Class of 2023 PF/C Drew Fielder (CA) Offered

[Cusefan0307]

Look, loved his tape but really this guy burst on to the scene at the beginning of the summer. We were hot and heavy with JP at the time and I’m sure staff felt there was a good chance JP would choose SU. They literally pivoted the day JP chose Tennessee. Who knows what effect a visit from JB would have made. You can only surmise. Other head coaches visited with him and they came up empty too. I can see the point of not solely relying on meeting the head coach when the kid visits, but I’m not sure it would have made a difference in this case.

How would we know. The coach rarely visits any recruits. There's people on the board willing to put in more effort.

 

[Fly Rodder]

This went south exceptionally quickly.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Look, loved his tape but really this guy burst on to the scene at the beginning of the summer. We were hot and heavy with JP at the time and I’m sure staff felt there was a good chance JP would choose SU. They literally pivoted the day JP chose Tennessee. Who knows what effect a visit from JB would have made. You can only surmise. Other head coaches visited with him and they came up empty too. I can see the point of not solely relying on meeting the head coach when the kid visits, but I’m not sure it would have made a difference in this case.

The "does JB go out on the road" question is relevant, but it's disguising the bigger issue.

This is the issue - outside of Benny three classes ago, we've whiffed on our top tier targets.

Last class we rebounded with our secondary targets.

This class, it looks like we're down to our third level targets.

That's not to say those guys might not end up being good players. But we have a massive talent pipeline issue.

Usually when that happens you see the head man go balls to the walls.

The big issue is we have a head coach that has gotten content in recent years.

 

[orangefog]

The "does JB go out on the road" question is relevant, but it's disguising the bigger issue.

This is the issue - outside of Benny three classes ago, we've whiffed on our top tier targets.

Last class we rebounded with our secondary targets.

This class, it looks like we're down to our third level targets.

That's not to say those guys might not end up being good players. But we have a massive talent pipeline issue.

Usually when that happens you see the head man go balls to the walls.

The big issue is we have a head coach that has gotten content in recent years.

I completely agree and I am going to ask JB what the hell is going on...as soon as he wakes up from his nap. It should only be a couple of hours, I will keep everyone posted.

 

[Sherman20]

The "does JB go out on the road" question is relevant, but it's disguising the bigger issue.

This is the issue - outside of Benny three classes ago, we've whiffed on our top tier targets.

Last class we rebounded with our secondary targets.

This class, it looks like we're down to our third level targets.

That's not to say those guys might not end up being good players. But we have a massive talent pipeline issue.

Usually when that happens you see the head man go balls to the walls.

The big issue is we have a head coach that has gotten content in recent years.

JB is in the IDGAFF stage at this point. We need a home run hire to right the ship after JB retires.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

JB is in the IDGAFF stage at this point. We need a home run hire to right the ship after JB retires.

Pitino

 

[OrangeXtreme]

7 PM

 

[OttoinGrotto]

7 PM

 

[Fly Rodder]

7 PM

Considering he's scheduled to visit Syracuse this weekend, he must be just getting the commitment out of they way first. LGO!

 

[SUOrangeSU]

I just hope hope hope hope they play the transfer portal for real this time. Not just, let's see who drops in our lap.
Patterson inbound 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

 

[djcon57]

Is what it is at this point.

These type of L’s are expected until changes occur

 

[pwong]

 

[MikeSU02]

I guess we'll see what happens at the announcement, but assuming it's Prov, that's a tough beat.

I like Mintz, Bunch and Taylor from last year's class, but the process of landing our top targets (and I'm excluding the Dior type situations) is pretty concerning.

As others have noted, not having the HC hitting the road as hard as possible is clearly an issue. To OttoinGrotto 's point about the larger issue of JB being content with the where we are is clearly another issue.

I would wager when we are missing on a kid like Fielder where he is doing his announcement before his official visit, there is even something else on top of that all, that is tangential to OIG's point about JB and the program - what do other coaches have to use against us?

It sure seems like there is more turmoil and uncertainty in any sort of road map for the program as it pertains to JB's transition than what has been revealed.

Sure, there will be some schools that can throw around a big NIL deal, but we are systematically losing out on second tier/third tier kids now that we would have locked up before. I'm not talking about a McDonald's kid.

