Is it probable our incoming freshman | Page 5 | Syracusefan.com

Is it probable our incoming freshman

Chris Bell would be nuts to transfer. There aren't many P5 programs that would give him the burn playing how he plays here. Lmao. Kid has it made.
I think that poster is implying Bell will not enjoy such burn after this season and will be given the talk
 
Those are decent players and good guys, but I guess it all depends on what you want Syracuse basketball to be. If we want to compete with Duke and UNC and contend for Final Fours, these guys simply won't cut it unless they are the depth. If we want to squeak by Colgate and get laughed at by Uconn fans, then we can roll with 4 years of them as the main event. There's really no way around it, so why wait? Red's a new HC and needs to make a move for his own sake.
You know what is going to be the great separator?
Cohesion. Strength. Maturity. Experience. Coaching! Not getting younger. Not brining in a wave of free agents/portal/wildcard guys. Sure, a hole or two can be plugged here or there. But for those of you that think that 7-9 guys on this roster are leaving (or being told to leave), you’re going to be disappointed. Which is really bad for the rest of us, because you’ll spend the next 8 months spewing the same buLlcr@p to your echo chamber chronies.

And to the echo chamber guy above who suggested that JJ might not be back, I am now beyond certain that you know nothing about basketball. Nothing. Starling is a foundation piece of the program. Sorry. Not sorry.
 
Sometimes, I see this board as an echo chamber for 5-6 posters (not pearl31). Somehow, if our five starters are not sure-fire first-rounders averaging 17-19ppg (in exactly 29-31 minutes) and every bench player does not show up on the All-ACC third team, then we need to start sending out calendar invites for "the talk" with multiple players? At midseason?
  • Bell is a helluva shooter and growing on the defensive end.
  • JT is gonna get better as an upperclassman. He's Mike Hopkins v.1994. A winning player.
  • Carey can help us win games in the coming years. He could be JB Reifsnyder for a new generation.
Please, let these kids play, let Red/staff coach and stop treating the program like your dreadful fantasy football team that you quit on mid-season because your QB got injured.

I agree whole-heartedly with your 1st paragraph. I also gree with your point on Bell.

JT can rebound for his size, and certainly looks to play hard. But I think he has been very underwhelming overall. His shot looks completely broken.

Carey - well, I don't think he'll ever do anything in an SU uniform. He is not a P5 player. Same can be said for Patterson & Hima. They're all projects. We need a massive upgrade at the 5.
 
You know what is going to be the great separator?
Cohesion. Strength. Maturity. Experience. Coaching! Not getting younger. Not brining in a wave of free agents/portal/wildcard guys. Sure, a hole or two can be plugged here or there. But for those of you that think that 7-9 guys on this roster are leaving (or being told to leave), you’re going to be disappointed. Which is really bad for the rest of us, because you’ll spend the next 8 months spewing the same buLlcr@p to your echo chamber chronies.

And to the echo chamber guy above who suggested that JJ might not be back, I am now beyond certain that you know nothing about basketball. Nothing. Starling is a foundation piece of the program. Sorry. Not sorry.
Agreed that 7-9 guys aren't leaving and I think Red's mostly rolling with his guys plus the two recruits. Also agree JJ's a foundational piece and I actually think he's going to be really good next year. And I agree being old is important in college basketball. But I disagree that bringing in transfers is the wrong approach -- everyone in college basketball understands you pretty much have to play the transfer game every year to be good, with very few exceptions. I'm not saying I like it, but that's where we're at. Losing Judah and adding the two talented freshmen isn't good enough -- we need to play the portal game at the very least at the SF position.
 
Cohesion. Strength. Maturity. Experience. Coaching! Not getting younger. Not brining in a wave of free agents/portal/wildcard guys.
We did that for the last decade under a HOF coach. Do you know where it got the program?

Two years ago we had a team that started three seniors and a junior (two of whom got NBA sniffs). That got us a losing season.
 
