JB on Hughes

[Sherman20]

I hate these quotes. We had Wes Johnson in 2010 and he didn’t get this hype.
Hughes numbers don’t add up to this hype.
This smacks of the comments on the 2016 team being NC good.
Just say little.

Um, yes he did. JB said similar kinds of things to the national media about Wes going into 2009-10. Some listened, some didn’t. We went into the season as a fringe top 25 team, but were clearly a top 5 team by January.

 

[rrlbees]

Wow imagine if he is our top offensive guy and the fallbacks are Battle Oshae and Carey. Who are they gonna guard

Frank

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

.

Good post. To add to your list...size and strength. Having met all the players in person last year, Hughes stood out physically to me. He is not the prototypical long and lean, dental floss type build. He is "bigger" than Battle, and a more fluid athlete.

From "meeting" them, how can you tell who is a "more fluid" athlete?

 

[AlaskaSU]

Agree with playing the best players the most minutes. JB has always done this.

It sounds like Hughes will be on that list. Even more so when you factor in that you have to score to win in the ACC. We won't know until we see them on the floor together, but if JB goes stretches with the 5 best offensive players on the floor - who can still play an effective zone - Battle, OB, Hughes are going to be 3 of the 5. Let the debate begin on who the next 2 will be. I can see Carey or Frank for 1 spot, and then Sid if fully healthy.

I surmise that if Sid is given too many minutes he will break down. If Marek can put on some weight I would like to see more of him at center. A beefed up Marek could make a nice center given his bb-IQ and new found mid-range jumper. What a treat it would be to have 5 scorers that ccould each create their own shot..

 

[Sherman20]

I won’t deny this.
I will be shocked if Hughes shooting percentages are a lot better.
I am sure he could score if he had high volume.
He is going to be the 3rd option which is good for our offense but he won’t get the shots so his percentage better be a lot better than ECU.
I honestly see this as JB pumping this kid in the media because he likes him.
Which is fine but I prefer speak softly and let him surprise.
Battle is the guy who should be getting the hype and pumped up tires.

No one is saying Eli is the second coming of Wes Johnson—at this point. They’re saying he’ll be a surprise the way Johnson was and that he’s a good Shooter. I’d give him a year of playing experience in the SU system before he’s really star-quality good. He’ll be a really good 4th offensive option on the team next season and a top 3 guy the following year.

 

[Col. Bleep]

Jim Boeheim to ESPN: 'This is the best team we've had in a long time'

For the coach, "long time" may mean "since last year."

 

[upperdeck]

I hope so , so my $100 furture has some meaning come spring.

 

[AlaskaSU]

Wes shot 29% and 33% from deep at Iowa State in his Freshman and Sophomore years. He shot 42% at Cuse. I'm not predicting 42% from Hughes, but a big jump from a guy transferring from a bad school to Syracuse has precedent.

Not bad for playing on a hairline fracture. In his frosh year he was second place for rookie of the year in the Big 12.

 

[moqui]

In his frosh year he was second place for rookie of the year in the Big 12.

incorrect
durant, dj augustin and sherron collins were all unanimous selections to the big xii rookie team that year. i don't see the vote totals anywhere, but wes was no better than 4th. that's not to take anything away from him, just a correction to the record . . . a myth has grown in these parts that wes was 2nd only to kevin durant that year.

 

[pearl31]

'round these parts, *insufferable* takes on a whole other meaning

 

[Lucid]

A beefed up Marek could make a nice center given his bb-IQ and new found mid-range jumper.

While I'm definitely high on Marek, this might be a smidge too high.

Don't want to be negative though, so I hope you're right!

 

[upperdeck]

If Marek has to play center for any reason other than its because it creates an advantage to us its always an issue. The fact we can use him in a pinch is great, but its better if we dont have to, unless its something we want to do.

