Over/under 8.5 scholarship players next year

[Cusefan0307]

My expectations for next year is for JB to put a team together that’s in the top 25 all season. That means he better hope Girard improves or he needs to be more aggressive getting another guard. I’m sick of squeaking in the tournament and sick of losing to Virginia 90% of the time we play them.

 

[dasher]

I couldn't agree more.

Actually, what is "crazy," or at least somewhat, is how simply 2 wins in the NCAAT appears to get a group of folks to be seemingly satisfied with the overall scope. Additionally, how it apparently erases the fact that we haven't been ranked during the regular season come January since 2014. Or, we have yet to win more than one consecutive game in our own conference tourney, let alone beat a team in our conference tourney that was an actual NCAA tournament team that season. Furthermore, how our new normal in our own conference is not being near the top of it, chasing conference titles, etc., but rather stuck middling in the middle of it, hovering at or around .500 in conference. Moreover, being on the bubble train year in and year out.

those two wins were the most important games of the year when they were played. Period. End of statement. they aren't just two wins. they put you in the national tournament in the final 16 of the country. Not some people voting. Actual where you are. Only 16 teams left and you are one of them. And in the last 5 tournaments , only three teams have been to that sweet 16 three times. Along with the tepid performance in the regular season that has to be counted. If I had to choose, I would always choose to be good in the tournament. Always. it is at least as big a mistake to diminish that as it is to ignore the rather blah performance in the regular season.

 

[syrBossHogg]

Then you will be routinely disappointed. This is not 2009. How would you like Boeheim to behave?

How about roster manage and recruit better so we don't have to sweat out Selection Sunday every year? The sanctions hurt yet JB was the one who chose Frank Howard over Jalen Brunson. He chose other guys over Kevin Huerter. Both of those guys played multiple years in college and are playing in the NBA right now. We haven't recruited a top center since Rak.

 

[AlpharettaCuse]

Quick - name our last 1st round NBA draft pick.

Quick - when was the last time we were ranked in an in-season top 25?

Quick - when was the last season that we made the tournament without any talk of whether we were on the bubble?

JB going against the odds and winning as a low seed in the tournament is great. It's real, and something the program accomplishes.

But it doesn't negate the trend line. And the sanctum one discussion only goes so far.

Didn’t we have a sting of like 6 straight years of 1st round draft picks? Now they have to be 1st round draft picks? Hughes got drafted in the 2nd round. Dang. Not too worried about any pre-season rankings. Hopefully ranked on Tuesday? Fingers crossed.

 

[dasher]

Boeheim behaves like the program’s expectations are the same.
When they aren’t according to you.
He says he wants to be a 2 seed in the NCAA tournament again. We don’t recruit like we want that.
Sanctions aren’t why our expectations have shifted.

Well, I think sanctions were the ticket that sent us on our way. Now, couple that with a old coach who can't possible have the energy and drive that he did or that our competition does today, and away we go. I am encouraged that we went and got symir (not a fan) and Cole (big, big fan) right away. that shows me something. That I am hearing that we want more (hopefully the more isn't just Jimmy Jr. who I am happy to get) is a real plus. I would have loved powell. But hopefully we land someone out there that surprises and pleases all of us.

 

[AlpharettaCuse]

How about roster manage and recruit better so we don't have to sweat out Selection Sunday every year? The sanctions hurt yet JB was the one who chose Frank Howard over Jalen Brunson. He chose other guys over Kevin Huerter. Both of those guys played multiple years in college and are playing in the NBA right now. We haven't recruited a top center since Rak.

That’s the goal. Think Hueter couldn’t come because of the sanctions. Easy to look back on kids that turned out well that we missed out on. We got Cole Swider this time around. That’s a start.

Think we were heading in the right direction with Bazely and Dior Johnson. Unfortunately neither made it.

 

[Alsacs]

I think it is unrealistic to expect that your team, any college team, can lose their starting sr center and not have it hurt, a lot. Schools have less ships to give out then they did 30 years ago. That is certainly not to say that our roster was well put together. When we have a team that actually has a 1.2.3.4.5 we are pretty good. When we deviate from that, we get weaker.
I think we still are a pillar in the national landscape. But it is a very shaky hold. If not for the successful March runs over the last 5 years, we would no longer be. Our regular season performances have done that to us.
Lastly, i think there are two things that will be true next year. one, we are going to be a good basketball team. Not perfect but very good. and very entertaining. Unless you are in the game thread during a game. And second, there will be a lot of talk about just how good we could have been with Kadary at the 1 instead of Joe. Almost no matter what Joe does. It's almost impossible in life, to measure up to the one that got away.

