My Lineup for Next Season....

[Knicks411]

If we cant rebound next year with some combination of DC2/Rak/CJ/JS/Keita in the game at the 3/4/5 at all times im going to end up breaking my tv.

Then I suggest you already put in an order for a new tv.

I have some weird hunch James is going to have a very strong season next year.

 

[longislandcuse]

Then I suggest you already put in an order for a new tv.

I have some weird hunch James is going to have a very strong season next year.

After James did the running man on inbounds plays against OSU, that sealed it for me. I have that same hunch, and yes its based off him doing the running man.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

I have some weird hunch James is going to have a very strong season next year.

I don't think it's a weird hunch. I think it makes sense. He came in with some obvious potential, skills and athletic ability but was raw and inconsistent. As he's grown as a player and gotten minutes he's become more polished and consistent. Now, he's a senior on a team without a clear star at forward. Even if he isn't that starring forward every night, he'll be that guy a lot of games.

The weird thing about James isn't that he's in position to have a good senior year, it's that he followed a standard college basketball player's progression through his eligibility. You just don't see that much anymore. A James Southerland in every recruiting class would be a dream.

 

[Knicks411]

The weird thing about James isn't that he's in position to have a good senior year, it's that he followed a standard college basketball player's progression through his eligibility. You just don't see that much anymore. A James Southerland in every recruiting class would be a dream.

I was kind of thinking about this recently; in the sense that you don't see that "normal" progression anymore. The Scoop, Rick, Donte, Jonny class was almost the ultimate new age college recruiting class. You had 2 really highly recruited guys who were Mcdonalds AA and neither guy stayed for more than 2 years. Then you had Rick and Scoop, who weren't one star recruits or anything, but certainly weren't on the level of the first two guys, but stuck around for 4 years and were both really good players by the end of their careers.

I'm not saying that was the perfect recruiting class, it wasn't, but for a team that recruits at the level we do (very good but not Kentucky, basically) that is kind of the template, I think.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

I was kind of thinking about this recently; in the sense that you don't see that "normal" progression anymore. The Scoop, Rick, Donte, Jonny class was almost the ultimate new age college recruiting class. You had 2 really highly recruited guys who were Mcdonalds AA and neither guy stayed for more than 2 years. Then you had Rick and Scoop, who weren't one star recruits or anything, but certainly weren't on the level of the first two guys, but stuck around for 4 years and were both really good players by the end of their careers.

I'm not saying that was the perfect recruiting class, it wasn't, but for a team that recruits at the level we do (very good but not Kentucky, basically) that is kind of the template, I think.

Great thoughts.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

I was kind of thinking about this recently; in the sense that you don't see that "normal" progression anymore. The Scoop, Rick, Donte, Jonny class was almost the ultimate new age college recruiting class. You had 2 really highly recruited guys who were Mcdonalds AA and neither guy stayed for more than 2 years. Then you had Rick and Scoop, who weren't one star recruits or anything, but certainly weren't on the level of the first two guys, but stuck around for 4 years and were both really good players by the end of their careers.

I'm not saying that was the perfect recruiting class, it wasn't, but for a team that recruits at the level we do (very good but not Kentucky, basically) that is kind of the template, I think.

Also, don't forget Kong, a pretty solid two year spot starter. The team when that class came in would have really been screwed without him.

 

[mgurtz79]

I'm not really sure where this James Southerland is a good 3-point shooter came from. He's got nice form but his numbers for three years say he is not a shooter. He shot below 30% his freshman year, just under 37% his sophomore year and just under 34% last year. Joseph (who frustrated most people with his 3-pt. attempts) shot better last year.

Southerland shot 62% inside the arc and thats where he needs to take his game IMO. He has a nice mid-range/baseline jump shot. He likes to stand outside the three point line when in reality this year he is going to get alot of burn at the 4-spot and should be trying to use his athleticsm to get some garbage points on weakside boards and get some mid-range kickouts from MCW.

