SWC75
Bored Historian
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Forwards
MAREK DOLEZAJ Junior 6-10 180-185
Marek has grown from when he was a 6-9 175 pound freshman – but not much. His game was pretty well established when he came here. He knew where the ball was and what was happening on the court, which enabled him to get rebounds and loose balls and to make effective but not flashy passes. He is quick and can run the court. He is a good “help defender” and can block shots. He’s shown he can hit jump shots – he hit 38% of his 29 trey attempts last year. I haven’t seen many drives to the basket but he can move with the ball. His thinness prevents him from being a true center. He can’t bang with big guys or use his body to stop drives in the paint. But his real weakness has been his reticence to shoot. He has spent two years deferring to his teammates. One thing a passer needs to do is to make the defense guard him. If he doesn’t, he’ll have his four teammates guarded by five guys. Often times when Marek and Paschal were in the game at the same time, it was five guys guarding the only three guys who could score for us. We’ve now got plenty of guys who can score. That would be a good thing for a passer like Marek but it also means that Boeheim will be tempted to put Marek on the bench if he’s not scoring in favor of someone who will. Marek doesn’t need to score a lot of points but he needs to take the shots that are there for him. He didn’t play in Italy due to an injured hand and has missed a lot of practice because of it but should be healthy once the season starts.
It will be interesting to see how Boeheim chooses to use him. He’s got seniority and multiple useful skills so he could start at forward. Or he could get starter’s minutes coming off the bench at both forward and center, (which he played about half the time last year). Jim has said he would prefer not to use him at center due to his slender build but with the quality of our other forwards, he may have to play center to get playing time. Both the offense and defense are better when he’s in there, due to his hustle, shot blocking and rebounding ability and his ability to keep the ball moving with his passes, which this year could result in more assists as we have big men who can score and others who can shoot.
His best game last year was against Wake Forest. This is how he needs to play:
ELIJAH HUGHES Junior 6-6 210-215
Elijah came here as a transfer who had scored 7.8 points a game as a freshman for lowly East Carolina and is now the sole returning starter and likely star of at a legendary program like Syracuse. That’s quite a change but his talent brought him to this point. He’s a mobile, athletic, talented player and one of the few Orange frontcourt players who isn’t on the skinny side. Last year he scored 13.7 points and 4.7 rebounds as a small forward and our third scoring option. He was a very good outside shooter, 37% from three with great range. In fact, unbelievable range, as he showed against Duke when he hit an 80 footer at the half that had to go AROUND a low-hanging scoreboard to go in. And it barely rippled the net:
Syracuse's Elijah Hughes Hits Full Court Buzzer-Beater
It was the shot of the season for SU because we beat #1 Duke in their own place in overtime. We stumbled to a 20-13 record on Selection Sunday so that one game and that one shot probably put us in the NCAA tournament.
But Hughes wasn’t just an outside bomber: He could drive to the basket and finish:
Syracuse's Elijah Hughes Throws Down Big Backdoor Slam Dunk vs. Pitt
if anything, the one criticism of him last year is that he become a little too three point happy down the stretch and there wasn’t enough of that kind of play. Hopefully we’ll see the full range of his talents this year. Being the #1 option gets you extra defensive attention but it gets you the ball more, too. I think he’ll handle the greater responsibility just fine and come through with flying colors, although I also think this will be more an ensemble team that a star-driven one. In Italy he played 70 minutes and scored 58 points with 16 rebounds, 10 assists, 11 steals, 5 turnovers and 4 fouls. He was 11 for 32 from the arc.
ROBERT BRASWELL Sophomore 6-7 or 6-9 195-200
Braswell is such a man of mystery that Lindy’s pre-season preview magazine doesn’t even list him as being on the team. He was quite the high school athlete, winning the South Carolina high jump championship twice in a row with a high of 6-10! As a freshman he appeared in only 12 games and played only 55 minutes but his numbers were amazing: 27 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists 6 steals and a blocked shot. He did have 7 turnovers but just 2 fouls. He only attempted 2 treys and made one. In Italy he played 61 minutes with about the same numbers: 26 points, 19 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 steals and a block vs. 5 turnovers and 3 fouls. He was 3 for 8 from the arc. A freshman who doesn’t foul but does a lot of good things is very rare: it means he knows what’s going on out there: where he needs to be and what he needs to do. He also passed the “look” test. He just looked like a player in his element, with the game going at the speed he wanted it to. He just looked like he would turn out to be a really good player for us when his turn came.
