Now that GMac is HC, what does next year's squad look like?

[Newhouser]

It will be interesting to see what GMac does.

Regarding returning SU players, I would take White. Love his motor. He needs to be coached up and I think will be a lot better with the new staff guiding him.

Kingz always tried and was our best player. But he can’t handle the ball well enough to play shooting guard and is too small to rebound and play defense at small forward.

He would be a great sixth man type but I am sure he can get a guaranteed starting spot at the P5 level.

If he starts at SF, it is a bad sign. But I question how well we will cover our needs at other positions with $12 or $13 million.

A good center and PG are musts and will be expensive. Personally, I think we should make Doty the starting SF. Probably a little slow to play 2G I don’t want another season with a shooting guard who can’t shoot. Though I suspect Doty will shoot over 35% from 3 next year.

Freeman has enormous talent but his faults are also big and I am not sure they can be fixed. I hope we move on but Gerry knows a lot more about hoops than I do.

Think Moesch is the backup PG. I suspect G Mac will try and retain Fennell. We will see. I am sure the kid wants to go somewhere where he will play a lot.

Agree the 6’7 kid from Siena who hold his own with the Duke bigs and played quality defense should play for us. If the transfer era has taught us anything, it is that there are good players at different levels of college ball. My eyes tell me this kid would be an excellent backup PF for us.

Diawara (I think that is his name) should be a good backup center. Souare would also work.

I think we need an ox or two to share the 5 because my guess is Sadiq at 4, doty at 3 and Kiyan at 2.

Kingz was fine but only because we stunk - we need guys who can handle and pull up shoot.

 

[CuseIn282xx]

That’s fine. I’m just already exasperated at how small people are thinking.

We have the money, go get big time players. Stop with the inferiority complex. Talent wins.

Correction. Talent AND HEART AND COMMITMENT wins. Bringing in three Siena players who will put forth 200% effort every practice, every training session, and do everything GMAC says will show other players what commitment and intensity mean.

 

[rrlbees]

One thing about Doty- he’s got two more years. It’s not going to hurt if he’s a 6th man this year to then be able to adapt and be a bigger piece his senior year.

another thing about doty, based on what gmac has said about him, is that i wouldn't be surprised if he's taking 200 3pt shots a day between now and when the season opens.

 

[Eric15]

That dude Cruz Davis from Hofstra is an absolute bucket...

I thought that was a character from the Cars movies for a second but that's Cruz Ramirez.

 

[Orangefan1]

Donnie isn't worth the money.

I love Donnie but the nba draft is calling you

 

[BillSU]

The “glue guys” are *absolutely* not more important than top tier talent. We didn’t become an elite program because of “glue guys”. We became an elite program because of Pearl and Coleman and Wallace and Anthony and Flynn and Johnson, etc.

Yeah we all love the bench guys but it’s the stars that get SU to final fours and win conference titles.

Agreed. Gerry has to get some top talent for us to move forward with a record that translates to the NCAA's. Whether they are going to be available is the question.

another thing about doty, based on what gmac has said about him, is that i wouldn't be surprised if he's taking 200 3pt shots a day between now and when the season opens.

As Gerry did in HS, but I think he was if I remember correctly 300 a day.

 

[LpoolNative]

This kids footwork and strength at 7’2 is phenomenal. There’s no connection to him as far as I believe but man, what a get this would be.

 

[Cusefan0307]

This kids footwork and strength at 7’2 is phenomenal. There’s no connection to him as far as I believe but man, what a get this would be.

Looks like your typical Purdue big.

 

[phil77]

From Queens NY. Almost 6 assists a game and 39% from three. Plus 5 rebounds per game for a PG.

 

[Irishsecra1]

The problem I have is with Anthony and Doty. If they are both starters or playing minutes, then shooting will be a massive concern. Let's say you also add White to the starting lineup. That means 2, 3, and 4 are all below-average three-point shooters or average at best. None of them are knockdown 3-point shooters. That just put tons of pressure on everyone and everything else. Not the best mix of players to start a team from.

In a perfect world, 1 or 2 would come off the bench but then do we have the money to fill 4 starting spots? I don't know. Gets kind of muddy trying to build a roster starting with those 3.

PG
SG- Anthony
SF - Doty
PF - White
C

I would be shocked if Doty does not significantly improve his 3 point shooting percentage.
He got his average up to around 33% from his freshman 28%.
He said after the season his primary focus would be to increase that number significantly.
I don't think it is hard to believe he could get it up to 38%.
He is going to be a lot better than people think
I have watched him at Siena when he first started to play last year as a freshman.
His improvement is very large and very real.

But one thing he will do is he will be the player leader this team lacks.
He will outwork anyone on that team and will make Anthony work hard too because his pride will kick in and he will want to be just as good. Once they start winning, he will work hard just to keep winning.

 

[Irishsecra1]

The “glue guys” are *absolutely* not more important than top tier talent. We didn’t become an elite program because of “glue guys”. We became an elite program because of Pearl and Coleman and Wallace and Anthony and Flynn and Johnson, etc.

Yeah we all love the bench guys but it’s the stars that get SU to final fours and win conference titles.