Agreed that 7-9 guys aren't leaving and I think Red's mostly rolling with his guys plus the two recruits. Also agree JJ's a foundational piece and I actually think he's going to be really good next year. And I agree being old is important in college basketball. But I disagree that bringing in transfers is the wrong approach -- everyone in college basketball understands you pretty much have to play the transfer game every year to be good, with very few exceptions. I'm not saying I like it, but that's where we're at. Losing Judah and adding the two talented freshmen isn't good enough -- we need to play the portal game at the very least at the SF position.
Red made an interesting comment during his radio appearance last night that made me think some guys are going to get "the talk". One of the questions was about how to close the gap with the top tier teams and his response was along the lines of they have more talented players than we do. He didnt say that directly but that was the vibe of the answer imo.

9:10 mark here
 
I don't see a starting spot for JT on a good team. He's only playable if he's shooting more than 35% from deep. He's a bigger, less athletic version of Bell. He can rebound a little for his size, but that's damning with faint praise; On a team with a functional big man rotation he's a 3 with the PF and C eating up most of the boards.
 
Agreed that 7-9 guys aren't leaving and I think Red's mostly rolling with his guys plus the two recruits. Also agree JJ's a foundational piece and I actually think he's going to be really good next year. And I agree being old is important in college basketball. But I disagree that bringing in transfers is the wrong approach -- everyone in college basketball understands you pretty much have to play the transfer game every year to be good, with very few exceptions. I'm not saying I like it, but that's where we're at. Losing Judah and adding the two talented freshmen isn't good enough -- we need to play the portal game at the very least at the SF position.
From my post:
“Sure, a hole or two can be plugged here or there,” (with the portal).
 
We did that for the last decade under a HOF coach. Do you know where it got the program?

Two years ago we had a team that started three seniors and a junior (two of whom got NBA sniffs). That got us a losing season.
Pretty obvious that Red is not going to pattern his program off JAB’s recruiting tendencies of his final 3-4 seasons, when he went all in a shooting and the tricked up Zone (aka zone adjustments). Our margin was so narrow, but it was as how he wanted to go out. It’s over and we cannot change it.

Now Red plays man (and a darn solid version of it BTW,), pushes the ball and promotes some levels of physicality. We’ve slowed down in recent games, but it won’t always be that way. He will want to maximize possessions so that our talent has ample opportunity to impact the game. That’ll increase with time. As you know, most of this roster is still has JAB’s fingerprints on it. That’ll dissipate in time, but I am quite certain Red has a late 80s SU paradigm in his head. That’s the program he chose to play for and how instead of playing point, he gets to push all the buttons.
 
I don't see a starting spot for JT on a good team. He's only playable if he's shooting more than 35% from deep. He's a bigger, less athletic version of Bell. He can rebound a little for his size, but that's damning with faint praise; On a team with a functional big man rotation he's a 3 with the PF and C eating up most of the boards.
If Taylor shot 35% from 3 consistently he’d be more valuable than Bell. Bell does nothing else. Taylor plays defense and rebounds on the defensive end as good as anyone else on the team. The athleticism is a moot point because Bell just doesn’t have a nose for the ball. He’s Mookie Jones.
 
If Taylor shot 35% from 3 consistently he’d be more valuable than Bell. Bell does nothing else. Taylor plays defense and rebounds on the defensive end as good as anyone else on the team. The athleticism is a moot point because Bell just doesn’t have a nose for the ball. He’s Mookie Jones.
We're 296th in the country in defensive rebounding percentage; "Rebounds on the defensive end as good as anyone else on the team" is hardly a compliment, even if it is better than Bell. And JT has two steals and two blocks in 138 minutes of ACC play.
 
We're 296th in the country in defensive rebounding percentage; "Rebounds on the defensive end as good as anyone else on the team" is hardly a compliment, even if it is better than Bell. And JT has two steals and two blocks in 138 minutes of ACC play.
I'm thinking that neither Bell nor Taylor are starters on a contender. The question is, do either of them stick around if we recruit a starter from the portal at their position?

Next season, we could easily have:

C: Portal, Brown, McLeod, Carey/Patterson
: Brown, Williams, Freeman, Taylor, Bell
: Portal, Williams, Freeman, Bell, Taylor
G: Copeland, Cuffe, Moore
G: Starling, Cuffe, Moore

You'll notice that's over roster limits. Do one or more of Williams/Taylor/Bell/McLeod leave if they get recruited over?

