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Message: [QUOTE="IthacaMatt, post: 2365535, member: 405"] To me, this is the season that we bottom out. Sanctions are about over, very good recruiting class coming in, young guys getting some experience. My biggest concern, though, is winning culture. Now, of course JB has it, but what I mean is that "in the team" leadership that keeps continuity from year to year. If you look back historically, almost every year we had 3 fairly experienced guys returning to build a team around - a big man, a wing and a guard. With unexpected early departures, scholarship limitations and Mike checking out as a recruiter last year, we return the least proven talent EVER in 40 years. With Taurean Thompson, I think we would have had enough to be a .500 team in the ACC. Without him, and without major improvements by Chukwu between now and December, I think this may be Boeheim's first losing record. The question will be, is there enough talent, enough of the culture of winning, among the players to give them that extra bit of confidence that delivers results in a close game? Over the years, SU has won way more than its "statistical share" of close games. We have been lights out in close games, which has been a big key to our long-term success. I think that directly correlates to having that core of 3 or 4 guys who have been there before, and know what to do at "winning time". My biggest concern for this year's team comes from the lack of that winning mentality from last year's team. Andrew White and John Gillon, for all they provided, both came from teams that never really won anything. They did not have the ability to carry a team on their backs to grind out wins. Tyler Lydon did not have enough of a strong, assertive personality, and was happy to defer to newcomers on a team that needed his leadership. Battle, for all his athleticism, was the 4th option as a frosh and is still a bit raw. We'll see what happens this season, but that confidence that comes from repeatedly winning close games has eroded at SU, with this three year stretch of very mediocre basketball. That's going to be the hardest thing for JB to change back to our old "normal". [/QUOTE]

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