My Take

[sutomcat]

Went to the intersquad scrimmage tonight. Pretty good crowd.
It was weird to watch a basketball game without the movable bleachers from the east end zone at courtside.

Carey won the ball handling contest but Guerrier would have won easily if he could have just hit a 3 quickly. I believe he missed his first 3. Looks like a good athlete but at this point in his career, not a great outside shooter (did not do well at the 3 point shooting contest either).

Buddy made 10 of 15 3s and looked like he was going to coast to a victory but Goodine made 12 of 15, including his last 3 form the corner to win that one.

No dunk contest, which is probably good as this is not one of our better groups for making spectacular dunks.

I stayed for the first half of the scrimmage.

Hughes looked like the best player on the court. Both teams played man exclusively. He was matched against Guerrier, who did a reasonable job against him but is not currently in his class. Elijah could get a good shot pretty much whenever he wanted.

Boeheim looked solid, as expected. He has gotten stronger, which helps him with his defense and rebounding. He looks more confident with the ball, makes good choices and yes, the kid can still shoot it.

Marek continues to be more deferential to his teammates than I would like to see. Not looking for his shot much. I keep hoping to see him more assertive and aggressive and keep getting disappointed. It isn’t a bad thing to be unselfish but he can clearly shoot and can drive too and just doesn’t look to score as often as this team needs him to. He mostly played at the high post on offense, made a few nice passes and played forward exclusively.

Bol Ajak was quietly impressive. Didn’t score a lot but he made a couple quick, quality athletic moves to the basketball and his jumper is silky smooth. Also aaready looks like the strongest and most physical big we have and I would say the best defensively (Sidibe was pretty lost playing man). He is still skinny right now but he has a better frame than the other bigs and I suspect he is going to be the heaviest and strongest down the road by a large margin.

Was impressed by Edwards too. He is going to be a good pick and roll guy, I think. Moves well without the ball, Can pass it too. His instincts, especially on offense, are impressive. He is also by far the skinniest and least physical of the bunch, and least ready to play right away.

That leaves Sid, who as mentioned looked bad playing man. Left his guy wide open time and time again. Got the ball in pretty good position on offense a few times but did not make quality power moves to score and ended up usually throwing up an awkward shot that had no chance of going in. He did rebound the best of the bunch and got some garbage points being in the right spot at the right time. Didn’t add much muscle or weight in the off season. He is moving well though and looks a lot closer to 100% this year than he was last season.

Guerrier forced some shots on offense, didn’t box out hard and didn’t look all that interested in getting rebounds. Stood around the perimeter on offense too much for my liking. One can see he is strong and a good athlete but he didn’t wow me with his smarts or skills. His defense was quite good and he had the toughest assignment, guarding Hughes. I will be thrilled if he ends up as good as Brissett was as a frosh. Hoping he can get 10 ppg and 7 rpg. I think he ends up around there.

Braswell looks stronger and more comfortable but he did a few careless things and is another big guy who seems to hang out on the perimeter too much for me. I think he can provide serviceable minutes and have some good games but from this small window, i am not convinced he will play in the regular rotation.

Goodine played well in the scrimmage. Was tenacious on defense, where I think he will contribute the most for this team early in his career. Did a good job running the Orange offense and is clearly a really good athlete. His shooting form is excellent too. Needs to get a lot stronger but has made good strides here already. I think he has the highest ceiling of any of the Frosh Five. Will probably be up and down a lot this season but I think he is the backup PG and will play minutes every game.

Washington didn’t get a lot of run. I think he backed up Carey at PG for the White team. Doesn’t do much wrong or right. Quiet type player. Goodine is going to make more turnovers and force more bad shots but also make more good passes, score more and definitely be better defensively. That is why I think he wins the backup PG spot. But this was a narrow window and things could change.

That leaves Girard. He was playing SG when I was watching them play. He did okay but is heavily dependent on his PG to get him some good looks, and that didn’t happen much when I was watching. He is good at getting open and I am pretty sure he will take a lot of shots when he gets in. Was almost exclusively on the perimeter when I was watching. His defense looked okay. Isn’t that tall or fast so I doubt he will ever be more than a pretty good defender. But GMac ended up being quite good on defense and if Gerry could do it, I would think Joe can too. One thing he does not lack is confidence and that is a good thing to have.

The girl that sang the NA did a nice job. She did a soulful, ambitious and risky version of the song. Hard to pull off. For the most part, she was successful and she got a very good hand from the crowd.

The program started late, which was not good for those of us who stayed up really late the night before to watch the SU football game. That said, I thought things were well organized.

It was a nice touch having fans compete with modified skills drills.
The free shirts were nicer than expected. Wish they went with XL as the size instead of L. Know your audience SUAD! Next time do a 50-50 breakdown. That would probably be best.

Free is always nice. There were a lot of young families with kids at the game. I am sure they all appreciated this.

 

[stuckinbig11]

Thanks, Tom.

 

[FrancoPizza]

Went to the intersquad scrimmage tonight. Pretty good crowd.
It was weird to watch a basketball game without the movable bleachers from the east end zone at courtside.

Carey won the ball handling contest but Guerrier would have won easily if he could have just hit a 3 quickly. I believe he missed his first 3. Looks like a good athlete but at this point in his career, not a great outside shooter (did not do well at the 3 point shooting contest either).

Buddy made 10 of 15 3s and looked like he was going to coast to a victory but Goodine made 12 of 15, including his last 3 form the corner to win that one.

No dunk contest, which is probably good as this is not one of our better groups for making spectacular dunks.

I stayed for the first half of the scrimmage.

