It’s Portal time! | Page 64 | Syracusefan.com

It’s Portal time!

Orangezoo said:
Hypothetical. We recruit a better guard, he beats out Joe, Joe leaves or mentally checks out and chemistry takes a major blow. Are we better off after that because we have a better guard short and long term?

Honest question not trying to be snippy in case it sounds that way. I feel like we have made our bed and development is a better gamble than replacement.
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Let's be honest. For the level we want this team to be at, he is one of two weak links. He would be a terrific 3rd guard in a rotation. If he didn't have to play so much, and bring the ball up so much and could play off the ball, he would probably shoot 5 percent better from three.

Allen Griffin (the original) was "demoted", still remained a good teammate, still contributed, and then the following year, he was one of two leaders on a very good team. Just look at Greg Paulus. He lost his job as starting PG at Duke, but he remained an important contributor his senior year.

So, if you're saying that Joe's ego wouldn't permit that, well, then he's not being the best teammate. And if he decided to leave, would we better for it? Probably not, because we'd be losing some shooting, but we'd probably be better defensively, and could potentially have a better creator and distributor with the ball.

Joe is clearly an ACC caliber player. But he's not the guy who is going to start for an ACC champ, in my opinion. So whether we can improve our ceiling as a team by recruiting over him (as happens in so many sports, in so many places), depends on who we get, right?
 
Orangezoo said:
Let's approach this differently. So who in the Portal would check these boxes?

1- Far and away comes in as best PG on the team with no questions asked.
2- Doesn't ruin our chances of someone like Copeland or JJS or would be here long enough for either to be critical.
3- Is a good kid/leader to bring this team together
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I’ll bite for the fun, Jalen Pickett a Rochester kid transferring from Siena. No shot of him coming here (gearing from Baylor, Texas, UVA, among others) but for the sake of your question it fits.

1- averaged about 14pts, 5boards, 5 assist over 3 years. 35% from 3.
2- max of two years remaining of eligibility
3-again, averaged 5 assist or so all 3 years at Siena, backbone of their team. One of the best midmajor playmakers and floor generals in the nation over the last couple years.
 
IthacaMatt said:
Let's be honest. For the level we want this team to be at, he is one of two weak links. He would be a terrific 3rd guard in a rotation. If he didn't have to play so much, and bring the ball up so much and could play off the ball, he would probably shoot 5 percent better from three.

Allen Griffin (the original) was "demoted", still remained a good teammate, still contributed, and then the following year, he was one of two leaders on a very good team. Just look at Greg Paulus. He lost his job as starting PG at Duke, but he remained an important contributor his senior year.

So, if you're saying that Joe's ego wouldn't permit that, well, then he's not being the best teammate. And if he decided to leave, would we better for it? Probably not, because we'd be losing some shooting, but we'd probably be better defensively, and could potentially have a better creator and distributor with the ball.

Joe is clearly an ACC caliber player. But he's not the guy who is going to start for an ACC champ, in my opinion. So whether we can improve our ceiling as a team by recruiting over him (as happens in so many sports, in so many places), depends on who we get, right?
Expand...

Yeah I mean the truth is the truth.

I don't think Kadary was ever all in. For whatever reason be it because of JB, his teammates, other coaches, family whatever. Similar to that, while I know he is tight with Buddy and also Symir, I don't think Joe was or is either. Both are kids heavily invested in themselves first.

We have had plenty of kids come through who shared that mindset but I think it's tough when both your PGs feel that way. And I don't care about it being your favorite school growing up it's about who you are as a player and what motivates you. Dion was like that too and was huge for us. So in no way do I knock them for not being all in and having some selfish tendencies.

I think however we sit here now in a tough position at PG because sometimes you get talented guys but things don't workout as planned or mesh. Then those guys are built into the fabric of the team and it's hard to simply replace them with someone better and things are all hunky dory.

Outside maybe a select few, we are all at a disadvantage to the aura around the team off the dome floor. It makes it frustrating and perplexing.

My personal opinion is it's better to go all in on the 22 class and hope Symir and Joe make big jumps as players. With it unlikely there is a player who is a fit, a better talent and doesn't monopolize future recruits in the portal it's about going with what we have.

