Class of 2023 - PF Ibrahim Souare (Guinea / AZ) TRANSFERRING TO SYRACUSE (4/6/25) | Page 6 | Syracusefan.com
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Class of 2023 PF Ibrahim Souare (Guinea / AZ) TRANSFERRING TO SYRACUSE (4/6/25)

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Remind me again, how tall were Houston's players last night?
St. John’s also very similar, their 7 footer only plays seven minutes a game, and their “big” Starters are 6’7” and 6’9” Center and PF. Both Houston and St. John’s are teams I enjoyed watching this year for their tenacity, athleticism and high basketball IQ.

We’ve been ”out athleted” for too long now. Bell, Petar, Mcleod, Davis, and Lampkin had varying degrees of skill, but they were all “stiffs“ for the most part. I don’t know what the results will be but I like the direction we’re going.

I would not mind having a seven footer too, and there’s no reason why with only 10 spots committed to, we can’t get the best 7 foot 240 pound player/project we can get with the money we have left after getting a shooting wing.
 

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Yesterday I joked that Georgia Tech had such bad offense that without George passing to them, the Yellow Jackets might go games without scoring. Souare, unfortunately, is one of those terrible offensive players.

Souare is a total project. Extremely live body, long arms, quick feet, seems to have quick hands.

The only extended video of Souare without watching full games was from two years ago, around the time I’m guessing he touched a basketball for the first time. His national u18 team was playing in some tournament.

Watching that video of the u18 international play was painful. Every team had completely unskilled players. Many of them were long limbed and very athletic, but looked clumsy playing basketball. The US u15 team would demolish all of them.

Souare has at least been in the United States two years, and played 510 minutes for Georgia Tech. He’s probably better, and definitely not as thin. Someday he might be a baller and not an athlete that happened to start playing basketball. Maybe, with luck, that will be here. It’s shocking to me that he averaged 20 minutes on an ACC team in conference play.

My first takeaway looking at his advanced stats and his lack of highlights is that we have decided Freeman can play center and White is ready to play big minutes in the ACC, because we can’t rely on Souare for more than a few minutes a half if we want to win anything.

I’m going to suffer through 12 minutes of the Clemson-GT condensed game to see if any highlights are worth mentioning. Pour a beer out.
 
He’s an intriguing player. I saw his stats first, and was not impressed by getting a 2ppg scorer, and another ‘thin’ center. Then saw the highlight reel and the stats and the video don’t really match.

He’s quick and athletic and really flies around the whole court. It was said somewhere that he was a 6’7” prospect and the grew two inches. That checks out. Plays like a wing—dribbles for effect, aggressively, defends/steals on the perimeter, penetrates, dunks everything. But he got a lot of minutes at GT and still didn’t score a lot? Weird. That turn around fadeaway was beautiful, high level stuff. Maybe it was a fluke one-off, but it looks like he’s got skills and dexterity, and may have big upside if he wasn’t an organized basketball player for many years.

I still would have liked to have some beef/power at the first/second C position, but… maybe we’re going to 80sUNLV everyone to death. Seeing strength in Auburn and Florida in the final, though, makes me wonder what our archetype is based on. Might only be ‘what we can get/what we pivot toward,’ which again makes me sneer at how the portal timeline works vs the tournament.

Eddie had a great highlight reel too. Highlight reels are just that, highlights. Every player can put together a video looking good. Will he potentially get better and be a contributor next year, he was only a freshman, maybe. Can this coaching staff do that though and is this kind of a gamble…… don’t know. Saying a guy is better than his 2 point avg, well, his stats are who he is. Like I said, that doesn’t mean he won’t improve and be a solid guy next year. Are we comfortable this staff is the staff that can do that. Who knows.
 
Yesterday I joked that Georgia Tech had such bad offense that without George passing to them, the Yellow Jackets might go games without scoring. Souare, unfortunately, is one of those terrible offensive players.

Souare is a total project. Extremely live body, long arms, quick feet, seems to have quick hands.

The only extended video of Souare without watching full games was from two years ago, around the time I’m guessing he touched a basketball for the first time. His national u18 team was playing in some tournament.

Watching that video of the u18 international play was painful. Every team had completely unskilled players. Many of them were long limbed and very athletic, but looked clumsy playing basketball. The US u15 team would demolish all of them.

Souare has at least been in the United States two years, and played 510 minutes for Georgia Tech. He’s probably better, and definitely not as thin. Someday he might be a baller and not an athlete that happened to start playing basketball. Maybe, with luck, that will be here. It’s shocking to me that he averaged 20 minutes on an ACC team in conference play.

My first takeaway looking at his advanced stats and his lack of highlights is that we have decided Freeman can play center and White is ready to play big minutes in the ACC, because we can’t rely on Souare for more than a few minutes a half if we want to win anything.

I’m going to suffer through 12 minutes of the Clemson-GT condensed game to see if any highlights are worth mentioning. Pour a beer out.

If you were wanting a scorer then sure he’s a project. As an athletic big who defends, rebounds and fill the lane he’s a guy who averaged 17 mpg on an ACC team and even started 14 games. As a guy you are bringing to come off the bench who started half a season in a P4 conference - that’s a good get
 
I like the pickups we've had so far, but I really hope going all in on undersized centers/PF hybrids doesn't come back to bite us
 
If you were wanting a scorer then sure he’s a project. As an athletic big who defends, rebounds and fill the lane he’s a guy who averaged 17 mpg on an ACC team and even started 14 games. As a guy you are bringing to come off the bench who started half a season in a P4 conference - that’s a good get
That’s usually my take.