Hughes looked like the best player on the court. Both teams played man exclusively. He was matched against Guerrier, who did a reasonable job against him but is not currently in his class. Elijah could get a good shot pretty much whenever he wanted.

Boeheim looked solid, as expected. He has gotten stronger, which helps him with his defense and rebounding. He looks more confident with the ball, makes good choices and yes, the kid can still shoot it.

Marek continues to be more deferential to his teammates than I would like to see. Not looking for his shot much. I keep hoping to see him more assertive and aggressive and keep getting disappointed. It isn’t a bad thing to be unselfish but he can clearly shoot and can drive too and just doesn’t look to score as often as this team needs him to. He mostly played at the high post on offense, made a few nice passes and played forward exclusively.

Bol Ajak was quietly impressive. Didn’t score a lot but he made a couple quick, quality athletic moves to the basketball and his jumper is silky smooth. Also aaready looks like the strongest and most physical big we have and I would say the best defensively (Sidibe was pretty lost playing man). He is still skinny right now but he has a better frame than the other bigs and I suspect he is going to be the heaviest and strongest down the road by a large margin.

Was impressed by Edwards too. He is going to be a good pick and roll guy, I think. Moves well without the ball, Can pass it too. His instincts, especially on offense, are impressive. He is also by far the skinniest and least physical of the bunch, and least ready to play right away.

That leaves Sid, who as mentioned looked bad playing man. Left his guy wide open time and time again. Got the ball in pretty good position on offense a few times but did not make quality power moves to score and ended up usually throwing up an awkward shot that had no chance of going in. He did rebound the best of the bunch and got some garbage points being in the right spot at the right time. Didn’t add much muscle or weight in the off season. He is moving well though and looks a lot closer to 100% this year than he was last season.

Guerrier forced some shots on offense, didn’t box out hard and didn’t look all that interested in getting rebounds. Stood around the perimeter on offense too much for my liking. One can see he is strong and a good athlete but he didn’t wow me with his smarts or skills. His defense was quite good and he had the toughest assignment, guarding Hughes. I will be thrilled if he ends up as good as Brissett was as a frosh. Hoping he can get 10 ppg and 7 rpg. I think he ends up around there.

Braswell looks stronger and more comfortable but he did a few careless things and is another big guy who seems to hang out on the perimeter too much for me. I think he can provide serviceable minutes and have some good games but from this small window, i am not convinced he will play in the regular rotation.

Goodine played well in the scrimmage. Was tenacious on defense, where I think he will contribute the most for this team early in his career. Did a good job running the Orange offense and is clearly a really good athlete. His shooting form is excellent too. Needs to get a lot stronger but has made good strides here already. I think he has the highest ceiling of any of the Frosh Five. Will probably be up and down a lot this season but I think he is the backup PG and will play minutes every game.

Washington didn’t get a lot of run. I think he backed up Carey at PG for the White team. Doesn’t do much wrong or right. Quiet type player. Goodine is going to make more turnovers and force more bad shots but also make more good passes, score more and definitely be better defensively. That is why I think he wins the backup PG spot. But this was a narrow window and things could change.

That leaves Girard. He was playing SG when I was watching them play. He did okay but is heavily dependent on his PG to get him some good looks, and that didn’t happen much when I was watching. He is good at getting open and I am pretty sure he will take a lot of shots when he gets in. Was almost exclusively on the perimeter when I was watching. His defense looked okay. Isn’t that tall or fast so I doubt he will ever be more than a pretty good defender. But GMac ended up being quite good on defense and if Gerry could do it, I would think Joe can too. One thing he does not lack is confidence and that is a good thing to have.

The girl that sang the NA did a nice job. She did a soulful, ambitious and risky version of the song. Hard to pull off. For the most part, she was successful and she got a very good hand from the crowd.

The program started late, which was not good for those of us who stayed up really late the night before to watch the SU football game. That said, I thought things were well organized.

It was a nice touch having fans compete with modified skills drills.
The free shirts were nicer than expected. Wish they went with XL as the size instead of L. Know your audience SUAD! Next time do a 50-50 breakdown. That would probably be best.

Free is always nice. There were a lot of young families with kids at the game. I am sure they all appreciated this.

Nice write up, just one head scratcher part about Gerry being a good defender.

 

[Brooky03]

Guerrier was billed as a highly skilled/savvy player on offense and a good 3-point shooter. Not quite the typical ‘tall athlete who we can teach how to play basketball’ type we tend to get. So the observations are a little worrisome. Hopefully he just had an off night or wasn’t overly interested? The Freshman Brissett comparison/target doesn’t inspire a ton of confidence. We all know OB could rebound but he was never much of an offensive weapon. Incredibly inefficient.

 

[MSOrange]

Guerrier was billed as a highly skilled/savvy player on offense and a good 3-point shooter. Not quite the typical ‘tall athlete who we can teach how to play basketball’ type we tend to get. So the observations are a little worrisome. Hopefully he just had an off night or wasn’t overly interested? The Freshman Brissett comparison/target doesn’t inspire a ton of confidence. We all know OB could rebound but he was never much of an offensive weapon. Incredibly inefficient.

I wouldn't worry too much about Quincy. Those observations about last night are very different than the player he showed he was in Italy. The syracuse.com writeup said he had 13 points in the second half with 3 3 pointers and he was very interested in getting rebounds in the Italy games.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Quincy looked good the second half. I’d say he’s a better shooter than Oshae. Girard was much better the second half as well. Tomcat left at halftime so he wouldn’t have seen this.