This is all speculation on my part, I don't have any inside info, but I know if I were an opposing coach, I'd be very adamant that any kid I was recruiting against Syracuse had him and his family ask JB and the staff what the plan was, who was taking over, etc.

I get JB can say he'll be there to coach a kid... but it just takes a seed of doubt if the story we have isn't locked up and air tight. I'm not sure it is. Again, I may be totally wrong, but this recruiting class, coming off our worst season in a long time, isn't giving me tons of hope.

I'll keep my fingers crossed that Fielder picks us in a surprise later today.

 

[MikeSU02]

One addendum to my previous post, I know I've been pretty harsh on JB lately, but I promise I don't want to see him go out this way.

He's been a constant in my life literally since I've had a memory. Syracuse bball and fball were my first favorite teams and I fell in love with them quickly and never stopped being a fan. JB has brought me a million great memories. I grew up in upstate and wanted to attend SU my whole life - which I did, both undergrad and grad basically because I had fell in love with the school at four years old. My mom's best friend, when I told her I was going to SU, said, "you've had that dream since I've known you".

When the team won the title in 2003, the first two calls were from my parents because they knew how much it meant to me.

I don't like any of this. I want him to go out on top. I want at least one more Final Four run where he gets to play chess while his opposition is playing checkers. Where he gets to brilliantly dismantle some up and coming opposing coach, where a plethora of his ex players are in the stands cheering him and the team on.

But we aren't there. And the program is in a precarious place. We need to fix it. Whatever that fix might be, we need to move towards it and quickly.

You can't govern if you don't win the campaign. And while I think Fielder would excel here under JB's tutelage, he likely won't have the shot to grow the kid because he'll be at Providence.

 

[007]

JB is in the IDGAFF stage at this point. We need a home run hire to right the ship after JB retires.

I doubt that he is at the "IDGAFF" stage unless you add the modifier "what anyone else thinks" to the end of that. He does give AFF, but he strongly believes that HE can win with the talent he has. The last several plus seasons suggest to me that he will no longer "chase" recruits because he doesn't think he needs to. And he doesn't want to deal with player egos. My understanding is that he sees last season as a fluke and wants an opportunity to prove it. He still wants to keep coaching!

To be clear, I am not defending his decision making, nor do I think he is correct. I'm only guessing at what I think he is thinking based on some stuff I hear and what others are reporting.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

I guess we'll see what happens at the announcement, but assuming it's Prov, that's a tough beat.

I like Mintz, Bunch and Taylor from last year's class, but the process of landing our top targets (and I'm excluding the Dior type situations) is pretty concerning.

As others have noted, not having the HC hitting the road as hard as possible is clearly an issue. To OttoinGrotto 's point about the larger issue of JB being content with the where we are is clearly another issue.

I would wager when we are missing on a kid like Fielder where he is doing his announcement before his official visit, there is even something else on top of that all, that is tangential to OIG's point about JB and the program - what do other coaches have to use against us?

It sure seems like there is more turmoil and uncertainty in any sort of road map for the program as it pertains to JB's transition than what has been revealed.

Sure, there will be some schools that can throw around a big NIL deal, but we are systemically losing out on second tier/third tier kids now that we would have locked up before. I'm not talking about a McDonald's kid.

This is all speculation on my part, I don't have any inside info, but I know if I were an opposing coach, I'd be very adamant that any kid I was recruiting against Syracuse had him and his family ask JB and the staff what the plan was, who was taking over, etc.

I get JB can say he'll be there to coach a kid... but it just takes a seed of doubt if the story we have isn't locked up and air tight. I'm not sure it is. Again, I may be totally wrong, but this recruiting class, coming off our worst season in a long time, isn't giving me tons of hope.

I'll keep my fingers crossed that Fielder picks us in a surprise later today.

I really hate to use this analogy, but each recruit we lose out on is like another nail in the coffin.

 

[Cuse99&01]

I really hate to use this analogy, but each recruit we lose out on is like another nail in the coffin.

How many more nails can that coffin take?

 

[rrlbees]

The coach rarely visits any recruits.

That’s not true.

