Maliq Brown to Duke

[Fly Rodder]

I trust that Red knows what he wants.

I'm sure he does, but he needs to be a lot more successful with his players that he brings in than he was this year. He went 0-4 on transfers last season.

 

[Cusefan0307]

I wouldn't put money on that. I think Va tech might be a place that Brown ends up at. And last I looked, they might not have 5 guys to start most games.

You don’t think he can do better than Virginia Tech? I assume Virginia and Maryland would both be involved here. Possibly any other team in the SE. Heck I wouldn’t be surprised if Pitino tampered.

 

[tbonezone]

Cuffe's production is replaceable with literally any other guard in D1.

definitely an off the cuffe remark

 

[UpstateSM]

I


Cue the non response.

We obviously aren't going to make a bet on a basketball game that's taking place in 7 months and my post never said we were going to lose but good "gotcha." There's your response. JFC.

 

[OmahaCuse]

He needs to be Melo good. At minimum, he needs to be as good as a junior Maliq could be playing his best position. Best case scenario he needs to be All ACC good to compensate for Bell & JJ.

What if Bell, JJ and Cuffe improve, throw in Westry that a pretty solid group of returners

 

[Scotch]

He might (good lord I hope) improve upon his 5 blocks from last season, but he simply can't jump. He looks out of shape. My guess is that will not change in Syracuse. At any rate, I don't think expecting him to suddenly become an adequate rim protector is a reasonable expectation. The turnovers can definitely be improved.

I can't say I know who the centers are that are feasible options for us, so maybe Lampkin is simply the best we can do. In a perfect world, Lampkin does not have the skillset that I would prioritize in a center. I think the rebounding, screen setting, and ability to be an offensive hub can all provide value to us. I definitely fear that his lack of shot blocking ability (and general lack of mobility) will be a terrible match with our current returning starters. Donnie should theoretically help and we'll see what happens at PG, but my current expectation is that our perimeter defense will struggle again next season and if that's the case, it'll probably be another year of teams just having layup lines.

He certainly plays below the rim. It would be great to have another scoring option on offense but man I'd love a rim protector.

 

[OmahaCuse]

re-read the post, "a kid who hasn’t played D1 basketball in two years"

Cuffe's production is replaceable with literally any other guard in D1.

He came on at the end of the year after not playing for 2. Kid can be explosive and a very good on ball defender. Very good shooter also.

 

[pearl31]

letting guys go because we think they aren’t good enough or we want someone else and the next guy is worse

Is this what's happening with Maliq?

 

[Fly Rodder]

You don’t think he can do better than Virginia Texh? I assume Virginia and Maryland would both be involved here. Possibly any other team in the SE. Heck I wouldn’t be surprised if Pitino tampered.

I'd bet UVA, too. They had a big frosh center this season and their two forwards were grad transfers this year and not very good. Maliq would be a force for Tony Bennett and he loves him good defensive players who can reasonably guard anyone.

What if Bell, JJ and Cuffe improve, throw in Westry that a pretty solid group of returners

You going to bet your house on those guys? What ifs are fine and dandy, but they don't always work out and in fact, very few do. This season, everyone was betting on Judah improving and JJ being an upgrade over JG3. Neither happened.

Again, a decade of conference irrelevance. It's the same posts every March and April. There's a search function. Oooh Mat Moyer is gonna improve! Big leap from Roberson next season! Frank is going to be awesome with another year! What if McCullough comes back!

 

[pearl31]

A real 4 who hasn't played D1 basketball game, is skinny and is going to be banging against grown men, a real 5 who hasn't been signed yet, and a real 1 who hasn't been identified let alone signed yet.

Here are the the top 10 Syracuse players in WAR* the last two seasons on two teams that didn't make the bubble of the tourney:
1) Jesse Edwards (SR 2022-23) 5.1 - Transfer out.
2) Maliq Brown (SO 2023-24) 4.3 - Transfer out.
3) Judah Mintz (SO 2023-24) 3.5 - Pro/Return/Portal
4) Judah Mintz (FR 2022-23) 3.2 - Pro attempt, returned and did not markedly improve.
5) Joseph Girard (SR 2022-23) 2.3 - Transfer out.
6) Chris Bell (SO 2023-24) 2.2 - "Red loves him, he's going to be a key component"
7) Quadir Copeland (SO 2023-24) 2.2 - Transfer out.
8) Maliq Brown (FR 2022-23) 2.1 - Transfer out.
9) JJ Starling (SO 2023-24) 1.8 - 3rd in ACC in minutes per game., key component to 24-25.
10) Benny Williams (SO 2022-23) 1.3 - Retained, dismissed in Junior year.