For what its worth I think this year's team is going to be like the 2010 team that went seven deep with Joseph and Jardine coming of the bench. My starting lineup would be

C-Coleman
PF-Christmas
SF-Fair
SG-Triche
PG-Carter-Williams

Depending on who is playing better Coleman/Christmas will rotate at the 5 after the first few minutes of the first half with Southerland reprising the role of Joseph and Cooney reprising the role of Jardine from that year. Keita will play 10-15 minutes a game at most. He's not a bad player but he's a poor rebounder, has lousy hands and very limited offense. I think that makes him the 3rd guy in a 2-man rotation.

 

[Knicks411]

I think fair points on the Southerland 3 point shooting. Him being anything more than a 35% guy or so may be wishcasting at this point.

 

[moqui]

I'm not really sure where this James Southerland is a good 3-point shooter came from.

probably from his coach, who says it every time he talks about James and who has set that role for him throughout his career.

James' problem is that his confidence seems to go into the tank pretty easily, and that leads him to prolonged slumps. Last season, he was arguably the best Syracuse player on the floor in the loss to Notre Dame and that capped a pretty successful beginning to the season for him. But against Cincy the next game, he bombed, and he slumped terribly for most of the rest of the regular season - he made only 1 three pointer over 8 games. But, over the last 8 games of the season - including the BET and the NCAAT he was terrific. He shot .423 from three, .647 from two and .778 from the line. He averaged almost 8 points and 5 boards for those 8 games, and also led the team in blocked shots over that stretch, all in just over 19 minutes per game. It's the physical skill set that has always been there but never came out consistently. I think with the increased minutes he is almost certain to get, he could put up averages equal to or a little higher than Joseph last year (say, 13 and 6) but with higher shooting percentages and better defense.

 

[Knicks411]

probably from his coach, who says it every time he talks about James and who has set that role for him throughout his career.

Mike D'Antoni also called Danillo Gallinari the best shooter had ever seen. He coached Steve Nash for how many years?

 

[IthacaMatt]

I'm not really sure where this James Southerland is a good 3-point shooter came from. He's got nice form but his numbers for three years say he is not a shooter. He shot below 30% his freshman year, just under 37% his sophomore year and just under 34% last year. Joseph (who frustrated most people with his 3-pt. attempts) shot better last year.

Southerland shot 62% inside the arc and thats where he needs to take his game IMO. He has a nice mid-range/baseline jump shot. He likes to stand outside the three point line when in reality this year he is going to get alot of burn at the 4-spot and should be trying to use his athleticsm to get some garbage points on weakside boards and get some mid-range kickouts from MCW.

For what its worth I think this year's team is going to be like the 2010 team that went seven deep with Joseph and Jardine coming of the bench. My starting lineup would be

C-Coleman
PF-Christmas
SF-Fair
SG-Triche
PG-Carter-Williams

Depending on who is playing better Coleman/Christmas will rotate at the 5 after the first few minutes of the first half with Southerland reprising the role of Joseph and Cooney reprising the role of Jardine from that year. Keita will play 10-15 minutes a game at most. He's not a bad player but he's a poor rebounder, has lousy hands and very limited offense. I think that makes him the 3rd guy in a 2-man rotation.

FYI - 33% equates to 50% shooting from 2, and anything over that is "acceptable" three point shooting. That's the benchmark. He hit 34% and 37% the last two years. That is on par with our other guys. He could hit 40% this year, if he gets off to a good start at the beginning of the season.

 

[orangejunkie]

Listened to the interview with Triche and Cooney. Sounds like they were thinking that Rak would start at center. If I recall a previous article there was something written about SU wanting Coleman to get his weight and conditioning in shape so that he could play the 4 spot. As people have observed, Rak was clearly better at the 5 last year. Is DC2 mobile enough to play the wing?

 

[IthacaMatt]

Listened to the interview with Triche and Cooney. Sounds like they were thinking that Rak would start at center. If I recall a previous article there was something written about SU wanting Coleman to get his weight and conditioning in shape so that he could play the 4 spot. As people have observed, Rak was clearly better at the 5 last year. Is DC2 mobile enough to play the wing?

That's why they're not the coach. Rak may be fine against many teams, but he's 30 pounds too light and a couple inches too short to compete with elite centers nationally. If we want to limit our upside, then we start Rak at center, and are 3 deep with him, Coleman and Keita at one position, while only having slender finesse guys at the forward spot - Fair, Southerland and Grant. That just ain't gonna cut it against really good rebounding teams.