Honest question. Is Swider everything we expected?

[kcsu]

I think he has done just fine. He hustles and works the boards. His shot was too flat in the beginning of the year but the last 6 games or so he has improved his arc and his shot is dropping. If he works on his dribble drive in the off season, he can really become a weapon next year. Hope he comes back

 

[Bball44]

I think he has done just fine. He hustles and works the boards. His shot was too flat in the beginning of the year but the last 6 games or so he has improved his arc and his shot is dropping. If he works on his dribble drive in the off season, he can really become a weapon next year. Hope he comes back

Playing another year at SU should make him a fan favorite like Elijah was.

 

[CousCuse]

Do people here think that a guy transferring for a starting role, changing every aspect of his daily life, should just come in and kill it? His shooting average will go up and he will make better decisions as he gets more comfortable.

Couscuse said this on January 11.

 

[orange79]

Couscuse said this on January 11.

J/K. Good call.

 

[two3zone]

View attachment 213815


Good call.

 

[pearl31]

Couscuse said this on January 11.

George likes his Kung Pau spicy.

 

[sweetpea]

Yeah same here. Another kid who while starting at Nova feels completely orange and adding a year to that would be great. Also another kid who has future coach written all over him to me if he doesn't go with sports announcer first.

What is it about Cole that leads you to believe that he is a future coach or announcer?

 

[Orangezoo]

What is it about Cole that leads you to believe that he is a future coach or announcer?

Leadership and communication skills with understanding of the game.

He has spoken about interest in sports journalism before and is very comfortable in interviews.

 

[two3zone]

What is it about Cole that leads you to believe that he is a future coach or announcer?

I see 4 future coaches just in our starting lineup alone.

 

[DoctorBombay]

George likes his Kung Pau spicy.

Blue Horseshoe Loves Anacott Steel?

 

[Dinkyspond]

I am kind of surprised about the talk of this being Cole's only year at Cuse. I don’t see him getting drafted. Is he G-League potential or overseas? I think he could kill it with another year in college, he could be the MAN next year at Cuse and show up in draft boards and projections.

 

[IthacaMatt]

I am kind of surprised about the talk of this being Cole's only year at Cuse. I don’t see him getting drafted. Is he G-League potential or overseas? I think he could kill it with another year in college, he could be the MAN next year at Cuse and show up in draft boards and projections.

I think he's next year's leading scorer, closely followed by Girard (hopefully mostly playing the 2). If both the Boeheims are gone, this can be quite a good team. We won't have elite athleticism, but it will be a lot better.

The whole key is keeping Jesse and Benny, and them feeling that with both sons gone, they'll get a fair shake. But Boeheim has not been particularly nice with either of them this year. (And Frank, too.)

Imagine:

PG: Copeland / Girard / Mintz ?
SG: Girard / Justin Taylor
SF: Benny / Chris Bunch
PF: Cole / Maliq Brown / Peter Carey ?
C: Jesse / Frank / Peter Carey

I could see Cole, Girard and Jesse all around 16 PPG next year, and making up a tremendous foundation coming back like we haven't had for almost 10 years.

You look to young guys for effort and for promise. And for athleticism. This group looks pretty good. If Mintz comes that's a nice surprise, but will we lose Copeland? I'd like to keep the tall PG, personally, if we are forced to choose. It makes our defense way better.

If Mintz is a true combo, then (a) is he a good enough PG, or learning on the job? and (b) I think either Copeland or Justin Taylor (who has been the glue to bring a lot of these guys into this year's team ...) is going to be unhappy with their minutes freshman year, and can hopefully see to the following year.

You'll notice I didn't mention Symir. If Copeland flops or Mintz never arrives, then Symir will be better, and will allow Joe to play more off the ball, too.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Remember when Southy made a record 9 3-pointers and scored 35 points in our win against Arkansas on their home court? In our Final Four season. Those were the days…. Is Cole capable of that? I don’t know the answer but his shot is a bit flat and he seems to lack confidence.

Throwback Thursday: James Southerland sinks nine 3-pointers to lead Syracuse over Arkansas

On the heels of Trevor Cooney's record-tying 3-point night, let's remember what James Southerland did last year.

www.syracuse.com

Cole has already hit 5 this season. If he's back next season, 7 is hardly unreasonable.

Only a handful of our greatest shooters have made 7 threes in a game - GMac, Shump, Southerland, probably Andy, I think Buddy has hit that number a couple times. How many more are there?

 

[IthacaMatt]

I think he has done just fine. He hustles and works the boards. His shot was too flat in the beginning of the year but the last 6 games or so he has improved his arc and his shot is dropping. If he works on his dribble drive in the off season, he can really become a weapon next year. Hope he comes back

He just needs a couple quick moves, to get the defender off balance. That was the key move that Troy Weaver taught to Melo, Hak and a few guys to follow; the use of the jab step. It was still kind of new back then.

 

[jgeorge322]

I think he's next year's leading scorer, closely followed by Girard (hopefully mostly playing the 2). If both the Boeheims are gone, this can be quite a good team. We won't have elite athleticism, but it will be a lot better.

The whole key is keeping Jesse and Benny, and them feeling that with both sons gone, they'll get a fair shake. But Boeheim has not been particularly nice with either of them this year. (And Frank, too.)

