If you were king for a day, what would you change about our program?

[AlaskaSU]

The most important variable for success is attractiveness to recruits. Talent is not the only factor but it is the most requisite factor. A lot of recruits write us off due to location and climate. Therefore, my magical command would be to make the capital investments that would give us facilities that are second to none; build an over-the-top player dorm, renovate the dome, do a phase II locker room upgrade (for each locker provide an exhaust fan, shoe dryer, dehumidifier, outlets for charging/powering electronics, individual player portraits, large mirror, etc.)

 

[moqui]

The most important variable for success is attractiveness to recruits. Talent is not the only factor but it is the most requisite factor. A lot of recruits write us off due to location and climate. Therefore, my magical command would be to make the capital investments that would give us facilities that are second to none; build an over-the-top player dorm, renovate the dome, do a phase II locker room upgrade (for each locker provide an exhaust fan, shoe dryer, dehumidifier, outlets for charging/powering electronics, individual player portraits, large mirror, etc.)

"i was gonna go to duke until i saw that $30 shoe dryer" said nobody ever

 

[cto]

Lifetime, first row courtside seats at dome - and not the ones behind the baskets either
Lifetime seats behind team bench to all away games (except Cameron Indoor - don't want nobody sweatin' on my knees)
24-7-365 access to Carmelo Anthony center

I have all that. Don't know what it's done for the team. But it's made me happy.

 

[Shenexon]

If I were king for a day, I'd give the program 5 years of stability and success. No drama, no sanctions, no injuries, no bad news...just a run of 5 years of good team players, teams in the top 10, and with a couple of more contenders before JB retires. If JB can wrangle some good years before he calls it quits, the program will have an easier time maintaining that after he leaves. I don't think I'd sell my soul to make that happen, but I'll think on it...

 

[MSOrange]

The most important variable for success is attractiveness to recruits. Talent is not the only factor but it is the most requisite factor. A lot of recruits write us off due to location and climate. Therefore, my magical command would be to make the capital investments that would give us facilities that are second to none; build an over-the-top player dorm, renovate the dome, do a phase II locker room upgrade (for each locker provide an exhaust fan, shoe dryer, dehumidifier, outlets for charging/powering electronics, individual player portraits, large mirror, etc.)

You throw out this idea time after time after time. It's so much easier when you also don't have to figure out how to finance it. Kansas and Kentucky dorms were financed by donors. Are you paying for ours?

 

[Forza Azzurri]

I have all that. Don't know what it's done for the team. But it's made me happy.

This was never about the team. All about me, myself & I.

If I'm King for a day, it's about me.

 

[Orangepace]

I think the program should offer scholarships to cheerleaders...

 

[OttoMets]

...

Only the band plays during time outs...no more ads

...

OK, let me re-number my priorities. This one comes first.

All the other ideas are next.

 

[OttoMets]

You took all the good ones, but I’d like to see the return of mid season non-con games like UCLA in 2000 and MSU in 2003.

But not like UCLA in 1999. I didn't enjoy that one nearly as much.

 

[RF2044]

i don't think this is absolutely necessary. i go back to andy rautins - nobody's idea of a true lead guard, but he flourished in that role on the 2010 team. the key - and this goes to several other of your points - is to not just recruiting physical types that fit the system, but to get guys like andy who are going to give you 100% buy in. that is the main thing i took from the recent jay wright interview. after a few down years for his program, he went all in on program guys first. i don't think you need to build solely around 4 year guys like wright is trying to do, but the short timers that you do get have to be fully on board with the system. especially at the lead guard position.

fwiw, i think we've got that from frank.

This is an interesting take on Andy. I don't necessarily agree that he was a lead guard, playing alongside Scoop / Triche -- but I definitely think he is a great example of my first bullet -- recruiting guys who are just basketball players. He had a tremendously high hoops IQ, he was versatile, saw the floor well, could handle / pass / shoot, and was an above average zone defender due to his anticipation of where the ball was going to go. He might not have been as dynamic an athlete as some players we've had, but he made up for it with skill.

 

[nzm136]

"i was gonna go to duke until i saw that $30 shoe dryer" said nobody ever

Try playing in soggy shoes!

 

[AZOrange]

I’d pay recruits more and cheat more.

 

[721Comstock]

I’d pay recruits more and cheat more.

Related:

I would have some regular students:
get the same ‘help’ from tutors that Fab & Southy did,
get jobs at the Y,
be made to take drug tests in spite of them in no way being required,
& get free rides now and again.