We also need leaders on the court. When is the last time we had that?
Nobody on our roster for the last 3 years had any interest in leading. Nobody on the team held their teammates accountable. Nobody wanted to hurt anybodys feelings. JJ, Donnie and George literally had no interest in leading, just being one of the many indians.
We actually had quite a lot of raw talent on the team but no one with the winning attitude or leadership capabilty. All the worse for us because Red, god love him, could not lead this team out of a paper bag or to a win against BC.

 

[Irishsecra1]

I can say for a fact that the one you are talking about has every coach hitting him up to come play there. They all think he can contribute at a high level.

I will say, frankly, if he comes to SU it will be for two reasons: Incredible loyalty to GMAC, and a childhood dream of playing for SU.
It will not be because nobody else in the top programs want him. Some on this board may not have been impressed by him being runner up for player of the year in the MAAC or the way he went toe to toe with Duke but a lot of big programs were. One could say his ankle injury in the second half might have turned the tide in Dukes favor.
There was an insider on this board who posted a few days ago that Folefac and Moesch were set to come (before GMAC was even announced) but it was still to be determined with Doty because of the offers he was getting.

 

[LpoolNative]

Looks like your typical Purdue big.

Good call

 

[Irishsecra1]

I wonder

This was the guy Gerry was counting on to be a starter - really good 3 point shooter and a good defender.
6 '7 guard injured his shoulder preseason and missed the whole year. Was a 4 star when signed by Xavier.
Still, I would be surprised if Gerry brought him here.

 

[LpoolNative]

This was the guy Gerry was counting on to be a starter - really good 3 point shooter and a good defender.
6 '7 guard injured his shoulder preseason and missed the whole year. Was a 4 star when signed by Xavier.
Still, I would be surprised if Gerry brought him here.

Really good 3 & D guy? Sign me up

 

[phil77]

With an 11-13 million budget, I have to think higher alot higher than Ducharme.

 

[SaveSUHoops]

Really good 3 & D guy? Sign me up

Ducharme is injury prone, missed the entirety of last season, and was a non-factor for G-Mac the one year he was healthy at Siena. Pass, although I do wonder if there are other Class of '23 or '24 guys that G-Mac was connected to that will enter the portal and be legit options for us next season.

 

[orangefog]

Really good 3 & D guy? Sign me up

He was like 32% from 3. I think we can and should do better.

 

[LpoolNative]

He was like 32% from 3. I think we can and should do better.

To be fair he had a shoulder injury preseason but I agree. Let’s go after someone who has proven themselves.

 

[2B20Again]

Best job Gerry can do for next season is to get George back to being a table setter and play with a real purpose without dilly dallying too much waiting for screens. Obviously that’s where way too much of turnovers came from. We need real wings that are explosive and can shoot and a 5 in Kyle mold.

George/Fennell
Option 1a/Kiyan
Option 1b/Doty
Proven Sadiq prototype/Sadiq
Kyle redux/Folefac/Souare

I’m not disagreeing but George’s numbers last year weren’t all that better than this year. And he’s not real aggressive except to taking shots and low % shots. He can get to the Tim but can’t finish. Not due he would be back unless he’s a bargain.

 

[littlereg]

Some of yall are insane. We have 13m+ to go around we need to take sure things. Guys who performed at the p4 level, guys who dominated at mid major levels. Not experiments and hospital patients. We need proven talent, not former failed recruiting wars, “underrated” in state kids, etc who are unproven.

 

[Irishsecra1]

We should move on from George. Bring in Moesch as the backup point guard and spend some serious money on getting a good point guard in the portal.

As for Moesch being small, lets not forget our best point guard ever, Sherman Douglas, was only 6 foot.
That guy was the whole package and what a leader! I miss the general!

 

[Melancer46]

We should move on from George. Bring in Moesch as the backup point guard and spend some serious money on getting a good point guard in the portal.

As for Moesch being small, lets not forget our best point guard ever, Sherman Douglas, was only 6 foot.
That guy was the whole package and what a leader! I miss the general!

I do kind of believe in Moesch, but being 6'0" back then is very different from being 6'0" in 2026 (and I don't think Moesch is 6'0" either).

You absolutely must have the hostage dribble and floater game (and preferably a good jumper) to survive at that size in today's basketball. Moesch has the first two without a doubt. The latter...I'm not convinced. But I'd be happy to have him in Orange and see what we have there.

Agree with the larger point too; I would definitely prefer to go for an upgrade over George. I think we can still be good next season if George is our starting PG but getting an upgrade over him is probably the easiest path to being good.

 

[phsyra]

cost of players is going up...I would temper expectations about who we will bring in next year. We will need a few bodies from Siena for sure. I cant see us getting a top transfer. We need a GM soon.

 

[RF2044]

We should move on from George. Bring in Moesch as the backup point guard and spend some serious money on getting a good point guard in the portal.

As for Moesch being small, lets not forget our best point guard ever, Sherman Douglas, was only 6 foot.
That guy was the whole package and what a leader! I miss the general!

Sherman Douglas is one of the all-time greatest players in program history.

This kid will be lucky to be 1/10 of the player The General was.

Let's stop with the hyperbole.