A couple of disclaimers: He only played late in blow-outs, (he was behind Hughes, Brissett and Dolezaj), and only faced deep bench reserves and walk-ons and some bad Italian teams. But he just looked like a guy who knew how to play the game and that his skills would still be there against better opposition. The other thing is that he’s still behind Hughes and Dolezaj and probably Quincy Guerrier, two juniors and a freshman. We’ve also got some good forward prospects being recruited for next year. So his turn seems to still be far away. He could redshirt and we probably wouldn’t miss him. He could also transfer, which would make me sad. I don’t want to see him starring for someone else after Hughes and Dolezaj are gone. I’d hate to see Robert get lost in the shuffle but I also don’t see a lot of daylight.
His high school highlights:
Senior Year Highlights
He can hit from outside. He can drive to the basket to score. He can block shots. What more do you want from a forward?
QUINCY GUERRIER freshman, 6-7 210-220
Quincy was the best high school player in Canada last year, which means more than it sounds. They don’t just play hockey and lacrosse up there anymore. A lot of good players have been coming out of Canada recently, (and probably more in the future now that Toronto has won the NBA title). One of them was Oshae Brissett whom Quincy knows and has worked out with. Quincy said in an interview that he’s similar to Oshae except he’s a better outside shooter, (Oshae was 27% from three last year after 33% as a freshman). That didn’t really reveal itself in Italy, where Guerrier was 3 for 10. He spent most of his time blowing by the Italian players for lay-ups and dunks, (he made 16 of 19 two point shots -84%!). Oshae was a wiry looking guy: athletic but he had trouble finishing when closely defended. He never really developed post-up skills. Quincy scored 47 points and had 38 rebounds in Italy with 7 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks. He had 4 turnovers and 3 fouls, which is not bad for 78 minutes.
Guerrier is a physical specimen who isn’t going to be out-muscled by anyone and is an athletic dunker. Most people have him starting over both Dolezaj and Braswell. He and Hughes would make quite a combination at forward even if neither is particularly tall.
His high school highlights, (one of many available highlight tapes on the net for this player):
2019 QUINCY GUERRIER SYRACUSE COMMIT destroys 2018 Brookwood Elite Invitationals
He has a high-arching jumper that is hard to block. I also liked the touch pass and the over-the-shoulder block. He also has the leg strength to jump and dunk form a standing positon directly underneath the basket.
MAREK DOLEZAJ Junior 6-10 180-185
Marek has grown from when he was a 6-9 175 pound freshman – but not much. His game was pretty well established when he came here. He knew where the ball was and what was happening on the court, which enabled him to get rebounds and loose balls and to make effective but not flashy passes. He is quick and can run the court. He is a good “help defender” and can block shots. He’s shown he can hit jump shots – he hit 38% of his 29 trey attempts last year. I haven’t seen many drives to the basket but he can move with the ball. His thinness prevents him from being a true center. He can’t bang with big guys or use his body to stop drives in the paint. But his real weakness has been his reticence to shoot. He has spent two years deferring to his teammates. One thing a passer needs to do is to make the defense guard him. If he doesn’t, he’ll have his four teammates guarded by five guys. Often times when Marek and Paschal were in the game at the same time, it was five guys guarding the only three guys who could score for us. We’ve now got plenty of guys who can score. That would be a good thing for a passer like Marek but it also means that Boeheim will be tempted to put Marek on the bench if he’s not scoring in favor of someone who will. Marek doesn’t need to score a lot of points but he needs to take the shots that are there for him. He didn’t play in Italy due to an injured hand and has missed a lot of practice because of it but should be healthy once the season starts.
It will be interesting to see how Boeheim chooses to use him. He’s got seniority and multiple useful skills so he could start at forward. Or he could get starter’s minutes coming off the bench at both forward and center, (which he played about half the time last year). Jim has said he would prefer not to use him at center due to his slender build but with the quality of our other forwards, he may have to play center to get playing time. Both the offense and defense are better when he’s in there, due to his hustle, shot blocking and rebounding ability and his ability to keep the ball moving with his passes, which this year could result in more assists as we have big men who can score and others who can shoot.
