Most Underrated Players of the Past Decade

[Eric15]

Josh Pace and Kueth Duany. My numbers 1 and 2 favorite Syracuse players of all time. 3 is AO, 4 is Jeremy McNeil and 5 is probably a tie between GMac and Eric Devendorf

Duany played 11 seasons ago, you said decade - come on now!

 

[igor]

most underrated, not if u liked them. edelin, mcw, dion. edelin caused his own problrms. mcw was misrated almost asa much as ethan cole. dion should have started here. coleman and robersonare being forked over now. jb needs to watch the tape. if he has trouble seeing what's going on, call me 555-1212

 

[jvbj01]

most underrated, not if u liked them. edelin, mcw, dion. edelin caused his own problrms. mcw was misrated almost asa much as ethan cole. dion should have started here. coleman and robersonare being forked over now. jb needs to watch the tape. if he has trouble seeing what's going on, call me 555-1212

Translation please!

 

[Dave85]

I agree. Devendorf is in my top 5 favorite orange of all time. That kid embodied what a competitor should be.

Although Devendorf has not been one of my favorite players over the years, his last second shot at MSG over U-Conn was GOOD!!! F-king refs!!!!

 

[OttoMets]

Paul Harris . . . yes, he was a diva at times, but in the end he was a very, very good player who was plagued by unreasonable expectations while being forced to play mostly out of position.

Yes, Paul Harris.

12th-best rebounder (per game) in school history. Decent scorer. Never had the luxury of playing with a decent distributor. Never was able to settle into a defined position.

And, for what it's worth, managed to keep his nose clean while his knucklehead teammates were raising all kinds of hell on the Hill. Yes, that's what's expected of him. But no small feat for someone who'd done jail time in high school and who dealt with the sorts of influences he did on his SU teams.

 

[OttoMets]

I always felt scoop was a better shooter then he got credit for. The numbers may not have showed it but his misses looked good, he hit big shots and was very confident. He was physically strong in the lane for someone his size.
...

Maybe underrated, certainly a very good SU player and shooter. And the numbers do in fact bear that out: Scoop has the 12th-best career three-point percentage in school history. A full percentage point better than a guy by the last name of McNamara.

A small but loud subset of the fanbase got it into their collective head that Scoop was a dumb player deserving of their ire. They couldn't have been more wrong, and they missed some excellent point guard play.

 

[dasher]

I just think he was different. People didn't understand him. He wasn't your preppy whitey knocking down threes like the kids you see at Duke or Wisconsin. Eric was a loud, fiery, smash mouth street baller like kid who wasn't afraid to get in your face.

Because he was different, and good, people loved to hate him.

He may have been a bit of a punk, but he wasn't as bad as people made him to be.

yeah, he was. You don't know what you don't know. There is a reason that jb didn't want him back. And he didn't.

 

[IthacaMatt]

There could be a long list...

But I'd have to say my vote goes to Scoop Jardine. I think he did a lot more to create chemistry or hold the team together than we give him credit for. Sure he made some boneheaded mistakes, but that kid sure had a lot of heart, a lot of balls too.

I'm sure a lot could be said of Brandon Triche too and many other players. So I'd like to hear your opinions.

Scoop and Rick Jackson. Those guys were the glue of some great teams.

 

[RF2044]

Listing chronologically, going back a decade:

--Kueth Duany
--Craig Forth [limited statistical production, very important contributions that don't show up in box score]
--Josh Pace
--Daryl Watkins [for his superior defensive aptitude]
--Kristof Onganet [brought in as practice fodder, ended up playing an important role both years on the team]
--Andy Rautins
--Rick Jackson
--Scoop Jardine
--Brandon Triche
--CJ Fair

 

[OttoMets]

JB himself said Pace was the most underrated player to ever have played for him, and off the top of my head it's hard to disagree with that.

For his contribution to the national championship team I think Kueth Duany's senior leadership was underrated.

I just wanted to add it's kind of a hard question to answer as I don't really know how other people envision certain players, so it's hard for me to disagree with anyone on this thread because they've all been underrated by some some folks.

I'm with that. Solution: figure out who's overrated and underrated by actually rating them. Since 2003-2004 (the past decade, not counting anyone on this year's team or his contributions this season):

1. Hakim Warrick
2. Wesley Johnson
3. Andy Rautins
4. Jonny Flynn
5. C.J. Fair
6. Scoop Jardine
7. Arinze Onuaku
8. Gerry McNamara
9. Billy Edelin
10. Dion Waiters
11. Michael Carter-Williams
12. Paul Harris
13. Donte Greene
14. Eric Devendorf
15. Rick Jackson
16. Demetris Nichols
17. Brandon Triche
18. Kris Joseph
19. Josh Pace
20. James Southerland
21. Darryl Watkins
22. Fab Melo
23. Terrence Roberts
24. Jeremy McNeil
25. Craig Forth
26. Kristof Ongenaet
27. Rakeem Christmas
28. Louie McCroskey
29. Josh Wright
30. Jerami Grant
31. Matt Gorman
32. Baye Keita
33. Mookie Jones
34. DaShonte Riley
35. Trevor Cooney
36. DaJuan Coleman
37. Dayshawn Wright
38. Mike Jones
39. Devin Brennan-McBride
40. Sean Williams

Who's underrated?