Bonus:
I would go back in time and have us outbid GaTech for Kenny Anderson.
And sit AO during the 2nd half of the BET game vs the Hoyas.

 

[Conrad13]

If I were king for a day, I'd give the program 5 years of stability and success. No drama, no sanctions, no injuries, no bad news...just a run of 5 years of good team players, teams in the top 10, and with a couple of more contenders before JB retires. If JB can wrangle some good years before he calls it quits, the program will have an easier time maintaining that after he leaves. I don't think I'd sell my soul to make that happen, but I'll think on it...

I already sold my soul to get into the Tournament so I can't help much.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

that is a WOW post - I have said many (but not all) similar things myself, but I have never come close to such a comprehensive post of great points all in one easy to use dossier. I think I know who the next coach in waiting should be.

Or at least be included on the next search committee...

 

[CuseFaninVT]

This is an absolutely horrific topic especially in light of SU getting in another NCAA tourney.

All this is is an opportunity for the critics, whiners and frustrated coaching geniuses to tell us yet another time how the program is mismanaged.

This is just regurgitating of the same old stuff these guys have been complaining about on here for years.

And there it is, Townie, like the legendary Phoenix, rises from the ashes to take on all JB complainers...

Odd considering how little we've seen of this townie fella prior to Sunday when the presence in the big dance was still a question mark.

 

[MGP]

Return blue curtain.
Return of player intro signs ("Who's He?, etc.)
Find the reincarnation of Pearl...

 

[CuseFaninVT]

No, that isn't the premise at all.

Getting our first choices or the top prospects isn't a part of any of what I discuss above-- instead, I talked about getting guys who have better basketball skills, in lieu of focusing on athletic archetype. Make that a secondary consideration instead of the primary.

I know I use Vermont in my discussions alot, but this feeds in perfectly with what was said during the pre-game to the UVM game the other day. Vermont prides itself on defense, but Coach Becker explicitly stated "we look for guys who are good offensively, knowing that we can teach them to play defense." They are the best in their league, and right up there with many of the big boys at 66 on this list.

NCAA Basketball Stats - NCAA BB Team Defensive Efficiency on TeamRankings.com

I think there is more to it, in terms of identifying guys who are willing to buy into the commitment to play hard on defense, but the point remains.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

This was never about the team. All about me, myself & I.

If I'm King for a day, it's about me.

What's the point in being King if it's not all about you?

 

[CuseFaninVT]

Try playing in soggy shoes!

Don't they bust out brand new skips for each game?

 

[HOFCeluck]

Return blue curtain.
.

Blue Curtain the poster, or Blue Curtain the curtain?

I would say yes to both. The board needs to be educated on professional arena court sizes. And the blue curtain was cool looking.

 

[sufandu]

This is an absolutely horrific topic especially in light of SU getting in another NCAA tourney.

All this is is an opportunity for the critics, whiners and frustrated coaching geniuses to tell us yet another time how the program is mismanaged.

This is just regurgitating of the same old stuff these guys have been complaining about on here for years.

Instead of highjacking a thread just say, "I'd keep everything exactly as it is," if you want to contribute to the discussion.

 

[cuseincincy]

Please note, this is not a thread intending / designed to bash Jim Boeheim. But if your preferences would be taken into account, what systemic changes would you like to see made for Syracuse University basketball?

Here's my list:

• Recruit more basketball PLAYERS -- we've had a lot of success recruiting a certain profile of athlete to maximize their fit for the zone defense. But this strategy [while it can certainly optimize the defense] is directly responsible for some of the offensive struggles we've had in recent years. Especially with respect to the backcourt / wing positions. My opinion only, but I believe that there is a direct correlation to the poor offense we've seen some seasons, and having a deficiency of guys who can pass, dribble, and shoot. Guys like James Southerland are great defensively in the zone, but being limited with respect to perimeter versatility hamstrings the offense, especially when we face good defensive teams. By no means am I advocating going back to a situation where we have a 6-3 guy like Josh Pace manning the back line of the zone. But I'd much rather have wings who can shoot, put the ball on the floor, set up teammates, etc. -- a 6-6 or 6-7 guy who can do those things [like Theo Pinson or the guys Villanova seems to have manning the 3 seemingly every year] would offer adequate size on the back line [a la Kris Joseph]. We have lots of athletes, we need more guys who have high levels of basketball skill -- especially on the perimeter positions.