 

[Cusefan0307]

That’s not true.

There's a big difference in going to AAU events then going to visit someone in their hometown. Every coach is at AAU events. We send Gerry and Red.

 

[RF2044]

I guess we'll see what happens at the announcement, but assuming it's Prov, that's a tough beat.

I like Mintz, Bunch and Taylor from last year's class, but the process of landing our top targets (and I'm excluding the Dior type situations) is pretty concerning.

As others have noted, not having the HC hitting the road as hard as possible is clearly an issue. To OttoinGrotto 's point about the larger issue of JB being content with the where we are is clearly another issue.

I would wager when we are missing on a kid like Fielder where he is doing his announcement before his official visit, there is even something else on top of that all, that is tangential to OIG's point about JB and the program - what do other coaches have to use against us?

It sure seems like there is more turmoil and uncertainty in any sort of road map for the program as it pertains to JB's transition than what has been revealed.

Sure, there will be some schools that can throw around a big NIL deal, but we are systematically losing out on second tier/third tier kids now that we would have locked up before. I'm not talking about a McDonald's kid.

This is all speculation on my part, I don't have any inside info, but I know if I were an opposing coach, I'd be very adamant that any kid I was recruiting against Syracuse had him and his family ask JB and the staff what the plan was, who was taking over, etc.

I get JB can say he'll be there to coach a kid... but it just takes a seed of doubt if the story we have isn't locked up and air tight. I'm not sure it is. Again, I may be totally wrong, but this recruiting class, coming off our worst season in a long time, isn't giving me tons of hope.

I'll keep my fingers crossed that Fielder picks us in a surprise later today.

Good post.

The thing that is most disappointing was that it seemed like we had a clear path to landing this kid. He was a recruit -- and I know the ratings don't reflect this at the current time -- who was equally on par with JP Estrella, who was a top 25 caliber recruit. Fielder is that good. So landing him would have not just been great for the program's trajectory, but it would have been an outstanding pivot after missing out on Estrella.

It also shows that with ever-increasing frequency, that the coaching staff's expectations are out of whack with how things seem to unfold on the recruiting trail.

This is turning into a mess, because JB won't step aside. And it will probably get even messier before things are said and done.

 

[sweetpea]

One addendum to my previous post, I know I've been pretty harsh on JB lately, but I promise I don't want to see him go out this way.

He's been a constant in my life literally since I've had a memory. Syracuse bball and fball were my first favorite teams and I fell in love with them quickly and never stopped being a fan. JB has brought me a million great memories. I grew up in upstate and wanted to attend SU my whole life - which I did, both undergrad and grad basically because I had fell in love with the school at four years old. My mom's best friend, when I told her I was going to SU, said, "you've had that dream since I've known you".

When the team won the title in 2003, the first two calls were from my parents because they knew how much it meant to me.

I don't like any of this. I want him to go out on top. I want at least one more Final Four run where he gets to play chess while his opposition is playing checkers. Where he gets to brilliantly dismantle some up and coming opposing coach, where a plethora of his ex players are in the stands cheering him and the team on.

But we aren't there. And the program is in a precarious place. We need to fix it. Whatever that fix might be, we need to move towards it and quickly.

You can't govern if you don't win the campaign. And while I think Fielder would excel here under JB's tutelage, he likely won't have the shot to grow the kid because he'll be at Providence.

Coach has been such a constant that it is hard to imagine any other way than JB. JB started coaching when I was 10 years old. I would say there have only been a handful of games where I didn't know the result within a few minutes. Along with getting married and having kids, many of the happiest moments of my life have come from following Syracuse basketball. My mother is a 1946 graduate and my daughter is a 2022 graduate. The university has been an important part of my life. Your thoughtful post is spot on.

 

[Orangezoo]

One addendum to my previous post, I know I've been pretty harsh on JB lately, but I promise I don't want to see him go out this way.

He's been a constant in my life literally since I've had a memory. Syracuse bball and fball were my first favorite teams and I fell in love with them quickly and never stopped being a fan. JB has brought me a million great memories. I grew up in upstate and wanted to attend SU my whole life - which I did, both undergrad and grad basically because I had fell in love with the school at four years old. My mom's best friend, when I told her I was going to SU, said, "you've had that dream since I've known you".