 

[20plus]

Went to the intersquad scrimmage tonight. Pretty good crowd.
It was weird to watch a basketball game without the movable bleachers from the east end zone at courtside.

Carey won the ball handling contest but Guerrier would have won easily if he could have just hit a 3 quickly. I believe he missed his first 3. Looks like a good athlete but at this point in his career, not a great outside shooter (did not do well at the 3 point shooting contest either).

Buddy made 10 of 15 3s and looked like he was going to coast to a victory but Goodine made 12 of 15, including his last 3 form the corner to win that one.

No dunk contest, which is probably good as this is not one of our better groups for making spectacular dunks.

I stayed for the first half of the scrimmage.

Hughes looked like the best player on the court. Both teams played man exclusively. He was matched against Guerrier, who did a reasonable job against him but is not currently in his class. Elijah could get a good shot pretty much whenever he wanted.

Boeheim looked solid, as expected. He has gotten stronger, which helps him with his defense and rebounding. He looks more confident with the ball, makes good choices and yes, the kid can still shoot it.

Marek continues to be more deferential to his teammates than I would like to see. Not looking for his shot much. I keep hoping to see him more assertive and aggressive and keep getting disappointed. It isn’t a bad thing to be unselfish but he can clearly shoot and can drive too and just doesn’t look to score as often as this team needs him to. He mostly played at the high post on offense, made a few nice passes and played forward exclusively.

Bol Ajak was quietly impressive. Didn’t score a lot but he made a couple quick, quality athletic moves to the basketball and his jumper is silky smooth. Also aaready looks like the strongest and most physical big we have and I would say the best defensively (Sidibe was pretty lost playing man). He is still skinny right now but he has a better frame than the other bigs and I suspect he is going to be the heaviest and strongest down the road by a large margin.

Was impressed by Edwards too. He is going to be a good pick and roll guy, I think. Moves well without the ball, Can pass it too. His instincts, especially on offense, are impressive. He is also by far the skinniest and least physical of the bunch, and least ready to play right away.

That leaves Sid, who as mentioned looked bad playing man. Left his guy wide open time and time again. Got the ball in pretty good position on offense a few times but did not make quality power moves to score and ended up usually throwing up an awkward shot that had no chance of going in. He did rebound the best of the bunch and got some garbage points being in the right spot at the right time. Didn’t add much muscle or weight in the off season. He is moving well though and looks a lot closer to 100% this year than he was last season.

Guerrier forced some shots on offense, didn’t box out hard and didn’t look all that interested in getting rebounds. Stood around the perimeter on offense too much for my liking. One can see he is strong and a good athlete but he didn’t wow me with his smarts or skills. His defense was quite good and he had the toughest assignment, guarding Hughes. I will be thrilled if he ends up as good as Brissett was as a frosh. Hoping he can get 10 ppg and 7 rpg. I think he ends up around there.

Braswell looks stronger and more comfortable but he did a few careless things and is another big guy who seems to hang out on the perimeter too much for me. I think he can provide serviceable minutes and have some good games but from this small window, i am not convinced he will play in the regular rotation.

Goodine played well in the scrimmage. Was tenacious on defense, where I think he will contribute the most for this team early in his career. Did a good job running the Orange offense and is clearly a really good athlete. His shooting form is excellent too. Needs to get a lot stronger but has made good strides here already. I think he has the highest ceiling of any of the Frosh Five. Will probably be up and down a lot this season but I think he is the backup PG and will play minutes every game.

Washington didn’t get a lot of run. I think he backed up Carey at PG for the White team. Doesn’t do much wrong or right. Quiet type player. Goodine is going to make more turnovers and force more bad shots but also make more good passes, score more and definitely be better defensively. That is why I think he wins the backup PG spot. But this was a narrow window and things could change.

That leaves Girard. He was playing SG when I was watching them play. He did okay but is heavily dependent on his PG to get him some good looks, and that didn’t happen much when I was watching. He is good at getting open and I am pretty sure he will take a lot of shots when he gets in. Was almost exclusively on the perimeter when I was watching. His defense looked okay. Isn’t that tall or fast so I doubt he will ever be more than a pretty good defender. But GMac ended up being quite good on defense and if Gerry could do it, I would think Joe can too. One thing he does not lack is confidence and that is a good thing to have.

The girl that sang the NA did a nice job. She did a soulful, ambitious and risky version of the song. Hard to pull off. For the most part, she was successful and she got a very good hand from the crowd.

The program started late, which was not good for those of us who stayed up really late the night before to watch the SU football game. That said, I thought things were well organized.

It was a nice touch having fans compete with modified skills drills.
The free shirts were nicer than expected. Wish they went with XL as the size instead of L. Know your audience SUAD! Next time do a 50-50 breakdown. That would probably be best.

Free is always nice. There were a lot of young families with kids at the game. I am sure they all appreciated this.

Super job


Completely disagree on Quincy he had two effortless deep deep threes once he was warmed up at the end of the game and I mean from deep deep range
I would take him over Oshae right now 10 out of 10 times

 

[20plus]

Much better feel for the game with his body control strength and knows how to use all his tools

 

[20plus]

Guerrier was billed as a highly skilled/savvy player on offense and a good 3-point shooter. Not quite the typical ‘tall athlete who we can teach how to play basketball’ type we tend to get. So the observations are a little worrisome. Hopefully he just had an off night or wasn’t overly interested? The Freshman Brissett comparison/target doesn’t inspire a ton of confidence. We all know OB could rebound but he was never much of an offensive weapon. Incredibly inefficient.

