Perceived strength at the 3 for SU.

[Capt. Tuttle]

I do not understand why any small forward would not love a chance to come to SU next year. KJ will be gone. The starting spot at the 3 will be open, with some challenges. A great player could start there as a freshman. Here is why, in my opinion:

1) CJ Fair. I am a huge CJ fan. If we were on the old board, my posts on this topic would verify I was big on him before last year ever started. He is a Plus size Josh Pace, with better ups. He knows how to play the game. He is a basketball player, much as Andy Rautins was a basketball player. (Basketball player is my highest complement for non- superstar talents.) However, CJ has some flaws in his game which, in my opinion, make him best suited to be a shot in the arm off the bench. In fact, I think his basketball IQ can be of greater use after he has watched that game for 5-8 minutes.

2) Until I see Billy Fucillo improvement from Southerland, I beleive that in stretches of more than a few minutes, he is a liability on the floor. His airball from the corner against Marquette told me all I need to know about his ability to be a big time player. The fact that he ran away from the ball after that told me even more. (As compared to Dion, who also put up an airball, but followed that up with a huge drive to the basket which produced points.) Plus, he just runs funny.

3) MCW did not come here to play small forward. His ticket to the league is perfoming with the ball in his hands.

In short there will be two SF incumbents have serious shortcomings to be starters at the 3 for SU baksetball in this millenium. A soon to be great college SF would welcome the chance to compete against these guys for playing time.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

2) Until I see Billy Fucillo improvement from Southerland, I beleive that in stretches of more than a few minutes, he is a liability on the floor. His airball from the corner against Marquette told me all I need to know about his ability to be a big time player. The fact that he ran away from the ball after that told me even more. (As compared to Dion, who also put up an airball, but followed that up with a huge drive to the basket which produced points.) Plus, he just runs funny.

I was amused by that statement.

 

[Dick_in_MI]

I think CJ will start for the next three years, moving to the 3 after this year.

I don't think a hotshot recruit should be afraid of that, but I don't see CJ moving back to the bench anytime soon.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

X.Man will be the 4. KJ will start at the 3 for NBA scouts.

 

[albanycuse]

love cj i think he becomes a more dominant forward than kris will ever be, a potential star in the making.

 

[CuseCrew08]

I feel the same way, CJ is a consistent jumper away from being a star. I think he finishes around the rim as well as anyone on the team already.

 

[Orangezoo]

I feel the same way, CJ is a consistent jumper away from being a star. I think he finishes around the rim as well as anyone on the team already.

I feel the same way, CJ is a consistent jumper away from being a star. I think he finishes around the rim as well as anyone on the team already.[/quote]
I think its important to remember , and I include reminding myself in this .. CJ was just a freshman last year. He showed an inate ability to get to the rim.. go up strong and get to the foul line. He is an improved handle and consistant jumper from being bigtime. One thing about CJ vs K-Jo is that CJ attacks the rim aggresively but with much more control than Kris. CJ just simply has a great bball IQ, high motor and a lot of physical tools. All the necessary things to be a bigtime player. I think that he will be a huge and very important component of our scoring in the post. I have high hopes for Fab but with his outcome still relatively unknown - the defense/rebounding from Keita/Rak/(fab?) and their ability to finish easy looks and get garbage buckets is much more of concern in terms of productivity in the post. With Kris/CJ/Scoop/Triche/Dion/MCW I think there are plenty of guys to get us a bucket this year and in different ways. Hopefully Cooney has enough game to at least be able to be a zone buster (or zone threat) if needed from time to time while developing his game further.

 

[CaliCuse]

I do not understand why any small forward would not love a chance to come to SU next year. KJ will be gone. The starting spot at the 3 will be open, with some challenges. A great player could start there as a freshman. Here is why, in my opinion:

1) CJ Fair. I am a huge CJ fan. If we were on the old board, my posts on this topic would verify I was big on him before last year ever started. He is a Plus size Josh Pace, with better ups. He knows how to play the game. He is a basketball player, much as Andy Rautins was a basketball player. (Basketball player is my highest complement for non- superstar talents.) However, CJ has some flaws in his game which, in my opinion, make him best suited to be a shot in the arm off the bench. In fact, I think his basketball IQ can be of greater use after he has watched that game for 5-8 minutes.

2) Until I see Billy Fucillo improvement from Southerland, I beleive that in stretches of more than a few minutes, he is a liability on the floor. His airball from the corner against Marquette told me all I need to know about his ability to be a big time player. The fact that he ran away from the ball after that told me even more. (As compared to Dion, who also put up an airball, but followed that up with a huge drive to the basket which produced points.) Plus, he just runs funny.

3) MCW did not come here to play small forward. His ticket to the league is perfoming with the ball in his hands.

In short there will be two SF incumbents have serious shortcomings to be starters at the 3 for SU baksetball in this millenium. A soon to be great college SF would welcome the chance to compete against these guys for playing time.

I like outherland. He justs needed some TLC from a coach and some instruction. I think he hasn't come close to his ability yet as of last year,of course. CJ needed Sand C over this past off season. Lets see what he has accomplished. He wasn't alone in that requirement. Sotherland and our two centers were in need of that as well. Christmas is going to be a real project this year in the conference play. We might have to wait a year on his game to get here. His effectiveness will be apparent early or his ineffectiveness. Same with MCWIf Waiters comes in pudgy again, its going to be a long season of saying wait till next year. Oh yeah we have no one coming into the program next year ;:bang:do we!? I honestly can't worry about basketball with football just having got here.When practice starts and player sightings have been reported by some of you here ,I might start to think about the new season coming up. The fact of the matter is that the fall events like Halloween and the best holiday of the year imo is Thanksgiving. A total family day with a nostalgic Macy's parade and some football and then the big push into Christmas. Its here folks ,only a matter of the correct decorations to be put in place and some autumn leaves on the eastern half of the country.