Back to the topic at hand... Brown is a below average shotblocker and rebounder at center, but he'd be very good at those skills compared to a forward. Getting a center who takes some of that load to be the starter helps two positions. Getting a portal forward that can do everything in one player that we currently get from Bell and Taylor combined would make the team great.
 
We're 296th in the country in defensive rebounding percentage; "Rebounds on the defensive end as good as anyone else on the team" is hardly a compliment, even if it is better than Bell. And JT has two steals and two blocks in 138 minutes of ACC play.
No kidding. That’s all we can compare it to.
 
I'm thinking that neither Bell nor Taylor are starters on a contender. The question is, do either of them stick around if we recruit a starter from the portal at their position?

Next season, we could easily have:

C: Portal, Brown, McLeod, Carey/Patterson
: Brown, Williams, Freeman, Taylor, Bell
: Portal, Williams, Freeman, Bell, Taylor
G: Copeland, Cuffe, Moore
G: Starling, Cuffe, Moore

You'll notice that's over roster limits. Do one or more of Williams/Taylor/Bell/McLeod leave if they get recruited over?

Back to the topic at hand... Brown is a below average shotblocker and rebounder at center, but he'd be very good at those skills compared to a forward. Getting a center who takes some of that load to be the starter helps two positions. Getting a portal forward that can do everything in one player that we currently get from Bell and Taylor combined would make the team great.
Freeman is starting next year. There‘s zero scenario he’s behind Benny.
 
We're 296th in the country in defensive rebounding percentage; "Rebounds on the defensive end as good as anyone else on the team" is hardly a compliment, even if it is better than Bell. And JT has two steals and two blocks in 138 minutes of ACC play.
Not to grave-dance, but it's telling that Justin was nowhere to be seen in winning time (nor should he have been).

I hoped his baseline drive would get him going, but he airballed a three on his next shot (in fairness, someone might have gotten a finger on it, couldn't tell for sure on TV). And he didn't have a single other two-point attempt even though Omier was out. He mostly just stands around. When Bell and Starling are hitting from deep like this and Copeland is being more active, it's tough to see a path to even a complementary role. He had as many rebounds as Bell and Starling today.

I'd love for him to turn it around but I'm just not seeing how he fits.
 
Last edited:
I'm thinking that neither Bell nor Taylor are starters on a contender. The question is, do either of them stick around if we recruit a starter from the portal at their position?

Next season, we could easily have:

C: Portal, Brown, McLeod, Carey/Patterson
: Brown, Williams, Freeman, Taylor, Bell
: Portal, Williams, Freeman, Bell, Taylor
G: Copeland, Cuffe, Moore
G: Starling, Cuffe, Moore

You'll notice that's over roster limits. Do one or more of Williams/Taylor/Bell/McLeod leave if they get recruited over?

Back to the topic at hand... Brown is a below average shotblocker and rebounder at center, but he'd be very good at those skills compared to a forward. Getting a center who takes some of that load to be the starter helps two positions. Getting a portal forward that can do everything in one player that we currently get from Bell and Taylor combined would make the team great.
Need to figure Westerly in there also!!
 
will be the two best players on the team next year?
Does the recruiting success of HCFB indicate to us that HCAA should move on from one of his assistants and bring in a proven, great recruiter, or does the incoming class give hope that he can recruit at a high level?

They will be freshmen.
 
Brown, Copeland, Starling, who knows - I’m not sold that Judah doesn’t make significantly more money at Cuse than some where else
 
Red made an interesting comment during his radio appearance last night that made me think some guys are going to get "the talk". One of the questions was about how to close the gap with the top tier teams and his response was along the lines of they have more talented players than we do. He didnt say that directly but that was the vibe of the answer imo.

9:10 mark here


The very next question, (mine) was about the potential of Chris Bell, so I don't think an acknowledgement that Duke and UNC currently have better players means we aren't going to bother developing the the plyers we have and just go out and get some better ones while giving the ones we have "the talk".
 
1706373565371.png


And this is why Freeman is the top NBA prospect we've had in awhile.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
170,597
Messages
4,900,762
Members
6,004
Latest member
fsaracene

Online statistics

Members online
19
Guests online
1,079
Total visitors
1,098


...
Top Bottom