Syracuse losing Sidibe hurts the team it shouldn’t force a beanpole forward become the starting C.

I don’t think anybody would say losing Sidibe wouldn’t hurt. The fact we had JBA and Edwards on the bench and neither was deemed a capable backup by their 2nd year doesn’t speak well.
Of course Edwards showed the HC was likely wrong in that he couldn’t even get double digit backup minutes till his arm was twisted.

When Syracuse starts getting CBS games in the regular season I will believe we are back somewhat.
I don’t believe we are pillar in college hoops.
We haven’t been ranked in the regular season after January since March 9, 2014.

That is a long time.

 

[orangecuse]

Something happened in 2015, I heard.

Yes, and you apparently fall in that group of folks that conveniently wish to blame sanctions as being the proximate cause of our plight. When, in reality, it was simply a contributing factor and not as critical as all of the misses on the recruiting trail, the ones we did land not panning out, and poor roster management, etc.

I recall Jay Bilas (whom many here respect) afterwards opining at the time that it shouldn't affect SU that much since they only play 6-7 guys anyways. In any event, that topic has been debated ad nauseam here and it remains somewhat foolish to continue to debate that at this point in time.

 

[dasher]

Didn’t we have a sting of like 6 straight years of 1st round draft picks? Now they have to be 1st round draft picks? Hughes got drafted in the 2nd round. Dang. Not too worried about any pre-season rankings. Hopefully ranked on Tuesday? Fingers crossed.

How many ranked teams got beat before we were eliminated? Top 25 might be a tough get. Plus, we didn't lose like UCLA did last night. We were dominated.

 

[djorange1989]

I am really getting tired of the “what would you rather have” nonsense. I want to be ranked, easily make the tourney and make runs in the tourney. We lead the country in attendance, we have a great practice facility, we have great history and we play in a storied hoops conference. We are Syracuse basketball not Miami basketball. Stop accepting what has happened the last 7 years

 

[dasher]

Syracuse losing Sidibe hurts the team it shouldn’t force a beanpole forward become the starting C.

I don’t think anybody would say losing Sidibe wouldn’t hurt the fact we had JBA and Edwards on the bench and neither was deemed a capable backup by their 2nd year doesn’t speak well.
Of course Edwards showed the HC was likely wrong in that he couldn’t even get double digit backup minutes till his arm was twisted.

When Syracuse starts getting CBS games in the regular season I will believe we are back somewhat.
I don’t believe we are pillar in college hoops.
We haven’t been ranked in the regular season after January since March 9, 2014.

That is a long time.

On the other hand, we have been in the sweet 16, where it counts, 3 times since 2016. Including a final four. the CBS thing might have to do with more than our rankings. Especially since our game against West Virginia in the tournament was one of the highest rated games that weekend in the NCAA tournament. We still draw on tv.

 

[rrlbees]

Boeheim behaves like the program’s expectations are the same.
When they aren’t according to you.
He says he wants to be a 2 seed in the NCAA tournament again. We don’t recruit like we want that.
Sanctions aren’t why our expectations have shifted.

what is wrong with saying you want to be a 2 seed again in the tournament. I bet every coach wants to. And since I missed it, where did he say that?

 

[AlpharettaCuse]

Yes, and you apparently fall in that group of folks that conveniently wish to blame sanctions as being the proximate cause of our plight. When, in reality, it was simply a contributing factor and not as critical as all of the misses on the recruiting trail, the ones we did land not panning out, and poor roster management, etc.

I recall Jay Bilas (whom many here respect) afterwards opining at the time that it shouldn't affect SU that much since they only play 6-7 guys anyways. In any event, that topic has been debated ad nauseam here and it remains somewhat foolish to continue to debate that at this point in time.

No, it was a very real problem. Why do people want to pretend otherwise? Crazy.

 

[Alsacs]

On the other hand, we have been in the sweet 16, where it counts, 3 times since 2016. Including a final four. the CBS thing might have to do with more than our rankings. Especially since our game against West Virginia in the tournament was one of the highest rated games that weekend in the NCAA tournament. We still draw on tv.

I am okay adjusting our expectations as a fanbase.
Being a double digit seed and going to the 3 sweet 16s is fine if that is our expectations.
We aren’t old Syracuse anymore.
Which is fine our fanbase has to accept the change.

 

[Alsacs]

what is wrong with saying you want to be a 2 seed again in the tournament. I bet every coach wants to. And since I missed it, where did he say that?

Cusefan0307 please.