 

[NYCorange]

It's hard to predict next year, but if Hughes establishes a huge role in the rotation, I can see it being Frank, not Marek who gets squeezed. You don't necessarily lose defense switching Hughes for Frank, and somehow it's easier for me to see Marek make a huge jump than it is for me to see Frank

That said, I think the most likely scenario is that Hughes plays 15 min a game and takes a few from Frank, Marek, and Oshae

 

[sufandu]

I hate these quotes. We had Wes Johnson in 2010 and he didn’t get this hype.
Hughes numbers don’t add up to this hype.
This smacks of the comments on the 2016 team being NC good.
Just say little.

I don't know that it was as wide spread in the media, but I remember JB saying about Wes after Flynn declared for the draft that we probably had somebody better (than Flynn) on the team.

 

[Qbobby]

Summer Jim Boeheim and Winter Jim Boeheim must have some interesting conversations with each other.

Whoa... did you ever notice that you never see those two in the same place at the same time?

 

[HOFCeluck]

JB was publicly pretty high on the 09/10 team before the season started, and it was a very poorly kept secret how good Wes was.

 

[reedny]

It's hard to predict next year, but if Hughes establishes a huge role in the rotation, I can see it being Frank, not Marek who gets squeezed. You don't necessarily lose defense switching Hughes for Frank, and somehow it's easier for me to see Marek make a huge jump than it is for me to see Frank

That said, I think the most likely scenario is that Hughes plays 15 min a game and takes a few from Frank, Marek, and Oshae

 

[dasher]

It's hard to predict next year, but if Hughes establishes a huge role in the rotation, I can see it being Frank, not Marek who gets squeezed. You don't necessarily lose defense switching Hughes for Frank, and somehow it's easier for me to see Marek make a huge jump than it is for me to see Frank

That said, I think the most likely scenario is that Hughes plays 15 min a game and takes a few from Frank, Marek, and Oshae

If Hughes is indeed one of the best offensive players we have had in a while, he plays more than 15 minutes a game

 

[SUFan44]

Couple things to back up Boeheim's Wes Johnson talk from the archives:

Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim was right all along about Wes Johnson

Both Cuse and ISU could end up in decent shape

 

[TexanMark]

I'd rather see the best players play the most. If Hughes is that good, it would be nice to see him on the court to stop doubleteaming of battle and oshae.

This isn't even comparable to the Waiters situation. We always had 5 very good players on the court, Marek was solid at the end of the year but if there's a legit player on the bench then he should be playing.

Marek is a glue guy...he needs 20-30 mins. I see him as a vital cog. JB will figure out whether he starts or is the 6th man.

 

[sutomcat]

If Hughes is indeed one of the best offensive players we have had in a while, he plays more than 15 minutes a game

Agreed. That is why GMac was hinting last week that Hughes is going to play a lot at forward. He is too good to not play and Battle and Howard are going to be hard to sit on the bench for long periods of time. Plus JB needs to find some time for Carey at guard.

I bet Hughes ends up playing 25-30 minutes most games, and even more against tough teams.

 

[orangefog]

Agreed. That is why GMac was hinting last week that Hughes is going to play a lot at forward. He is too good to not play and Battle and Howard are going to be hard to sit on the bench for long periods of time. Plus JB needs to find some time for Carey at guard.

I bet Hughes ends up playing 25-30 minutes most games, and even more against tough teams.

Yep, we’re finally back to having first world problems.

 

[Alsacs]

People forget Waiters/Triche/Jardine basically all played 20mpg in 2012.

Just because JB doesn’t like going deep typically we have become accustomed to it. If we have the guards to play he will play them. I wouldn’t mind if Carey and Howard split the minutes like Triche and Waiters.
Battle is getting 30-32mpg though.

 

[MSOrange]

Yep, we’re finally back to having first world problems.

Exactly. No offense to Bayer, that was a good memory against Michigan State. But it'll be nice having scholarship players to talk about in our depth chart this year, knock on wood.

 

[HOFCeluck]

I just heard half the rosters' ACLs rupture from here.