• Expanded use of the bench -- Jim Boeheim isn't the only coach who uses a 7 player rotation, but this is one area where I philosophically differ, and would prefer to see a more expanded use of the bench. I'm not suggesting that we have to run platoons of 10-12 players like some teams. But given my druthers, I'd like to see our players NOT leading the nation in minutes played. Beyond getting a bit more rest, playing more guys would help develop the bench and also enable us to get after it defensively more aggressively. Which segues into my next point...

• Defensive diversification -- I have no problem whatsoever being a heavy base zone team. In fact, I wouldn't care if we play zone 95+ percent of the time. But there are times when teams either get into a groove playing against the zone, or we allow them to dictate game tempo. Being able to switch out of zone to force the opposition to adjust would be disruptive and force the other team to react instead of just settling into a comfort zone [pun intended]. We use a press as a situational option, but generally only when we're trailing by a substantial amount. My strong preference would be to see us switch it up more often, while still employing the zone as a differentiating base package that is challenging for most teams to prepare for / simulate in practice. Mixing things up would also facilitate the two previous bullets above, without having any square peg / round hole situations.

• Recruit true lead guards -- this correlates with my first bullet above, but takes it a step further. College basketball is a heavily guard-driven game, and if there is one position where you shouldn't sacrifice skill for size, it's at point guard. Combo guards might provide bigger targets for the opposition to shoot over up top, but what we sacrifice in terms of running the team isn't worth the trade off. And please note that JB has shown a willingness to recruit smaller point guards [examples--Flynn, GMac, Green last year], so it isn't unprecedented. But we shouldn't make trade offs with respect to the most important position on the floor.

• Recruit a full roster -- JB generally eschews recruiting a full roster -- in all likelihood, due to the fact that he doesn't play a ton of guys. Keeping an open scholarship [or two] also enables him to elevate walk ons to scholarship status, which has a beneficial effect on boosting our team's APR rating. But the sanctions dug deep, and provided us with an extreme glimpse of what happens when we don't have a full compliment of scholarship players, and have unanticipated attrition and / or injuries [or both]. If we used the bench more, then it wouldn't be difficult to have 11 or 12 guys on scholarship, and keep the majority of them happy. Having 6 or 7 guys playing due to injuries and other factors these past two seasons has been absurd, putting it mildly.

• Pick a recruiting style and COMMIT to it -- our program's success has long been tied to getting quality system fits who end up being "better" than their rankings most of the team. And true to form, some of our best teams have blended high quality four-year program types with a sprinkling of higher rated players. But it seems as though we've deviated from that strategy a bit since 2012. The type of athletes we recruit are attractive to the NBA, which is why we've had guys jump to the league -- even those that don't seem "ready." Further complicating the situation is that we rarely land blue chippers -- so the guys we bring in that jump early generally aren't dynamic enough to put the team on their backs and take us to the next level. So we get the worst of both worlds -- decent but not transcendent play for the most part, and then many of them bail before actualizing their potential. I believe that we're suffering from our in-between recruiting approach. We're never going to recruit like the UK,'s Duke's, Arizona's, or Kansas's of the world that land classes full of blue chip prospects every year. And our younger guys often appear perpetually disadvantaged playing against teams that recruit four year players and retain those guys for the full duration of their careers [examples of teams successfully deploying that strategy are Virginia, Villanova, and Notre Dame]. This ties to the previous bullet -- we need more four year program guys to balance out the ebbs-and-flows of attrition, to enhance depth, and to step into bigger, more important roles when they become upperclassmen. We've lacked that stability for several seasons [with the exception of the 2016 backcourt], to the detriment of team performance. We need to decide whether we're going all in on blue chippers, or all in on guys who stick around for a few seasons. Because being in the middle and failing to accomplish either of those things isn't getting the job done.

• Lighten the mood -- college basketball is serious business, and these coaches face a lot of stress. One of JB's strengths as a coach is to not wear his emotions on his sleeves, and to avoid ranting and raving on the sidelines like many coaches do. This calm demeanor rubs off on the team, even when things are going poorly. But JB can also be acerbic, with a sharp tongue. And his lack of filter can wear on the team -- especially without a "good cop" to balance him out. Seeing the video clip of our team reacting to making the tournament was incredible -- and a marked contrast to seeing a positive kid like Matt Moyer sitting on the bench sullen these past 10 games, while JB rips into him on the sidelines. Sometimes the people who are the best in their field make it to that level because they are relentless -- and JB is clearly no exception. But I wish that he would lighten up a bit on the players. I think it is costing him the close relational tie that he clearly has with guys from the 70s, 80s, 90s, and early 2000s teams -- that's why those players return in droves and follow the team around the nation during tournament time. I hate to see him lose touch with an entire generation of players from our program who've had a different experience than their predecessors. Let the kids have fun out there.