 

[dasher]

Yes, and you apparently fall in that group of folks that conveniently wish to blame sanctions as being the proximate cause of our plight. When, in reality, it was simply a contributing factor and not as critical as all of the misses on the recruiting trail, the ones we did land not panning out, and poor roster management, etc.

I recall Jay Bilas (whom many here respect) afterwards opining at the time that it shouldn't affect SU that much since they only play 6-7 guys anyways. In any event, that topic has been debated ad nauseam here and it remains somewhat foolish to continue to debate that at this point in time.

If indeed jay Bilas said that, then he isn't very smart. The sanctions have nothing to do with how many guys you play. that would work if you hit on all of your recruits. But really, no one does. We didn't have the same number of guys to chose from to get our 6 or 7 players. If we had the ships we would have landed the kid that went to Maryland. we didn't get him because at the time, the ship loss was 3. Not 2. I hope Jay isn't really that dumb.

 

[rrlbees]

Didn’t we have a sting of like 6 straight years of 1st round draft picks? Now they have to be 1st round draft picks? Hughes got drafted in the 2nd round. Dang. Not too worried about any pre-season rankings. Hopefully ranked on Tuesday? Fingers crossed.

yes, until the year battle came out, we had had 6 straight years with a 1st round pick.

 

[rrlbees]

Cusefan0307 please.

huh?

 

[AlpharettaCuse]

How many ranked teams got beat before we were eliminated? Top 25 might be a tough get. Plus, we didn't lose like UCLA did last night. We were dominated.

Not sure, but we beat two Top 15 teams before losing to a Final Four team that was Top 10 all year.

But we just missed in 2018, so maybe you’re right.

 

[Alsacs]

If indeed jay Bilas said that, then he isn't very smart. The sanctions have nothing to do with how many guys you play. that would work if you hit on all of your recruits. But really, no one does. We didn't have the same number of guys to chose from to get our 6 or 7 players. If we had the ships we would have landed the kid that went to Maryland. we didn't get him because at the time, the ship loss was 3. Not 2. I hope Jay isn't really that dumb.

When was the last time Syracuse had a fully stocked roster of 13 scholarships?
Sanctions hurt us. What hurt more is what you said we have an old coach who isn’t a spring chicken anymore.

Why haven’t we used all 13 scholarships on scholarship players since sanctions ended?

We are on the verge of losing our entire freshman class from last year. What does that say.

 

[dasher]

I am okay adjusting our expectations as a fanbase.
Being a double digit seed and going to the 3 sweet 16s is fine if that is our expectations.
We aren’t old Syracuse anymore.
Which is fine our fanbase has to accept the change.

I don't believe we should accept anything like that. I won't. We have always had peaks and troughs. the troughs have been deeper than usual. Why? the sanctions hurt. The coaches age and the Hopkins mess has really hurt. I am hopeful that we can close out the next two years with really solid years and let jb ride off in to the sunset. I really like the pairing of Benny and Buddy. who as you know, I have been higher on Buddy than anyone not named with the last letter starting with B. I love Jess and I really like the addition of Cole. I think we are very close to a really good team. A lot will depend on what else we get in the portal and what we get out of Joe.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Didn’t we have a sting of like 6 straight years of 1st round draft picks? Now they have to be 1st round draft picks? Hughes got drafted in the 2nd round.

We did have a string. It was amazing.

It ended in 2017. That's a long time ago. That means we'll have an entire graduating class worth of years where we didn't put someone in the 1st round. 1st round draft picks matter because of the guaranteed contract and time given the player to catch on and develop. It's a relevant metric of program strength. It tells part of the story. The story it tells right now is that we aren't as talented as we have been.

When will our next first round pick be? Q is extremely unlikely to break the streak. Benny's probably our best chance, but that may be a 2 year process. Buddy? Maybe.

 

[dasher]

Was the last time Syracuse had a fully stocked roster of 13 scholarshipsz?
Why haven’t we used all 13 scholarships on scholarship players since sanctions ended?

We are on the verge of losing our entire freshman class from last year. What does that say.

I believe we have used every ship available every year. Poorly worded question.

 

[Cusefan0307]

what is wrong with saying you want to be a 2 seed again in the tournament. I bet every coach wants to. And since I missed it, where did he say that?

Interview with Cowherd or Michael Kay. Can’t remember what one.

 

[AlpharettaCuse]

I am really getting tired of the “what would you rather have” nonsense. I want to be ranked, easily make the tourney and make runs in the tourney. We lead the country in attendance, we have a great practice facility, we have great history and we play in a storied hoops conference. We are Syracuse basketball not Miami basketball. Stop accepting what has happened the last 7 years

Stop accepting it? What choice do you have?