Last season, the team needed a guard to potentially replace Judah, a more effective 2G than JG3 and a dynamic wing scorer. The staff pulled in a less effective 2G (1.8 WS versus 4.6WS), a G/wing who was injured all season (0.0 WS) and an ineffective center who ended up injured (0.8WS). For example, Clemson, to name a comparable ACC team (non-Duke/UNC division), lost two guys to graduation from their 22-23 team and no other starters/significant players (maybe Middlebrooks but he had only played about the same number of minutes as Cuffe). They added two transfers: JG3 (4.6 WS) and a bench piece in Jack Clark (1.7 WS).


* If anyone thinks these are good WAR numbers, only Jesse (5th) and Maliq (17th) were top-25 (!) in the ACC in that season. A 3 to 4 WS season is probably the bar for a starter on a tourney team.

Is your position that the staff pushed out Jesse and Maliq?
And is it your position that Copeland should not be leaving?

 

[Cusefan0307]

Is this what's happening with Maliq?

I don’t know, but I picked the wrong day to have a day off because it’s entirely consumed about the past 10 hours I’ve been awake

 

[Hopkins16]

Losing Brown hurt so much that I have waited till now to say something. He is a 4 who at the 5 spot has trouble against competent 5s. With Freeman coming in, Brown would be expected to split minutes at the 4 and 5, but realistically, most of his minutes would be at the 5 which is not desirable for him or for the team. If Freeman comes in and competently holds down the 4 both offensively and defensively, and we can portal in a legit center to split minutes with McLeod, we could come out ahead with the changes. We still need one or both Hima and Patterson to move on and replace them with players who can help. No more carrying dead weight.

 

[Fly Rodder]

Is your position that the staff pushed out Jesse and Maliq?
And is it your position that Copeland should not be leaving?

My position is that the staff has not been able to keep their most productive players and their replacements have not been nearly as good.

Is your position the opposite or that "Oh well, kids gonna be kids, We should just be happy to have a team still?"

Two can play this game.

 

[dasher]

We obviously aren't going to make a bet on a basketball game that's taking place in 7 months and my post never said we were going to lose but good "gotcha." There's your response. JFC.

You are the one that said without seeing what we or Colgate for that matter look like that we were going to be down double digets. JFC is right

 

[UpstateSM]

You are the one that said without seeing what we or Colgate for that matter look like that we were going to be down double digets. JFC is right

You listed 5 specific players and I said that lineup will play no defense. We can't even agree on what we disagree about!

 

[Fly Rodder]

The only problem is that Brown doesn't agree with that vision and that is why he is leaving.

As of a few weeks ago this was posted:

"So we are good on forwards, but the question remains... if we're in the market for a 'big', who is starting at the 3-4-5? And who isn't?"

Still think Freeman would come off the bench.

I don't think Jake was just blowing smoke. So if this was all hashed out over this season, then if anything changed it was Freeman no longer wanting to come off the bench.

 

[dasher]

My position is that the staff has not been able to keep their most productive players and their replacements have not been nearly as good.

Is your position the opposite or that "Oh well, kids gonna be kids, We should just be happy to have a team still?"

Two can play this game.

We are not in the same situation with Brown as we were with Edwards. Jesse was going to start no matter what if he stayed. He left for more NIL. We met his price once. We weren't going to end up bidding against ourselves. With Brown, I think he was not going to start. We want a guy that we can throw the ball down low and get a hoop. We don't have that now. And at the 4, I think the coaches believe that Freeman is the real deal. He is going to start. Obviously, the coaches wanted Brown to stay and he would get quality minutes. But that isn't the role he sees for himself. Totally differnt situations.

 

[dasher]

You listed 5 specific players and I said that lineup will play no defense. We can't even agree on what we disagree about!

It's no big deal to me but you said more than that. You said we would be down double digets to Colgate again. That is what I take exception to. I also don't know what we will look like defensively. We might hire a defensive guru as an ass't coach that makes a real difference. We might not. All I want to do is wait to see what we look like before we go full panic mode. I think we might be pretty good depending on what we get from the portal. I could be right there with you in a couple of months. Or, you might be on my side.