• Dictate tempo to the opposition, not the other way around -- too often, we settle into games and let the opponent dictate tempo while we sit back in zone. This is especially problematic when we face strong rebounding teams, who might miss a shot or two or three, but retain possessions by hitting the offensive boards hard. We used to run teams off of the floor -- I hate letting inferior teams hang around and shorten the game, which mitigates the talent difference. Even against teams that are better [on paper], I'd like to see us take it to them more, look to force turnovers that lead to run-out opportunities and easy scores in transition. ESPECIALLY given that we've been offensively challenged. At one point late in the conference tournament game against UNC, they showed a graphic that indicated that late in the game, we had ZERO fast break points. Zero. That's unacceptable.

Curious to hear what other ideas some of you might have.

Since you nailed so many I'd rather expound on your ideas:

• Recruit more basketball players - Could...Not...Agree...More! Athletes are a great complement to basketball players. When you find both you get All Americans.
• Expanded use of bench - I think I'm so conditioned to this I'm immune. But yes we absolutely should have 3 solid subs and 2 more guys that average 5-8 minutes per game. We'll get back there I'm confident.
• Defensive diversification - Now obviously I'm not a HOF'er but this has been one of my keys to success as a coach and it makes the game fun for the players. Throw in a possession of man with specific match up situations every once in a while. The scouts should be able to identify "when this guy goes out we can play man with these guys." Also switch up the zone. Throw a 1-3-1, 2-1-2. 3-2 at them. Make it uncomfortable and make them take time to figure out what you are doing. I also am a big use of the box and one and triangle and 2 along with full court zone traps. I'm sure the argument against this is that there is not time to be great at all of these. That's OK. Be great at the 2-3, but use the rest occasionally to catch the other team unprepared.
• Recruit true lead guards - Howard Washington, Kaleb Joseph, Tyler Ennis, Jonny Flynn, Josh Wright are the only true lead guards we've had since the National Title team. I won't debate whether GMac was a lead guard or not. This is sad. We've had some great guards since then but I wouldn't even consider MCW a true lead guard.
• Recruit a full roster - Eh! Its obviously short now but maybe what we need is a better read of who is coming back. We've been bitten numerous times by guys leaving before many thought they should. We've had quite a few non-players over the years taking up our last scholarship. Sometime you get stuck with them.
• Pick a Recruiting style and stick with it - This is a tough one. Whether he is ready or not I think many expected Battle to only be here 2 years and JB has replaced him with Hughes. Tyler Ennis, Jerami Grant and Tyler Lydon were 4 year players coming in. Add to that the 3rd Tyler not being as good as advertised and you've got some holes in any recruiting strategy. 4 star Top 50 PG Kaleb Joseph didn't help.
• Lighten the mood - No reason JB shouldnt being enjoying his last few years.
• Dictate the tempo - Agreed. My defensive diversification above would help. Some of this has to do with the players. Would love to see SU run more but not sure we can do it much with this years team without wearing them down.

A player like this would be nice again to push the tempo:

 

[Jasoncuse]

But


Stifle discussion? Stifle discussion? You gotta be kidding.

You obviously aren’t interested in discussion. You want sycophants and toadies to agree with you. You certainly aren’t interested in people like me disagreeing with you.

Seems to me that in 19,200 posts you’ve at least your share of the opportunity to discuss basketball.

Funny how this thread was going just fine with people giving their opinions on the hypothetical topic. Then you stepped in and made it known that NO MORE OPINIONS SHALL PASS. You sure put a lot of words on this site without actually saying anything.

 

[Jasoncuse]

You took all the good ones, but I’d like to see the return of mid season non-con games like UCLA in 2000 and MSU in 2003.

That would be fun, but that's ancient history in college hoops.

With 18-game conference schedules, and soon to be 20 in the ACC, this will definitely not be an option.

If it were an option, give me Georgetown on a mid-February Saturday/Sunday afternoon.