 

[br801]

Paul Harris . . . yes, he was a diva at times, but in the end he was a very, very good player who was plagued by unreasonable expectations while being forced to play mostly out of position.

Jim Calhoun would certainly agree. Imagine Harris playing in Calhoun's system...

 

[OttoMets]

Jim Calhoun would certainly agree. Imagine Harris playing in Calhoun's system...

Or Pitt. Or Marquette.

I always say that the only way our fanbase could have disliked Paul Harris more than they already do is if he'd played for one of those rival teams that tends to rough us up. He'd have been a terror.

(He'd also have been excellent for Syracuse if our personnel situation allowed us to give him consistent minutes at the 2. Alas, that didn't happen. And he's not built to play the wing in a 2-3.)

 

[Trueblue25]

Duany played 11 seasons ago, you said decade - come on now!

Just saying he was a favorite of mine

My vote to Scoop Jardine

 

[Trueblue25]

I'm with that. Solution: figure out who's overrated and underrated by actually rating them. Since 2003-2004 (the past decade, not counting anyone on this year's team or his contributions this season):

1. Hakim Warrick
2. Wesley Johnson
3. Andy Rautins
4. Jonny Flynn
5. C.J. Fair
6. Scoop Jardine
7. Arinze Onuaku
8. Gerry McNamara
9. Billy Edelin
10. Dion Waiters
11. Michael Carter-Williams
12. Paul Harris
13. Donte Greene
14. Eric Devendorf
15. Rick Jackson
16. Demetris Nichols
17. Brandon Triche
18. Kris Joseph
19. Josh Pace
20. James Southerland
21. Darryl Watkins
22. Fab Melo
23. Terrence Roberts
24. Jeremy McNeil
25. Craig Forth
26. Kristof Ongenaet
27. Rakeem Christmas
28. Louie McCroskey
29. Josh Wright
30. Jerami Grant
31. Matt Gorman
32. Baye Keita
33. Mookie Jones
34. DaShonte Riley
35. Trevor Cooney
36. DaJuan Coleman
37. Dayshawn Wright
38. Mike Jones
39. Devin Brennan-McBride
40. Sean Williams

Who's underrated?

Bolded my opinions

 

[OttoMets]

Bolded my opinions

Ha, it's hard to claim that you underrated someone (hey, I did the rating, why didn't I just rate him properly), but I wildly underrated Baye. Yikes. He should be like ten spots higher on that list.

 

[NKR1978]

I'm with that. Solution: figure out who's overrated and underrated by actually rating them. Since 2003-2004 (the past decade, not counting anyone on this year's team or his contributions this season):

1. Hakim Warrick
2. Wesley Johnson
3. Andy Rautins
4. Jonny Flynn
5. C.J. Fair
6. Scoop Jardine
7. Arinze Onuaku
8. Gerry McNamara
9. Billy Edelin
10. Dion Waiters
11. Michael Carter-Williams
12. Paul Harris
13. Donte Greene
14. Eric Devendorf
15. Rick Jackson
16. Demetris Nichols
17. Brandon Triche
18. Kris Joseph
19. Josh Pace
20. James Southerland
21. Darryl Watkins
22. Fab Melo
23. Terrence Roberts
24. Jeremy McNeil
25. Craig Forth
26. Kristof Ongenaet
27. Rakeem Christmas
28. Louie McCroskey
29. Josh Wright
30. Jerami Grant
31. Matt Gorman
32. Baye Keita
33. Mookie Jones
34. DaShonte Riley
35. Trevor Cooney
36. DaJuan Coleman
37. Dayshawn Wright
38. Mike Jones
39. Devin Brennan-McBride
40. Sean Williams

Who's underrated?

This list deserves its own post.

Don't know who the most underrated is, but Jonny is the most overrated here.

 

[Cuse_NYC]

Allen Griffin

 

[moqui]

There are several ways of looking at this question. For me, it is looking back at players who have completed their careers and acknowledging those whose contributions we have forgotten. That is what I thought of when I listed Paul Harris.

but it's just as legitimate to say "who outperformed their expectations coming out of high school?" In that case, it would be Rautins and Onuaku lapping the field.