Imagine:

PG: Copeland / Girard / Mintz ?
SG: Girard / Justin Taylor
SF: Benny / Chris Bunch
PF: Cole / Maliq Brown / Peter Carey ?
C: Jesse / Frank / Peter Carey

I could see Cole, Girard and Jesse all around 16 PPG next year, and making up a tremendous foundation coming back like we haven't had for almost 10 years.

You look to young guys for effort and for promise. And for athleticism. This group looks pretty good. If Mintz comes that's a nice surprise, but will we lose Copeland? I'd like to keep the tall PG, personally, if we are forced to choose. It makes our defense way better.

If Mintz is a true combo, then (a) is he a good enough PG, or learning on the job? and (b) I think either Copeland or Justin Taylor (who has been the glue to bring a lot of these guys into this year's team ...) is going to be unhappy with their minutes freshman year, and can hopefully see to the following year.

You'll notice I didn't mention Symir. If Copeland flops or Mintz never arrives, then Symir will be better, and will allow Joe to play more off the ball, too.

That lineup is pretty bad… i much rather see us start symir w joe at the 2. Then we need benny to make a huge leap and to find another servicable guard in the portal to even think about being good.

 

[IthacaMatt]

That lineup is pretty bad… i much rather see us start symir w joe at the 2. Then we need benny to make a huge leap and to find another servicable guard in the portal to even think about being good.

Copeland has shown that at the prep level he can get to the rim at will. Symir is an adventure whether he can make a layup. If we get this Mintz kid late in the cycle, that gives us at least a Jalen Carey to Jonny Flynn kind of a player, depending upon ability to create for others, and that natural moxie that other kids respect and feed off of, not some fake macho stuff.

 

[IthacaMatt]

That lineup is pretty bad… i much rather see us start symir w joe at the 2. Then we need benny to make a huge leap and to find another servicable guard in the portal to even think about being good.

As long as you don't think "Run it back again" is the right strategy, I'm willing to listen to any reasonable ideas.

This Oak Hill Combo Guard that they are now talking to is that guard that you're looking for, closest available option, anyway, and Oak Hill has given us several really good players.

 

[jgeorge322]

Copeland has shown that at the prep level he can get to the rim at will. Symir is an adventure whether he can make a layup. If we get this Mintz kid late in the cycle, that gives us at least a Jalen Carey to Jonny Flynn kind of a player, depending upon ability to create for others, and that natural moxie that other kids respect and feed off of, not some fake macho stuff.

Copeland and Taylor might be good down the line but I watched a game and came away meh.

 

[jgeorge322]

As long as you don't think "Run it back again" is the right strategy, I'm willing to listen to any reasonable ideas.

This Oak Hill Combo Guard that they are now talking to is that guard that you're looking for, closest available option, anyway, and Oak Hill has given us several really good players.

Honestly, dont know that I want to run it back but having our best player leave and bringing in a bunch of moderately rated freshman is not the solution.

 

[cali315phan]

I see 4 future coaches just in our starting lineup alone.

A whole bunch of gym rats eh? Some real lunch pal guys? First in the gym, last out of the gym kinda guys? Not the most athletic but play with a ton of heart kinda guys?

 

[two3zone]

A whole bunch of gun rats eh? Some real lunch pal guys? First in the gym, last out of the gym kinda guys? Not the most athletic but play with a ton of heart kinda guys?

Scrappy, high iq.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Copeland and Taylor might be good down the line but I watched a game and came away meh.

When Copeland gets either his hips or his shoulders past a defender, he owns the lane. He sees really well, and he can finish with authority. He can't make a three, but we've had lots of guys like that these past 10 years.

If you're a soccer fan, there is this Brazilian defender named David Luiz, who is about retired now. But at his peak, he was a high-risk, high-reward kind of player. Lots of moxie, sometimes made bad decisions, even decisions that could cost you games. But he could also win games all by himself.

Copeland is going to be one of those kinds of guys, kind of like Scoop Jardine or Michael Carter-Williams. He's not quite at their respective levels right now, but he's in a great teaching environment, playing with a true friend so he doesn't get homesick. IMG is his prep school this year. He is getting good competition, and really good practices, with other talented players who all want to make it to the next level. He will contribute next year. Book it. I make a lot of good calls on players.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Jesse, Frank, Cole, Benny, Girard, plus about 5 or 6 on the bench who can play pretty well, if they get a chance.

You'll have 3 of the top 10-15 scorers in the ACC, one of the leading shot blockers, a couple guys who shoot near 90% from the line to make sure you win close games, more athletes on the perimeter.

Not all of them them work out, but some of them will. With the scorers and defenders we have returning, adding 5 or 6 young guys is going to give our players the competition they need to bring out their best.

I think that's a better team than we've had in years, honestly. Certainly since the Tyus Battle's freshman year. I think that was 2017. It took too long to get the new transfers to learn the defense (and I think we went around 8-5 in the preseason, pretty much dooming our season from the start).

But there were 8 really good players on that team. That was a talented team, with a really good mix, but it took them too long to figure it out.

 

[stlorange]

If benny is our starting forward next year we're in trouble. I think jb will go to the portal to get a starter in his place. benny can continue to hopefully improve and, unlike this year, be productive in limited minutes when he gets in. His time is 2-3 years away.

 

[IthacaMatt]

If benny is our starting forward next year we're in trouble. I think jb will go to the portal to get a starter in his place. benny can continue to hopefully improve and, unlike this year, be productive in limited minutes when he gets in. His time is 2-3 years away.

Benny may make a leap. And if we don't play him, he won't be here the following year. He was too highly rated.