) Three people can in and bashed the OP
3) One guy came in and made a logical post on how the OP could be right and there is cause for concern.
4) 8 people came in and tore apart logical poster and OP.
5) The 8 people keep posting and quoting each other about how stupid these posts were.
6) Thread gets locked.

I don't understand how it's "poo pooing" when fans are generally concerned by the sanctions, losing big recruits, and guys leaving early that probably shouldn't. It's in poor taste to point fingers at the people predicting 28 wins last season just as much as it is to point fingers and laugh at those who didn't think the Final Four was a possibility.

I for one and very happy with where we are considering and it really shows how much work the staff did. We have ANY other staff in basketball, those doom and gloomers may have been right.

That isn't what was poo pooed. Everyone knew the sanctions hurt us. Some of us just didn't think that it would destroy us. Not as long as JB was the head coach.

 

[br801]

Each post in this thread contains some truth.