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Message: [QUOTE="SWC75, post: 59001, member: 289"] FORWARDS POWER FORWARD There’s only player on the roster who would really qualify as a power forward and some think he’s really more of a center. We will likely see two small forwards in the game at times, perhaps many times. The one guy we’ve got is another freshman big man and the memory of Melo and Keita’s problems last year is still fresh in our minds. RAKEEM CHRISTMAS freshman 6-9 222 Rakeem, (or “Rock”), was rated the second best high school center in the nation last year by ESPN. But his high school numbers aren’t impressive. He averaged 9.4 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game. It’s said his team was well balanced and didn’t need a lot of scoring from him. But his reputation is based mostly on “passing the look test” and his athletic ability. One discouraging scouting report said “He clearly has a ways to go, as he has a very low skill-level offensively and has never really tried to exert himself in the half dozen or so times we've seen him play. His hands are somewhat questionable, his footwork in the post is poor, and his fundamentals on defense leave a lot to be desired.” Some people have described him as amore muscular Keita. But you have to be able to score at power forward. I saw him play in the McDonald’s All-American game and he made a 15 foot jump shot and looked smooth doing it but I once made a 25 footer in gym class and I’ll bet I looked good, too. I just have my doubts that this guy will be good enough to become the regular power forward as a freshman. Here are the numbers per 40 minutes for the guy Rakeem will be replacing, the one guy we lost, Rick Jackson: 14.7p 11.6r 2.5a 1.5s 2.8b 33.1+ 4.3mfg 2.1mft 2.3to 2.3pf 11.0- = 22.1NP 8.3OE 13.8FG Rakeem can’t be expected to produce anything like that as a freshman, which means we need a lot more from the centers than we got last year. I also think we will see a lot of the small forwards in this position this year, especially CJ Fair. (One of the players SU is recruiting for 2013 is a center named Nerlins Noel. If we got him we could have Christmas and Noel playing next to each other. One can only hope.) SMALL FORWARD This and the two backcourt positions is where we are “loaded”. The biggest stars in basketball these days tend to be wing players and college ball tends to be heavily dependent on guard play. We saw Kemba Walker lead Connecticut to the national championship last year. But we don’t have a Kemba Walker and the development of the Huskies young big men at the end of last season had as much to due with their incredible run as Kemba did. Still, there are no worries in the remaining three positions. We have talent, experience and depth in all three. KRIS JOSEPH senior 6-7 210 Kris was ordained the team’s next big star last year after being the Big East 6th Man of the Year the year before. He had a solid year, leading the team in scoring with 14.3 points per game. He has good all-around skills. He came here with a reputation as a point forward. As he had a short burst of exciting play early in his freshman season that caused Jim Boeheim to try to calm people down to keep the pressure off the kid. As a sophomore sixth man, he was more of a slasher to the basket who took advantage of the attention given to Wes Johnson and Andy Rautins outside and Arinze Onuaku and Rick Jackson inside to score on drives to the basket. People expected him to “replace” Wes Johnson, an incredible athlete and explosive scorer. But Kris is really just a good college forward, versatile but not outstanding at anything. He can shoot from outside but isn’t a dead-eye. He can drive to the basket but when he became the focus of the defense he tended to get tangled up, get called for charging or, in the Cincinnati game last year, get undercut such that he whapped his head on the court and had to miss the big game vs. Pittsburgh. He can pass but is no Magic Johnson. He can defend when he’s interested but he sometimes seemed to lose focus. He can hold down a position in a quality starting line-up but he’s not a star-quality guy who can carry a team. It was reported after the season that he was battling injuries that weren’t publicized but I don’t think they were the difference between him being an All-American or a just a good college player. His numbers per 40 minutes last year: 17.6p 6.5r 2.7a 1.9s 0.8b 29.5+ 6.8mfg 1.9mft 2.7to 2.3pf 13.7- = 15.8NP 8.9OE 6.9FG C. J. FAIR sophomore 6-8 203 CJ is a jumping jack. He plays bigger than his frame, (which makes him the most likely choice at power forward if Christmas doesn’t pan out). He’s a good defender and can rebound. He’s great at running the court and driving to the basket. What he needs is a jump shot. I don’t care if he ever makes a three pointer but a pull-up shot would make him really hard to defend. Unlike Joseph, he seems to have real “star” potential and this could be a big year for him. But I think he’s more of a small forward because he doesn’t have the “post-up” game for an inside guy. His numbers per 40 minutes last year: 13.7p 8.2r 0.9a 1.7s 1.7b 26.2+ 4.6mfg 1.7mft 1.8to 2.6pf 10.7- = 15.5NP 7.4OE 8.1FG JAMES SOUTHERLAND junior 6-8 210 James, when you add up his parts, comes to quite a sum but his game has never added up to that sum. He came to SU with a reputation as a dead-eye outside shooter in the mold of a Preston Shumpert or Demetris Nichols. In his first exhibition game against Cal State LA, (also our opening opponent this year), he scored 19 points on 5 three-pointers. But he was only 7 for 24 from the arc during the regular season, (.292). He got that up to 25 for 68 last year (.368) but had consecutive 1 for 9 games against Canisius and Detroit. He did have a big game against Morgan State with 18 points on 7 for 10 shooting. He’s also the team’s best dunker and had 11 rebounds in an exhibition vs. Kutztown State, ( again, the first game of the season). He also saw some time spelling Rick Jackson at power forward when Rick had to take over at center. James’ problem seems to be that when he’s given more playing time, he puts pressure on himself to perform and his performance suffers from it. His best performances come against the worst teams and in games that don’t count. He’s running out of opportunities to prove himself. These are his numbers per 40 minutes: 13.7p 6.4r 1.3a 1.4s 1.6b 24.4+ 7.0mfg 0.3mft 0.6to 3.5pf 11.4- = 13.0NP 6.4OE 6.6FG [/QUOTE]

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