I have zero concern for Quincy looked great last night

 

[Jasoncuse]

great recap. Not super encouraging as there are numerous holes and issues but I look forward to seeing Goodine and Guerrier play.

Have a feeling this season is going to be a bit of a rough one. Our interior play is going to be such an problem. Sid has never been good on D and I’m not sure the frosh will play much. I have a feeling Marek gets a lot of run at the 5 as the season goes on.

 

[GooseMutt]

Went to the intersquad scrimmage tonight. Pretty good crowd.
It was weird to watch a basketball game without the movable bleachers from the east end zone at courtside.

Carey won the ball handling contest but Guerrier would have won easily if he could have just hit a 3 quickly. I believe he missed his first 3. Looks like a good athlete but at this point in his career, not a great outside shooter (did not do well at the 3 point shooting contest either).

Buddy made 10 of 15 3s and looked like he was going to coast to a victory but Goodine made 12 of 15, including his last 3 form the corner to win that one.

No dunk contest, which is probably good as this is not one of our better groups for making spectacular dunks.

I stayed for the first half of the scrimmage.

Hughes looked like the best player on the court. Both teams played man exclusively. He was matched against Guerrier, who did a reasonable job against him but is not currently in his class. Elijah could get a good shot pretty much whenever he wanted.

Boeheim looked solid, as expected. He has gotten stronger, which helps him with his defense and rebounding. He looks more confident with the ball, makes good choices and yes, the kid can still shoot it.

Marek continues to be more deferential to his teammates than I would like to see. Not looking for his shot much. I keep hoping to see him more assertive and aggressive and keep getting disappointed. It isn’t a bad thing to be unselfish but he can clearly shoot and can drive too and just doesn’t look to score as often as this team needs him to. He mostly played at the high post on offense, made a few nice passes and played forward exclusively.

Bol Ajak was quietly impressive. Didn’t score a lot but he made a couple quick, quality athletic moves to the basketball and his jumper is silky smooth. Also aaready looks like the strongest and most physical big we have and I would say the best defensively (Sidibe was pretty lost playing man). He is still skinny right now but he has a better frame than the other bigs and I suspect he is going to be the heaviest and strongest down the road by a large margin.

Was impressed by Edwards too. He is going to be a good pick and roll guy, I think. Moves well without the ball, Can pass it too. His instincts, especially on offense, are impressive. He is also by far the skinniest and least physical of the bunch, and least ready to play right away.

That leaves Sid, who as mentioned looked bad playing man. Left his guy wide open time and time again. Got the ball in pretty good position on offense a few times but did not make quality power moves to score and ended up usually throwing up an awkward shot that had no chance of going in. He did rebound the best of the bunch and got some garbage points being in the right spot at the right time. Didn’t add much muscle or weight in the off season. He is moving well though and looks a lot closer to 100% this year than he was last season.

Guerrier forced some shots on offense, didn’t box out hard and didn’t look all that interested in getting rebounds. Stood around the perimeter on offense too much for my liking. One can see he is strong and a good athlete but he didn’t wow me with his smarts or skills. His defense was quite good and he had the toughest assignment, guarding Hughes. I will be thrilled if he ends up as good as Brissett was as a frosh. Hoping he can get 10 ppg and 7 rpg. I think he ends up around there.

Braswell looks stronger and more comfortable but he did a few careless things and is another big guy who seems to hang out on the perimeter too much for me. I think he can provide serviceable minutes and have some good games but from this small window, i am not convinced he will play in the regular rotation.

Goodine played well in the scrimmage. Was tenacious on defense, where I think he will contribute the most for this team early in his career. Did a good job running the Orange offense and is clearly a really good athlete. His shooting form is excellent too. Needs to get a lot stronger but has made good strides here already. I think he has the highest ceiling of any of the Frosh Five. Will probably be up and down a lot this season but I think he is the backup PG and will play minutes every game.

Washington didn’t get a lot of run. I think he backed up Carey at PG for the White team. Doesn’t do much wrong or right. Quiet type player. Goodine is going to make more turnovers and force more bad shots but also make more good passes, score more and definitely be better defensively. That is why I think he wins the backup PG spot. But this was a narrow window and things could change.

That leaves Girard. He was playing SG when I was watching them play. He did okay but is heavily dependent on his PG to get him some good looks, and that didn’t happen much when I was watching. He is good at getting open and I am pretty sure he will take a lot of shots when he gets in. Was almost exclusively on the perimeter when I was watching. His defense looked okay. Isn’t that tall or fast so I doubt he will ever be more than a pretty good defender. But GMac ended up being quite good on defense and if Gerry could do it, I would think Joe can too. One thing he does not lack is confidence and that is a good thing to have.

The girl that sang the NA did a nice job. She did a soulful, ambitious and risky version of the song. Hard to pull off. For the most part, she was successful and she got a very good hand from the crowd.

The program started late, which was not good for those of us who stayed up really late the night before to watch the SU football game. That said, I thought things were well organized.

It was a nice touch having fans compete with modified skills drills.
The free shirts were nicer than expected. Wish they went with XL as the size instead of L. Know your audience SUAD! Next time do a 50-50 breakdown. That would probably be best.

Free is always nice. There were a lot of young families with kids at the game. I am sure they all appreciated this.

Would be curious to know if anyone was driving the lane consistently and if we are running after rebounds. Thanks!

 

[billsin01]

Guerrier was billed as a highly skilled/savvy player on offense and a good 3-point shooter. Not quite the typical ‘tall athlete who we can teach how to play basketball’ type we tend to get. So the observations are a little worrisome. Hopefully he just had an off night or wasn’t overly interested? The Freshman Brissett comparison/target doesn’t inspire a ton of confidence. We all know OB could rebound but he was never much of an offensive weapon. Incredibly inefficient.