Ennis going pro, Joseph not panning out, Carey not panning out, Howard being a roller coaster- all got us where we are today or played a role. I think if we are going to break the cycle after having lost Kadary in a pandemic year to add on our best shot is the 22 class.
 
Last edited:
littlereg said:
I’ll bite for the fun, Jalen Pickett a Rochester kid transferring from Siena. No shot of him coming here (gearing from Baylor, Texas, UVA, among others) but for the sake of your question it fits.

1- averaged about 14pts, 5boards, 5 assist over 3 years. 35% from 3.
2- max of two years remaining of eligibility
3-again, averaged 5 assist or so all 3 years at Siena, backbone of their team. One of the best midmajor playmakers and floor generals in the nation over the last couple years.
Expand...

Pickett is intriguing, being a mid major and local kid and possibly check-in off all 3.
 
cliftonparksufan said:
All MAAC 1st team three straight years including MAAC POY. JAB will need to pull out whatever speech he gave Juli and give that to Jalen.
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I understand what you mean but just reading that without context is depressing.
 
Orangezoo said:
Pickett is intriguing, being a mid major and local kid and possibly check-in off all 3.
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I said this somewhere else and no hate towards symir because I’m quietly optimistic with him, but if Pickett came available before Symir I would’ve loved to see us push for him and wonder if we would’ve reached out.
 
I remember in 2009 when we lost Jonny, Paul, Devo (and Kristoff) we ended up doing pretty well the following year even though we had little to no hype and low expectations. Now if only Benny could be on the same level as Wes ha.
 
Cuse1055 said:
I remember in 2009 when we lost Jonny, Paul, Devo (and Kristoff) we ended up doing pretty well the following year even though we had little to no hype and low expectations. Now if only Benny could be on the same level as Wes ha.
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We had four guys who played 25 plus minutes returning.
 
two3zone said:
We added Symir and Swider (Jimmy coming soon) while losing Griffin, Q, Kadary, Marek, Kadary, and Woody (every one of them had the ability stay) and we’re at a win? Our team leaving would crush our current roster.
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I know the need to constantly spit out content but I find these lists are kind of useless (even when my team is on it). You guys did clean up in terms of bringing in talent and UConn still hasn’t landed anyone. But on the flip side UConn is returning two important 5th year seniors, losing one player to graduation and Bouknight to draft so I’m pretty happy. I can only imagine what the lists will look like at the end of the summer haha.
 
Cuse1055 said:
Andy, AO, Rick and who else? Scoop was coming off injury and sat out, Kris didn’t play 25 the previous year as a frosh, Triche was a frosh, and Wes sat out as a transfer.
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RickJack averaged 22 / game.

AO & Rautins were the only 2 guys over 25+ a game who returned.

KrisJo averaged < 14 / game

There was nobody else.
Except for Mookie Jones - in his mind.
 
littlereg said:
I’ll bite for the fun, Jalen Pickett a Rochester kid transferring from Siena. No shot of him coming here (gearing from Baylor, Texas, UVA, among others) but for the sake of your question it fits.

1- averaged about 14pts, 5boards, 5 assist over 3 years. 35% from 3.
2- max of two years remaining of eligibility
3-again, averaged 5 assist or so all 3 years at Siena, backbone of their team. One of the best midmajor playmakers and floor generals in the nation over the last couple years.
Expand...
He can’t go left ;)
 
721Comstock said:
RickJack averaged 22 / game.

AO & Rautins were the only 2 guys over 25+ a game who returned.

KrisJo averaged < 14 / game

There was nobody else.
Except for Mookie Jones - in his mind.
Expand...

Thanks, I figured Rick was close and gave him the benefit of the doubt. So needless to say we have just as much experience coming back next year as that team did. I’m not saying we’ll be anywhere near that team but some of the expectations may be similar. Hopefully the product on the court is similar too.
 
721Comstock said:
RickJack averaged 22 / game.

AO & Rautins were the only 2 guys over 25+ a game who returned.

KrisJo averaged < 14 / game

There was nobody else.
Except for Mookie Jones - in his mind.
Expand...
Scoop averaged 20 the year before, he didn’t play that year.
 
Cuse1055 said:
Scoop sat out the previous season due to injury and, as 721Comstock mentioned, Rick averaged less than 25.
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Regardless, switch it to 20, we had a LOT more experience than we do this year coming back.
 
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