 

[fanfanclubclub]

3 is our most loaded position.

 

[orangefan13]

CJ and Keita are two scrappy hustle magnets that just seem to always be in the right place or make the right hustle play. NBA scouts will eat that up if it continues. I really think Keita could be HUGE if he stays healthy. It will be fun if MCW brings that kind of intensity at the top of the zone this year.

I see scoop as a leader this year and Joseph as our difference maker. Iwouldn't be surprised one bit to see Kris blowup as a senior like Nichols did. Earlier in the season then Nichols did and in a different fashion obviously. Can't stress enough that Joseph went to the Durant camp before his jr season and just started to polish his jumper last year. If we can only get Fab to aid him CJ Scoop and Dion in the low post.

 

[Dick_in_MI]

X.Man will be the 4. KJ will start at the 3 for NBA scouts.

I think CJ starts at the 4 this year with Rak or Baye coming off the bench. I honestly don't see anyone else starting ahead of him at the 4...at least not prior to league play

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

The

I think CJ starts at the 4 this year with Rak or Baye coming off the bench. I honestly don't see anyone else starting ahead of him at the 4...at least not prior to league play

The kid (CJ) is about 6'5". IMO, no way JB starts 6'5", 6'7" and 7' 0" when he can go 6'7", 6'9" and 7'0". CJ backs up KJ, Keita backs up Fab, Southerland backs up X-man, and KJ plays the 4, 3, and 2 as needed.

 

[MooseHaas]

love cj i think he becomes a more dominant forward than kris will ever be, a potential star in the making.

yup. Compare KJ's freshman year to CJ's freshman year. CJ was waaaaay ahead of where KJ was. And the people who have given up on CJ's jumper are probably the same people who said that KJ would never be a shooter after his freshman year. Not saying that CJ is going to turn into Ray Allen, but he's got a lot of time to work on consistency and improved mechanics.

 

[Dick_in_MI]

The
The kid (CJ) is about 6'5". IMO, no way JB starts 6'5", 6'7" and 7' 0" when he can go 6'7", 6'9" and 7'0". CJ backs up KJ, Keita backs up Fab, Southerland backs up X-man, and KJ plays the 4, 3, and 2 as needed.

 

[Dick_in_MI]

CJ is 6'8" and, although skinny, a good rebounder. He spent some time at both forward spots last year. You might be right about Rak starting but I saw nothing of him in his HS games that would make me start him ahead of a guy who is a better scorer and likely just as good a rebounder (at this stage)

 

[bevosu]

I was impressed with the level of play of Keita and CJ last year. As freshmen I thought they showed that they both could potentially become big time players.

I'm much higher on CJ than I was on KJ after KJ's freshman year.

 

[BostonOrange]

CJ is 6'8" and, although skinny, a good rebounder. He spent some time at both forward spots last year. You might be right about Rak starting but I saw nothing of him in his HS games that would make me start him ahead of a guy who is a better scorer and likely just as good a rebounder (at this stage)

I'll just play devil's advocate for a minute. I totally agree with you about CJ, but our views are based on him fulfilling the potential we have seen in flashes. We see what he can be...IF he is 10-15 lb's heavier, if he develops his shooting, if his handle continues to improve. It is far from certain whether that potential will ever be realized. We saw flashes from Hak as a frosh, and he became an all-american. I saw similar potential in Terrence Roberts and he was never more than a role player. So...we'll see.

 

[jordoo]

Here are our top 4 rebounder's last year:

Rick: 360/1245 or .29 per minute
Kris: 178/1101 or .16 per minute
Baye: 131/511 or .26 per minute
CJ: 122/596 or .20 per minute

Obviously Rick was off the charts but CJ would have gotten 6.5 per game at his rate playing the same minutes that Kris did. Kris had 5.2 we should be more worried about Kris rebounding than CJ. I think both will be between 6-8 per game this season provided they are each playing at least 30 minutes. 12-16 a game out of our two main forwards is fine its not every season your getting 18.5 between Melo and Hak or 20.5 with Billy and DC.

I think CJ's rebounding with more minutes and a year of experiance will not be a problem.

 

[OttoMets]

The
The kid (CJ) is about 6'5". IMO, no way JB starts 6'5", 6'7" and 7' 0" when he can go 6'7", 6'9" and 7'0". CJ backs up KJ, Keita backs up Fab, Southerland backs up X-man, and KJ plays the 4, 3, and 2 as needed.

I can't see Christmas starting, but I agree with the first bit - I've been arguing to no avail that CJ is 6'5" for months. He plays like he's bigger, but he's got two-guard size, and that's why he got abused on the defensive glass late in the year.

 

[syr14]

there is no way CJ is 6'8"

 

[jordoo]

CJ seemed the same height as Kris last year when standing next to each other. He is much more narrow as far as shoulders and frame go but just as tall if not a tab bit taller than Kris from what I recall.

 

[Dcuse]

there is no way CJ is 6'8"

He is absolutely 6'8. And that isn't just roster height so I don't know which player you're thinking of

 

[Garbs]

lol @ CJ being 6'5"

pass me what you are smokin

 

[cytolliver]

He is absolutely 6'8. And that isn't just roster height so I don't know which player you're thinking of

i dont think he's 6'8 by a long shot. prolly like 6'6 1/2 at this stage. but he could still grow

 

[SoBeCuse]

I was impressed with the level of play of Keita and CJ last year. As freshmen I thought they showed that they both could potentially become big time players.

I'm much higher on CJ than I was on KJ after KJ's freshman year.

Same here. I think CJ is around 6'7, perhaps a tad under. I don't think he is 6'5.