Dude put up basically 15 and 8 as a frost on a team that was extremely limited offensively yet reached the sweet 16. Inefficient? absolutely. Frustrating at times? Absolutely. But that’s one of the best years a non-Carmelo/Gerry/DC/Billy O frosh has ever had. People are insane if they’re expecting Guerrier to do much better than that and we should be praying he’s somewhere in he neighborhood.

 

[Cusefan0307]

great recap. Not super encouraging as there are numerous holes and issues but I look forward to seeing Goodine and Guerrier play.

Have a feeling this season is going to be a bit of a rough one. Our interior play is going to be such an problem. Sid has never been good on D and I’m not sure the frosh will play much. I have a feeling Marek gets a lot of run at the 5 as the season goes on.

I didn’t see it that way offensively. No offense to Tyus, Frank, or Oshae, but their replacements are more skilled.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Would be curious to know if anyone was driving the lane consistently and if we are running after rebounds. Thanks!

Yes, Carey, Brycen and Buddy all drove the lane and there was less one on one and walking up the court.

 

[gmacfor3]

Went to the intersquad scrimmage tonight. Pretty good crowd.
It was weird to watch a basketball game without the movable bleachers from the east end zone at courtside.

Carey won the ball handling contest but Guerrier would have won easily if he could have just hit a 3 quickly. I believe he missed his first 3. Looks like a good athlete but at this point in his career, not a great outside shooter (did not do well at the 3 point shooting contest either).

Buddy made 10 of 15 3s and looked like he was going to coast to a victory but Goodine made 12 of 15, including his last 3 form the corner to win that one.

No dunk contest, which is probably good as this is not one of our better groups for making spectacular dunks.

I stayed for the first half of the scrimmage.

Hughes looked like the best player on the court. Both teams played man exclusively. He was matched against Guerrier, who did a reasonable job against him but is not currently in his class. Elijah could get a good shot pretty much whenever he wanted.

Boeheim looked solid, as expected. He has gotten stronger, which helps him with his defense and rebounding. He looks more confident with the ball, makes good choices and yes, the kid can still shoot it.

Marek continues to be more deferential to his teammates than I would like to see. Not looking for his shot much. I keep hoping to see him more assertive and aggressive and keep getting disappointed. It isn’t a bad thing to be unselfish but he can clearly shoot and can drive too and just doesn’t look to score as often as this team needs him to. He mostly played at the high post on offense, made a few nice passes and played forward exclusively.

Bol Ajak was quietly impressive. Didn’t score a lot but he made a couple quick, quality athletic moves to the basketball and his jumper is silky smooth. Also aaready looks like the strongest and most physical big we have and I would say the best defensively (Sidibe was pretty lost playing man). He is still skinny right now but he has a better frame than the other bigs and I suspect he is going to be the heaviest and strongest down the road by a large margin.

Was impressed by Edwards too. He is going to be a good pick and roll guy, I think. Moves well without the ball, Can pass it too. His instincts, especially on offense, are impressive. He is also by far the skinniest and least physical of the bunch, and least ready to play right away.

That leaves Sid, who as mentioned looked bad playing man. Left his guy wide open time and time again. Got the ball in pretty good position on offense a few times but did not make quality power moves to score and ended up usually throwing up an awkward shot that had no chance of going in. He did rebound the best of the bunch and got some garbage points being in the right spot at the right time. Didn’t add much muscle or weight in the off season. He is moving well though and looks a lot closer to 100% this year than he was last season.

Guerrier forced some shots on offense, didn’t box out hard and didn’t look all that interested in getting rebounds. Stood around the perimeter on offense too much for my liking. One can see he is strong and a good athlete but he didn’t wow me with his smarts or skills. His defense was quite good and he had the toughest assignment, guarding Hughes. I will be thrilled if he ends up as good as Brissett was as a frosh. Hoping he can get 10 ppg and 7 rpg. I think he ends up around there.

Braswell looks stronger and more comfortable but he did a few careless things and is another big guy who seems to hang out on the perimeter too much for me. I think he can provide serviceable minutes and have some good games but from this small window, i am not convinced he will play in the regular rotation.

Goodine played well in the scrimmage. Was tenacious on defense, where I think he will contribute the most for this team early in his career. Did a good job running the Orange offense and is clearly a really good athlete. His shooting form is excellent too. Needs to get a lot stronger but has made good strides here already. I think he has the highest ceiling of any of the Frosh Five. Will probably be up and down a lot this season but I think he is the backup PG and will play minutes every game.

Washington didn’t get a lot of run. I think he backed up Carey at PG for the White team. Doesn’t do much wrong or right. Quiet type player. Goodine is going to make more turnovers and force more bad shots but also make more good passes, score more and definitely be better defensively. That is why I think he wins the backup PG spot. But this was a narrow window and things could change.

That leaves Girard. He was playing SG when I was watching them play. He did okay but is heavily dependent on his PG to get him some good looks, and that didn’t happen much when I was watching. He is good at getting open and I am pretty sure he will take a lot of shots when he gets in. Was almost exclusively on the perimeter when I was watching. His defense looked okay. Isn’t that tall or fast so I doubt he will ever be more than a pretty good defender. But GMac ended up being quite good on defense and if Gerry could do it, I would think Joe can too. One thing he does not lack is confidence and that is a good thing to have.