 

[CousCuse]

I'd bet UVA, too. They had a big frosh center this season and their two forwards were grad transfers this year and not very good. Maliq would be a force for Tony Bennett and he loves him good defensive players who can reasonably guard anyone.

Brown would never get the green light to shoot there. He needs to go somewhere where he starts, plays huge minutes and has the green light from 3. If he can show a real offensive game, he can really go places. I would have let him do it here, but Freeman is coming in. It is what it is.

 

[jsshap]

You are the one that said without seeing what we or Colgate for that matter look like that we were going to be down double digets. JFC is right

"I never said they were going to lose to Colgate."

So I'm sure if you change the offer from who wins to whether Colgate is up double digits in 2nd half, you'll have your wager.

 

[dasher]

"I never said they were going to lose to Colgate."

So I'm sure if you change the offer from who wins to whether Colgate is up double digits in 2nd half, you'll have your wager.

If we are losing by double digets to Colgate again in the second half, I might have a sign out in front of the Melo center. At least if we get Lampkin, we can throw the ball down low to him. They just can't match up to that.

 

[dasher]

A real 4 who hasn't played D1 basketball game, is skinny and is going to be banging against grown men, a real 5 who hasn't been signed yet, and a real 1 who hasn't been identified let alone signed yet.

Here are the the top 10 Syracuse players in WAR* the last two seasons on two teams that didn't make the bubble of the tourney:
1) Jesse Edwards (SR 2022-23) 5.1 - Transfer out.
2) Maliq Brown (SO 2023-24) 4.3 - Transfer out.
3) Judah Mintz (SO 2023-24) 3.5 - Pro/Return/Portal
4) Judah Mintz (FR 2022-23) 3.2 - Pro attempt, returned and did not markedly improve.
5) Joseph Girard (SR 2022-23) 2.3 - Transfer out.
6) Chris Bell (SO 2023-24) 2.2 - "Red loves him, he's going to be a key component"
7) Quadir Copeland (SO 2023-24) 2.2 - Transfer out.
8) Maliq Brown (FR 2022-23) 2.1 - Transfer out.
9) JJ Starling (SO 2023-24) 1.8 - 3rd in ACC in minutes per game., key component to 24-25.
10) Benny Williams (SO 2022-23) 1.3 - Retained, dismissed in Junior year.

Last season, the team needed a guard to potentially replace Judah, a more effective 2G than JG3 and a dynamic wing scorer. The staff pulled in a less effective 2G (1.8 WS versus 4.6WS), a G/wing who was injured all season (0.0 WS) and an ineffective center who ended up injured (0.8WS). For example, Clemson, to name a comparable ACC team (non-Duke/UNC division), lost two guys to graduation from their 22-23 team and no other starters/significant players (maybe Middlebrooks but he had only played about the same number of minutes as Cuffe). They added two transfers: JG3 (4.6 WS) and a bench piece in Jack Clark (1.7 WS).


* If anyone thinks these are good WAR numbers, only Jesse (5th) and Maliq (17th) were top-25 (!) in the ACC in that season. A 3 to 4 WS season is probably the bar for a starter on a tourney team.

LOL We wanted Jesse. Malik is leaving because of who we are bringing in. Girard was run out of here. And Copeland was a problem. So, no one was upset when Girard left. Malik has been recruited over. And Copeland was a problem. So it really comes down to Jesse left. That hurt. We wish Malik stayed but he saw hand writing on the wall. And Joe and Copeland left for every different reasons.

 

[Cusefan0307]

FTR I’m in a fantasy football league with 9 other mid 2000’s SU grads all around 40 years old and all are disgusted with the Maliq transfer and list of possible players we are going after this offseason. Most of these guys weren’t keen on the Red hire to begin with and I defended him all year. So if anyone thinks I’m nuts, there’s other fans that think this is worse than I do.

 

[dasher]

I'm sure he does, but he needs to be a lot more successful with his players that he brings in than he was this year. He went 0-4 on transfers last season.

0-4 Hmmm I don't consider JJ a miss. We still have two more years. I like what I saw on offense the last 2 months of the season. He needs to be better on defense. Westry was hurt. Cuffe wasn't much. Still has time. And Naheem got hurt and needs work. He does need to do better this year. And it will be easier to make those changes ina second year than a first year.

 

[tbonezone]

Giving each other some hard lessons lately
We ain't learning
We're the same sad story, that's a fact
One step up and two steps back ...