When the team won the title in 2003, the first two calls were from my parents because they knew how much it meant to me.

I don't like any of this. I want him to go out on top. I want at least one more Final Four run where he gets to play chess while his opposition is playing checkers. Where he gets to brilliantly dismantle some up and coming opposing coach, where a plethora of his ex players are in the stands cheering him and the team on.

But we aren't there. And the program is in a precarious place. We need to fix it. Whatever that fix might be, we need to move towards it and quickly.

You can't govern if you don't win the campaign. And while I think Fielder would excel here under JB's tutelage, he likely won't have the shot to grow the kid because he'll be at Providence.

Amen brother. I'm right here with you across the board.

To me - I want to see it handed off to the right guy who can pick up and run like hell with it. Who can bring JB out to the games along with our former greats and share that success with an honor to the man whose blood sweat and tears coat every inch of this program.

 

[721Comstock]

Good post.

The thing that is most disappointing was that it seemed like we had a clear path to landing this kid. He was a recruit -- and I know the ratings don't reflect this at the current time -- who was equally on par with JP Estrella, who was a top 25 caliber recruit. Fielder is that good. So landing him would have not just been great for the program's trajectory, but it would have been an outstanding pivot after missing out on Estrella.

It also shows that with ever-increasing frequency, that the coaching staff's expectations are out of whack with how things seem to unfold on the recruiting trail.

This is turning into a mess, because JB won't step aside. And it will probably get even messier before things are said and done.

All of this. 144% this.

And also to the post you replied to.

We've been missing on our non-Benny 1st options for many years now.
And while last year was a pretty solid pivot to lock down some great Plan B options (Mintz was pulling a rabbit out of... somewhere!) -
NOW we're gonna be scrounging around for our 3rd options, at best.

The fact that we couldn't even get this kid to OV, after he had actually scheduled the OV, is very telling.

When a HS croot is looking at a Cuse offer and OV, and then says "nah, thanks - I'm good", that is a really, REALLY bad sign for where we are as a program currently.

Could JAB have salvaged this one, if he'd gotten on a plane to go visit the kid?

We will never know the answer - and that's the saddest part of this whole affair.
Cooley got off his arse and made the flight.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

All of this. 144% this.

And also to the post you replied to.

We've been missing on our non-Benny 1st options for many years now.
And while last year was a pretty solid pivot to lock down some great Plan B options (Mintz was pulling a rabbit out of... somewhere!) -
NOW we're gonna be scrounging around for our 3rd options, at best.

The fact that we couldn't even get this kid to OV, after he had actually scheduled the OV, is very telling.

When a HS croot is looking at a Cuse offer and OV, and then says "nah, thanks - I'm good", that is a really, REALLY bad sign for where we are as a program currently.

Could JAB have salvaged this one, if he'd gotten on a plane to go visit the kid?

We will never know the answer - and that's the saddest part of this whole affair.
Cooley got off his arse and made the flight.

I like Cooley, and I can't picture him "cheating", but we are talking about fluffing Providence. First it was Sean Miller and Xavier and now Providence. If those aren't eye-opening to those connected to Syracuse basketball, then nothing will be.

 

[Sherman20]

All of this. 144% this.

And also to the post you replied to.

We've been missing on our non-Benny 1st options for many years now.
And while last year was a pretty solid pivot to lock down some great Plan B options (Mintz was pulling a rabbit out of... somewhere!) -
NOW we're gonna be scrounging around for our 3rd options, at best.

The fact that we couldn't even get this kid to OV, after he had actually scheduled the OV, is very telling.

When a HS croot is looking at a Cuse offer and OV, and then says "nah, thanks - I'm good", that is a really, REALLY bad sign for where we are as a program currently.

Could JAB have salvaged this one, if he'd gotten on a plane to go visit the kid?

We will never know the answer - and that's the saddest part of this whole affair.
Cooley got off his arse and made the flight.

Spot-on about where we are… beyond depressing.
“When a HS croot is looking at a Cuse offer and OV, and then says "nah, thanks - I'm good", that is a really, REALLY bad sign for where we are as a program currently.”