The girl that sang the NA did a nice job. She did a soulful, ambitious and risky version of the song. Hard to pull off. For the most part, she was successful and she got a very good hand from the crowd.

The program started late, which was not good for those of us who stayed up really late the night before to watch the SU football game. That said, I thought things were well organized.

It was a nice touch having fans compete with modified skills drills.
The free shirts were nicer than expected. Wish they went with XL as the size instead of L. Know your audience SUAD! Next time do a 50-50 breakdown. That would probably be best.

Free is always nice. There were a lot of young families with kids at the game. I am sure they all appreciated this.

Good breakdown Tomcat. I thought I'd add some of my observations as well. Let me preface this by saying that the intensity (especially defensively) was no where near that of a regular game, and I also had my six year old daughter with me who was bouncing off the bleachers (and me) while riding a sugar high in the second half so it was hard to pay attention to the game at times. Anyways, here is what I saw:

General observations: With so many roles and playing time up for grabs this year, this team is obviously searching for it's identity at this point. Many of the guys are still trying to figure out where they fit in and what they need to be doing on the court. Case in point, one time Edwards received a long pass to beat the press out past the three point line...he had a wide open Hughes on the wing, and instead tried attacking the deep defender off the dribble without success. Hughes was not happy with the decision and GMac greeted Edwards on the floor to instruct him that he needs to give that up (and likely get it back).
I was slightly disappointed with the body language at times of Hughes and Dolejaz. On several occasions they were complaining to the refs about non calls, which in a setting like this should not have been an issue. I thought Battle and Howard spent way to much time complaining to the refs last year...I think you really want your leaders to take a mentality that rises above that. Hopefully Hughes and Dolejaz will do that as the season progresses.

This team is going to shoot a TON of threes this year. They do a much better job than in previous years driving into the paint and looking to kick rather than just looking to score. Between BB, JG3, Hughes, Goodine, and Guerrier, they have 5 guys who can absolutely light it up from deep. Add in Dolejaz and possibly Braswell, and that's a lot of guys who can hit from three.

Individual players:
Hughes- would have like to see him drive more. He has an uncanny ability to get off good lucks from three even when he's contested, but I only saw him drive and finish once. I expect a very good season from Hughes, but I think JB might have been using hyperbole when he said he'd be surprised if Hughes doesn't average 20 ppg. That is not easy to do and Hughes is going to be the focus of team's defensive game plans.

Dolejaz- looked very good one time coming off a screen, setting his feet, and hitting from 3. Was very confident letting that shot go, so I would imagine he has the green light. He is so versatile and a great passer, he just needs to develop a more aggressive mindset. No reason he cant average at least 10 ppg, 5-6 rbs, and 3-4 assists.

Sidibe- he was no doubt the biggest pleasant surprise from the Italy trip. And while he moved very well last night (as opposed to seeing him last year in the Orange/White scrimmage where he was hobbling up and down the court), he airballed two jump hooks early and missed several tip ins/lobs. Hopefully it was just an off-night for him, as they are going to need him greatly because I just don't think Edwards and JBA are ready for primetime (more on that in a minute).

Buddy- SNIPER! I find myself being shocked when he misses an open shot. Looked much more comfortable handling the ball last night. Such a high bball IQ (wonder where he gets that from) that he wont make mental mistakes. I don't think anyone could have seen him becoming an impact player this quickly.

Carey- so quick and smooth going to the basket. Missed 3-4 easy bunnies, but also made a really nice finish going into the body of Dolejaz. His pull up jumper is money...but his catch and shoot three is UGLY. Simlar to Battle, he shoots well of the dribble because he shoots a true jump shot and is able to get his legs into his shot off the dribble and shoots at the peak of his jump. But when he is stationary, he has a hitch at the top of his release and he shoots on the way down. I don't remember seeing that hitch in his HS highlight videos...maybe it's a confidence issue. Reminds me a little of Scoop Jardine's shot from his freshman year. Hopefully he improves like Scoop did. I'm afraid teams are going to back way off him and dare him to shoot from 3 this year.

Guerrier- like tomcat said, he stood around the perimeter in the first half and really didn't do much. While he didn't score much (if at all) inside in the second half, he mixed it up more and wow he hit a few DEEP three's. Stroke looks pure. He seems very poised and confident as well for a freshman. Really excited about him, but there will be typical freshman ups and downs.

Goodine- very impressive making 12/15 in the 3 point contest, then hit a few deep ones in the game. He is very versatile and confident... I think he'll carve out a nice role this year.

Girard- really did nothing of note for 3/4 of the scrimmage, then hit 3 threes in a blink of an eye. He is going to be a guy that other teams have to account for otherwise he could go off an score in bunches. However, he'll also probably have some games this year where he doesn't do much to impact the game. I know he's been called gmac part 2, but he doesn't seem to have the same bounce that Gmac had his freshman year. But he definitely has similar confidence. I'm really looking forward to watching him compete this year and into the future though, should be a great 4 year guy.

Braswell- good athlete, good shooter, good defender. Doesn't do anything great but seems to know where to be on the court. I just don't know how much he'll see the court this year...will really depend if Dolejaz gets minutes at the 5 or not.

Edwards-POTENTIAL! Did some nice things, I just have a hard time seeing him be a factor during ACC play this year.JB is already walking back from his summer statement that Marek isn’t going to play the 5 this year.Lots to like here over the next few years though.

JBA- maybe it was because of my sugar high daughter bouncing all over me, but I don’t remember JBA playing much at all in the second half. He is skilled and did some nice things (one drive in particular where he pumped faked, drove and go let fouled), but I wonder if he’s a redshirt candidate. No way both him AND Edwards see time this year, it will be one or the other or neither.