His best game last year was against Wake Forest. This is how he needs to play:
ELIJAH HUGHES Junior 6-6 210-215
Elijah came here as a transfer who had scored 7.8 points a game as a freshman for lowly East Carolina and is now the sole returning starter and likely star of at a legendary program like Syracuse. That’s quite a change but his talent brought him to this point. He’s a mobile, athletic, talented player and one of the few Orange frontcourt players who isn’t on the skinny side. Last year he scored 13.7 points and 4.7 rebounds as a small forward and our third scoring option. He was a very good outside shooter, 37% from three with great range. In fact, unbelievable range, as he showed against Duke when he hit an 80 footer at the half that had to go AROUND a low-hanging scoreboard to go in. And it barely rippled the net:
Syracuse's Elijah Hughes Hits Full Court Buzzer-Beater
It was the shot of the season for SU because we beat #1 Duke in their own place in overtime. We stumbled to a 20-13 record on Selection Sunday so that one game and that one shot probably put us in the NCAA tournament.
But Hughes wasn’t just an outside bomber: He could drive to the basket and finish:
Syracuse's Elijah Hughes Throws Down Big Backdoor Slam Dunk vs. Pitt
if anything, the one criticism of him last year is that he become a little too three point happy down the stretch and there wasn’t enough of that kind of play. Hopefully we’ll see the full range of his talents this year. Being the #1 option gets you extra defensive attention but it gets you the ball more, too. I think he’ll handle the greater responsibility just fine and come through with flying colors, although I also think this will be more an ensemble team that a star-driven one. In Italy he played 70 minutes and scored 58 points with 16 rebounds, 10 assists, 11 steals, 5 turnovers and 4 fouls. He was 11 for 32 from the arc.
ROBERT BRASWELL Sophomore 6-7 or 6-9 195-200
Braswell is such a man of mystery that Lindy’s pre-season preview magazine doesn’t even list him as being on the team. He was quite the high school athlete, winning the South Carolina high jump championship twice in a row with a high of 6-10! As a freshman he appeared in only 12 games and played only 55 minutes but his numbers were amazing: 27 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists 6 steals and a blocked shot. He did have 7 turnovers but just 2 fouls. He only attempted 2 treys and made one. In Italy he played 61 minutes with about the same numbers: 26 points, 19 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 steals and a block vs. 5 turnovers and 3 fouls. He was 3 for 8 from the arc. A freshman who doesn’t foul but does a lot of good things is very rare: it means he knows what’s going on out there: where he needs to be and what he needs to do. He also passed the “look” test. He just looked like a player in his element, with the game going at the speed he wanted it to. He just looked like he would turn out to be a really good player for us when his turn came.
A couple of disclaimers: He only played late in blow-outs, (he was behind Hughes, Brissett and Dolezaj), and only faced deep bench reserves and walk-ons and some bad Italian teams. But he just looked like a guy who knew how to play the game and that his skills would still be there against better opposition. The other thing is that he’s still behind Hughes and Dolezaj and probably Quincy Guerrier, two juniors and a freshman. We’ve also got some good forward prospects being recruited for next year. So his turn seems to still be far away. He could redshirt and we probably wouldn’t miss him. He could also transfer, which would make me sad. I don’t want to see him starring for someone else after Hughes and Dolezaj are gone. I’d hate to see Robert get lost in the shuffle but I also don’t see a lot of daylight.
His high school highlights:
Senior Year Highlights
He can hit from outside. He can drive to the basket to score. He can block shots. What more do you want from a forward?
QUINCY GUERRIER freshman, 6-7 210-220
Quincy was the best high school player in Canada last year, which means more than it sounds. They don’t just play hockey and lacrosse up there anymore. A lot of good players have been coming out of Canada recently, (and probably more in the future now that Toronto has won the NBA title). One of them was Oshae Brissett whom Quincy knows and has worked out with. Quincy said in an interview that he’s similar to Oshae except he’s a better outside shooter, (Oshae was 27% from three last year after 33% as a freshman). That didn’t really reveal itself in Italy, where Guerrier was 3 for 10. He spent most of his time blowing by the Italian players for lay-ups and dunks, (he made 16 of 19 two point shots -84%!). Oshae was a wiry looking guy: athletic but he had trouble finishing when closely defended. He never really developed post-up skills. Quincy scored 47 points and had 38 rebounds in Italy with 7 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks. He had 4 turnovers and 3 fouls, which is not bad for 78 minutes.
Guerrier is a physical specimen who isn’t going to be out-muscled by anyone and is an athletic dunker. Most people have him starting over both Dolezaj and Braswell. He and Hughes would make quite a combination at forward even if neither is particularly tall.
His high school highlights, (one of many available highlight tapes on the net for this player):
2019 QUINCY GUERRIER SYRACUSE COMMIT destroys 2018 Brookwood Elite Invitationals
He has a high-arching jumper that is hard to block. I also liked the touch pass and the over-the-shoulder block. He also has the leg strength to jump and dunk form a standing positon directly underneath the basket.
