Next year is going to be SO different | Syracusefan.com

Next year is going to be SO different

kcsu

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Talk about a huge change. Next year is going to be transgenderish in magnitude.
Heck i wont be surprised to see Jim sans glasses.
Seriously we can field 5 starters next year who can all shoot.
Hughes, Guerrier, Buddy, and Girard all have NBA range. The two new bigs are coordinated and can each shoot really well. On paper this team should win based on being a solid O team. No more stall ball. ISO will look very different. Center picks might actually have to guarded. Our PGs will be scoring threats. In short each of our players will be a threat to score and demand attention.
The make up of this team while green has me optimistic. I think that Jim is going to be energized by the change, the youth and the overall freshness of his program. i like that we are adding quality kids and most especially kids who are winners.
Should be a roller coaster of a year but my sense is that its going to be a good one for all involved most especially Jim
 
I agree offensively we should be better than in recent years. We’ll have shooters everywhere and a PG that wants to run. I think Hughes/QG have a legit shot to be a top 3 scoring combo in the ACC

I do think defensively we’ll take a step back, and definitely on the glass. We’re going to smaller At the top of the zone than we’ve been in a while; not to mention having 2 sophomores and 2 freshman. I think Buddy and Jalen will be ok, but not near Frank/Tyus level defensively. We also lost a lot of rebounding with PC and OB.
 
I agree offensively we should be better than in recent years. We’ll have shooters everywhere and a PG that wants to run. I think Hughes/QG have a legit shot to be a top 3 scoring combo in the ACC

I do think defensively we’ll take a step back, and definitely on the glass. We’re going to smaller At the top of the zone than we’ve been in a while; not to mention having 2 sophomores and 2 freshman. I think Buddy and Jalen will be ok, but not near Frank/Tyus level defensively. We also lost a lot of rebounding with PC and OB.
Yes, the rebounding and defensive challeges may be difficult to overcome. Carey showed flashes of being a plus defender and rebounder at times as a freshman, and he will have to deliver on that potential if this team is to emerge as anything more than a middle of the pack ACC team, IMO.
 
I wouldn't sleep on Braswell starting. Dude is flying under the radar, has real game experience, and he can ball. I'm excited to see him play regardless of if he starts or not.

While I agree he could contribute this year, barring injury, I don't see a scenario where he starts over Hughes QG or Doley at the forward spot.
 
i hope the rotation is deep next season.

don't let a few players become the "stars" of the team - especially if they aren't good enough to be 35-40 minute players...let the majority of them all get 20ish minutes...and let their play dictate minutes.
 
Talk about a huge change. Next year is going to be transgenderish in magnitude.
Heck i wont be surprised to see Jim sans glasses.
Seriously we can field 5 starters next year who can all shoot.
Hughes, Guerrier, Buddy, and Girard all have NBA range. The two new bigs are coordinated and can each shoot really well. On paper this team should win based on being a solid O team. No more stall ball. ISO will look very different. Center picks might actually have to guarded. Our PGs will be scoring threats. In short each of our players will be a threat to score and demand attention.
The make up of this team while green has me optimistic. I think that Jim is going to be energized by the change, the youth and the overall freshness of his program. i like that we are adding quality kids and most especially kids who are winners.
Should be a roller coaster of a year but my sense is that its going to be a good one for all involved most especially Jim


The White / Gillon / Lydon team was similarly skilled offensively (maybe even more so!), but they couldn't really gel defensively, and there was no one guy to take over at crunch time. I think we have a lot of tools on this year's team, and I think everybody getting a clean start is a good thing. That last group of players had grown stale and too one dimensional on offense. Hopefully we can find the right balance with this new group.
 
I have to disagree, losing Battle and Brissett is not making us better. I've seen far too many times the reliance of freshman in preseason expectations to have a lot of hope for this squad.

I'll be happy with 20 wins.
I agree. Not so much worried about losing OB(he will def be missed), but you’re definitely right. Tyus is a huge loss!
 
I have to disagree, losing Battle and Brissett is not making us better. I've seen far too many times the reliance of freshman in preseason expectations to have a lot of hope for this squad.

I'll be happy with 20 wins.
I tend to agree. Also, JB is first and foremost a “defense first” coach who willing to give up a little O, if a player performs on D.
I think we’ll have shooters all over the floor, but relying on frosh not named Melo, Derrick, or Moten, is a fool’s errand. We’re likely to struggle, but can hopefully gel enough to get in the Dance by March.
 
I have to disagree, losing Battle and Brissett is not making us better. I've seen far too many times the reliance of freshman in preseason expectations to have a lot of hope for this squad.

I'll be happy with 20 wins.

I don't know -- sometimes a better grouping of complimentary players meshes better and the team's perfrormance is better than it is with "better" individual players. Example: in 2009, we lost Flynn / Devo / Harris, and were better the next year.

Yes, Wes was better than any of those other guys, but was Andy better than Devo? Were Scoop or Triche better than Flynn?