Washington- heady, doesn’t make mistakes, plays with good pace. But he is the 5th guard and JB usually doesn’t play more than 3 guards, althoughI think 4 will get time this year. It would be cool to see him be like Laz Simms and stick it out to get rewarded his senior year, but you rarely see that ever these days.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Good breakdown Tomcat. I thought I'd add some of my observations as well. Let me preface this by saying that the intensity (especially defensively) was no where near that of a regular game, and I also had my six year old daughter with me who was bouncing off the bleachers (and me) while riding a sugar high in the second half so it was hard to pay attention to the game at times. Anyways, here is what I saw:

General observations: With so many roles and playing time up for grabs this year, this team is obviously searching for it's identity at this point. Many of the guys are still trying to figure out where they fit in and what they need to be doing on the court. Case in point, one time Edwards received a long pass to beat the press out past the three point line...he had a wide open Hughes on the wing, and instead tried attacking the deep defender off the dribble without success. Hughes was not happy with the decision and GMac greeted Edwards on the floor to instruct him that he needs to give that up (and likely get it back).
I was slightly disappointed with the body language at times of Hughes and Dolejaz. On several occasions they were complaining to the refs about non calls, which in a setting like this should not have been an issue. I thought Battle and Howard spent way to much time complaining to the refs last year...I think you really want your leaders to take a mentality that rises above that. Hopefully Hughes and Dolejaz will do that as the season progresses.

This team is going to shoot a TON of threes this year. They do a much better job than in previous years driving into the paint and looking to kick rather than just looking to score. Between BB, JG3, Hughes, Goodine, and Guerrier, they have 5 guys who can absolutely light it up from deep. Add in Dolejaz and possibly Braswell, and that's a lot of guys who can hit from three.

Individual players:
Hughes- would have like to see him drive more. He has an uncanny ability to get off good lucks from three even when he's contested, but I only saw him drive and finish once. I expect a very good season from Hughes, but I think JB might have been using hyperbole when he said he'd be surprised if Hughes doesn't average 20 ppg. That is not easy to do and Hughes is going to be the focus of team's defensive game plans.

Dolejaz- looked very good one time coming off a screen, setting his feet, and hitting from 3. Was very confident letting that shot go, so I would imagine he has the green light. He is so versatile and a great passer, he just needs to develop a more aggressive mindset. No reason he cant average at least 10 ppg, 5-6 rbs, and 3-4 assists.

Sidibe- he was no doubt the biggest pleasant surprise from the Italy trip. And while he moved very well last night (as opposed to seeing him last year in the Orange/White scrimmage where he was hobbling up and down the court), he airballed two jump hooks early and missed several tip ins/lobs. Hopefully it was just an off-night for him, as they are going to need him greatly because I just don't think Edwards and JBA are ready for primetime (more on that in a minute).

Buddy- SNIPER! I find myself being shocked when he misses an open shot. Looked much more comfortable handling the ball last night. Such a high bball IQ (wonder where he gets that from) that he wont make mental mistakes. I don't think anyone could have seen him becoming an impact player this quickly.

Carey- so quick and smooth going to the basket. Missed 3-4 easy bunnies, but also made a really nice finish going into the body of Dolejaz. His pull up jumper is money...but his catch and shoot three is UGLY. Simlar to Battle, he shoots well of the dribble because he shoots a true jump shot and is able to get his legs into his shot off the dribble and shoots at the peak of his jump. But when he is stationary, he has a hitch at the top of his release and he shoots on the way down. I don't remember seeing that hitch in his HS highlight videos...maybe it's a confidence issue. Reminds me a little of Scoop Jardine's shot from his freshman year. Hopefully he improves like Scoop did. I'm afraid teams are going to back way off him and dare him to shoot from 3 this year.

Guerrier- like tomcat said, he stood around the perimeter in the first half and really didn't do much. While he didn't score much (if at all) inside in the second half, he mixed it up more and wow he hit a few DEEP three's. Stroke looks pure. He seems very poised and confident as well for a freshman. Really excited about him, but there will be typical freshman ups and downs.

Goodine- very impressive making 12/15 in the 3 point contest, then hit a few deep ones in the game. He is very versatile and confident... I think he'll carve out a nice role this year.

Girard- really did nothing of note for 3/4 of the scrimmage, then hit 3 threes in a blink of an eye. He is going to be a guy that other teams have to account for otherwise he could go off an score in bunches. However, he'll also probably have some games this year where he doesn't do much to impact the game. I know he's been called gmac part 2, but he doesn't seem to have the same bounce that Gmac had his freshman year. But he definitely has similar confidence. I'm really looking forward to watching him compete this year and into the future though, should be a great 4 year guy.

Braswell- good athlete, good shooter, good defender. Doesn't do anything great but seems to know where to be on the court. I just don't know how much he'll see the court this year...will really depend if Dolejaz gets minutes at the 5 or not.

Edwards-POTENTIAL! Did some nice things, I just have a hard time seeing him be a factor during ACC play this year.JB is already walking back from his summer statement that Marek isn’t going to play the 5 this year.Lots to like here over the next few years though.

JBA- maybe it was because of my sugar high daughter bouncing all over me, but I don’t remember JBA playing much at all in the second half. He is skilled and did some nice things (one drive in particular where he pumped faked, drove and go let fouled), but I wonder if he’s a redshirt candidate. No way both him AND Edwards see time this year, it will be one or the other or neither.

Washington- heady, doesn’t make mistakes, plays with good pace. But he is the 5th guard and JB usually doesn’t play more than 3 guards, althoughI think 4 will get time this year. It would be cool to see him be like Laz Simms and stick it out to get rewarded his senior year, but you rarely see that ever these days.

Great post. Agree with all your observations except I like Ajak more than Edwards. He just seems further along physically and a bit more skilled at this point. I think they both have great potential.

 

[Brooky03]

Dude put up basically 15 and 8 as a frost on a team that was extremely limited offensively yet reached the sweet 16. Inefficient? absolutely. Frustrating at times? Absolutely. But that’s one of the best years a non-Carmelo/Gerry/DC/Billy O frosh has ever had. People are insane if they’re expecting Guerrier to do much better than that and we should be praying he’s somewhere in he neighborhood.

I never understood the love fest for OB. I liked his potential and his Freshman season wasn’t bad, but shooting efficiency matters. All 15ppg means in his case was that the team had no other options so he got to shoot more than he should have.

This isn’t hate. It’s okay to be honest about players. His rebounding was great. His scoring was pretty bad. It was a good Freshman campaign. It was not exceptional.

 

[tbonezone]

Guerrier forced some shots on offense, didn’t box out hard and didn’t look all that interested in getting rebounds. Stood around the perimeter on offense too much for my liking. One can see he is strong and a good athlete but he didn’t wow me with his smarts or skills. His defense was quite good and he had the toughest assignment,

quincy hitting the doobies ?

 

[sutomcat]

One more thing, more of a general observation:

There was little extended standing with the ball, aimlessly dribbling type possessions that ended with a semi forced bad shot as the shot clock was able to go off. I think the players on this team don’t need to hold the ball for a long time and won’t do it. I expect a lot more ball movement and passing with this team. And yes, I think they will at least try and get more transition baskets than we have tried in recent years. Carey has a completely different mindset than Frank did, and it appears Goodine shared that mindset.

In general, the players are better passers and better outside shooters.

I expect our defense will be worse this season. The presence of Pascal made up for a lot of missed assignments on defense. He will be missed. Frank and Tyus were good defenders with a lot of experience.

I think our centers are going to be a problem against good inside players and our guards will surely struggle some, especially early in the season, as they adjust to new roles as starters. I think Guerrier is going to be a liability on defense for at least the first half of the season and our utter lack of good rebounders is going kill us when we play teams that hit the offensive boards. I expect us to get in foul trouble all the time but with depth at all positions, hopefully it won’t hurt us too badly.

Bottom line, we are going to have to outscore good teams in order to win. An efficient offense is going to be important. We have to shoot well. Hope we can do better on the offensive boards with this group. No way that happens on the defensive boards.

 

[RF2044]

great recap. Not super encouraging as there are numerous holes and issues but I look forward to seeing Goodine and Guerrier play.

Have a feeling this season is going to be a bit of a rough one. Our interior play is going to be such an problem. Sid has never been good on D and I’m not sure the frosh will play much. I have a feeling Marek gets a lot of run at the 5 as the season goes on.

I wouldn't bother looking for "encouragement" from a scrimmage where nearly zero defense gets played, and the players are all looking to have fun / make highlight reel plays.

 

[FloridaFan]

I wouldn't bother looking for "encouragement" from a scrimmage where nearly zero defense gets played, and the players are all looking to have fun / make highlight reel plays.

So you are saying they aren’t playing 100 percent serious like it’s the championship? This team has no drive or ambition

 

[billsin01]

I never understood the love fest for OB. I liked his potential and his Freshman season wasn’t bad, but shooting efficiency matters. All 15ppg means in his case was that the team had no other options so he got to shoot more than he should have.

This isn’t hate. It’s okay to be honest about players. His rebounding was great. His scoring was pretty bad. It was a good Freshman campaign. It was not exceptional.

I hear you dude and I’m 100% fine with being honest about players. Im not even arguing he was ever a ‘good’ scoring option.

All I am saying is that he put up 15 and 8 for the full season (basically — slightly below both round numbers) and we very rarely see that. He also shot I think around 38/39% from three in ACC play, which is actually pretty freaking good. Still would have taken a few more made layups, but that’s productive.

At the end of the day all three guys who led that team — Frank, Tyus and Oshae — were in roles ideally they wouldn’t have been. 40 mpg and the primary, secondary and tertiary scoring options in some order. That’s not ideal.

But all in all, 15 and 8 is really hard for a freshman to hit if they’re not a top 25 type guy. I’m optimistic on Guerrier and it sounds like he could be better than Oshae offensively (where he was flawed). It’s just dicey to bank on that and really, really difficult to assume it as close to inevitable.

 

[GooseMutt]

Yes, Carey, Brycen and Buddy all drove the lane and there was less one on one and walking up the court.

Thank you

 

[Dcuse]

Not much to add except this...White team took pretty big lead- Orange team made big comeback to tie game and even take a lead with about 4 minutes left and then QG made 2 or 3 long threes to basically win the game.
So those wringing your hands over this guy....why?

 

[durhamcuse]

Dude put up basically 15 and 8 as a frost on a team that was extremely limited offensively yet reached the sweet 16. Inefficient? absolutely. Frustrating at times? Absolutely. But that’s one of the best years a non-Carmelo/Gerry/DC/Billy O frosh has ever had. People are insane if they’re expecting Guerrier to do much better than that and we should be praying he’s somewhere in he neighborhood.

The difference is body control and finishing. Oshae could score, but he missed too many bunnies (this continued throughout his Syracuse time). Oshae was a great rebounder (this would be hard to match), but I think Quincy can be more efficient on offense.