Sometimes, the sum is greater than the total of the individual parts [like 2010], and sometimes it isn't [last year].
 
i hope the rotation is deep next season.

don't let a few players become the "stars" of the team - especially if they aren't good enough to be 35-40 minute players...let the majority of them all get 20ish minutes...and let their play dictate minutes.
Coach Tbone says giddyup on that rotation.
 
I don't know -- sometimes a better grouping of complimentary players meshes better and the team's perfrormance is better than it is with "better" individual players. Example: in 2009, we lost Flynn / Devo / Harris, and were better the next year.

Yes, Wes was better than any of those other guys, but was Andy better than Devo? Were Scoop or Triche better than Flynn?

Sometimes, the sum is greater than the total of the individual parts [like 2010], and sometimes it isn't [last year].

i knew this would be a defense, but it was 10 years ago and have heard it over and over how we would be better the next year because of <insert freshman or freshmen name(s) here> or because <insert departing players name here> was bad for the team. I give you 2009 but for the past 5 or 6 years we have not been better year in and year out and have been a bubble team, I don't realistically see how we're not a bubble team, we don't have a Wes Johnson impact player on this roster, nothing close to it.
 
I have to disagree, losing Battle and Brissett is not making us better. I've seen far too many times the reliance of freshman in preseason expectations to have a lot of hope for this squad.

I'll be happy with 20 wins.


That's not unreasonable. That's how most pre-season basketball previews will view us.

On the other hand, we return 5 guys who played in at least 25 games last season and who averaged at least 10 minutes a game.

Our top returner, Hughes, averaged 14 points a game last year and shot 37% from three and 74% from the line. Buddy and Jalen Carey both got good experience last year. Both played at least 300 minutes. Both showed promise, but both have to get better.

In the front court, we have Dolezaj and Sidibe back. Dolezaj played the 5th most minutes of anyone on last year's team, so he was a non-starting starter. If he is given a bigger role, I think most us believe that he will make a significant jump in production, because we all know he can play.

Even with his lingering injury last year, Sidibe averaged the same number of rebounds per minute as Chukwu. It all comes down to his health. I think that JBA has enough size and bulk to be able to give us some defense at Center. Edwards isn't as physical, but offers more mobility on offense.

Plus we add two new guards who are promising, and Howard Washington, before his health problems last year, did play about half our games the season before and got his feet wet.

So I'm optimistic. But on paper, yes, we should take a step back next year.
 
i knew this would be a defense, but it was 10 years ago and have heard it over and over how we would be better the next year because of <insert freshman or freshmen name(s) here> or because <insert departing players name here> was bad for the team. I give you 2009 but for the past 5 or 6 years we have not been better year in and year out and have been a bubble team, I don't realistically see how we're not a bubble team, we don't have a Wes Johnson impact player on this roster, nothing close to it.


Don't forget that Wes only played 1 season for us. So, sure, a few people who watched practice said, "Boy, this guy is going to be good", but nobody saw him coming. It's not like he was an all-conference player at Iowa State, although he did have the injury.

Quincy Guerrier is probably going to be a pretty good player, even as a freshman. If you look back at C.J. Fair's career, his freshman year he played 18 minutes a game as the 8th man on a very good team. His sophomore year he played 26 minutes and averaged 8.5 points and 5.4 rebounds a game. By his junior year, he played 35 minutes a game, and averaged 14.5 points and 6.9 rebounds.

I think that Guerrier is going to play between 25-30 minutes a game, if he plays up to his capabilities. So if he matches Fair as a soph but plays a bit more, you'd project that he will average around 10 points and 6 rebounds, if it goes well.

Now, Guerrier was the MVP of the Canadian high school all-star game. Four years earlier, so was Jamal Murray of Kentucky/Denver. Brissett played in the game but was not MVP. Guerrier looks stronger to me than Brissett in some of his later videos, he muscles guys out of the way and is persistent getting to the rim along the baseline. I know it's Canadian HS kids, so I'm not declaring him all-ACC, but the kid looks pretty good.

Brissett averaged 15 points and 9 rebounds for us as a frosh, before regressing to 12.4 and 7.5 this past year. Guerrier's usage is going to be closer to Brissett's as a frosh than to Fair's minutes as a frosh, or even a sophomore.

So it will be interesting to see how it goes. I think he's going to give us most of what we could have expected from Brissett, and maybe more.

Another person to keep in mind when we watch Guerrier is Jerami Grant. His sophomore year he played 31 minutes a game and averaged 12 points and 7 rebounds a game. One final comp for now - Freshman Tyler Lydon played 30 minutes a game and averaged 10 points and 6 boards.
 
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I struggle to think of an early entry I’m going to miss less than I’ll miss Oshae Brisset.

I just don’t think he was that good.
You’re wrong about this. And you’ll realize how much after about 5 games next season. JMHO
 
You’re wrong about this. And you’ll realize how much after about 5 games next season. JMHO
Brissett's rebounding alone will be difficult to replace. As will the rebounding and shot blocking presence that Chukwu provided. Let's hope that Sidibe is healthy and figures out how to stay on the court.
 

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