He just doesn’t look like somebody who is going to help us much. I like having depth, but finding out we have Kyle and suboptimal choices at center instead of Kyle and somebody good as a center dynamic duo is disappointing.

I just watched the Clemson condensed game, where Souare had arguably his best game. Good thing George was on the same team to keep me interested because Souare was invisible and when Souare was on screen during a defensive possession he seemed to be going the wrong way most of the time.

Looking at his advanced stats, he’s not even a good rebounder or shotblocker, he’s a turnover machine and you absolutely can’t have him on the floor if you’re protecting a lead late.

Anyway, I’m not going to cry about a bench guy, especially when they are actively looking to recruit over him as we speak. But I’m disappointed if this is our guy.
 
I am interested in hearing from those who are unhappy specifically which centers we should have brought in. Ballard the guy who spurned us twice? The Kansas center who returned to Kansas? Johnson who was bought by Michigan? Veesar who went to NC? Now tell me out of them all was Syracuse on any of their lists? Any? At all?
It takes interest from both sides to get a commit. People are acting like we passed on Shaq or something. My guess is Syracuse reached out to all the big ticket centers. They all decided to go other places. We all wish the 2nd coming of Shaq would come to Syracuse. You get the best players you can that also want to come. If we don't win, we find a new coach who hopefully can bring better players in for better results. Our team is better today than it was. The question is only whether Red can coach them at least to a Sweet 16 next year.
 
Yesterday I joked that Georgia Tech had such bad offense that without George passing to them, the Yellow Jackets might go games without scoring. Souare, unfortunately, is one of those terrible offensive players.

Souare is a total project. Extremely live body, long arms, quick feet, seems to have quick hands.

The only extended video of Souare without watching full games was from two years ago, around the time I’m guessing he touched a basketball for the first time. His national u18 team was playing in some tournament.

Watching that video of the u18 international play was painful. Every team had completely unskilled players. Many of them were long limbed and very athletic, but looked clumsy playing basketball. The US u15 team would demolish all of them.

Souare has at least been in the United States two years, and played 510 minutes for Georgia Tech. He’s probably better, and definitely not as thin. Someday he might be a baller and not an athlete that happened to start playing basketball. Maybe, with luck, that will be here. It’s shocking to me that he averaged 20 minutes on an ACC team in conference play.

My first takeaway looking at his advanced stats and his lack of highlights is that we have decided Freeman can play center and White is ready to play big minutes in the ACC, because we can’t rely on Souare for more than a few minutes a half if we want to win anything.

I’m going to suffer through 12 minutes of the Clemson-GT condensed game to see if any highlights are worth mentioning. Pour a beer out.
Personally, I will be surprised if Donnie plays any center (not that he can’t). I just don’t see it. It will depend on the game situation on how effective the other two centers are. I believe that he will be a critical part of the offense from the forward position.
 
Yesterday I joked that Georgia Tech had such bad offense that without George passing to them, the Yellow Jackets might go games without scoring. Souare, unfortunately, is one of those terrible offensive players.

Souare is a total project. Extremely live body, long arms, quick feet, seems to have quick hands.

The only extended video of Souare without watching full games was from two years ago, around the time I’m guessing he touched a basketball for the first time. His national u18 team was playing in some tournament.

Watching that video of the u18 international play was painful. Every team had completely unskilled players. Many of them were long limbed and very athletic, but looked clumsy playing basketball. The US u15 team would demolish all of them.

Souare has at least been in the United States two years, and played 510 minutes for Georgia Tech. He’s probably better, and definitely not as thin. Someday he might be a baller and not an athlete that happened to start playing basketball. Maybe, with luck, that will be here. It’s shocking to me that he averaged 20 minutes on an ACC team in conference play.

My first takeaway looking at his advanced stats and his lack of highlights is that we have decided Freeman can play center and White is ready to play big minutes in the ACC, because we can’t rely on Souare for more than a few minutes a half if we want to win anything.

I’m going to suffer through 12 minutes of the Clemson-GT condensed game to see if any highlights are worth mentioning. Pour a beer out.
He’s likely number 10 in the rotation if we sign Deng with Womack being the only player behind him. A guy with potential is about all you’re going to get for a position that deep on the bench. Guys are going to want to play.
 
I am interested in hearing from those who are unhappy specifically which centers we should have brought in. Ballard the guy who spurned us twice? The Kansas center who returned to Kansas? Johnson who was bought by Michigan? Veesar who went to NC? Now tell me out of them all was Syracuse on any of their lists? Any? At all?
It takes interest from both sides to get a commit. People are acting like we passed on Shaq or something. My guess is Syracuse reached out to all the big ticket centers. They all decided to go other places. We all wish the 2nd coming of Shaq would come to Syracuse. You get the best players you can that also want to come. If we don't win, we find a new coach who hopefully can bring better players in for better results. Our team is better today than it was. The question is only whether Red can coach them at least to a Sweet 16 next year.
Well, yes, we can only take guys who want to come here. Frankly, looks like the guys who want to come here are journeymen. If we're better next year, it's b/c of our incoming freshman class. Yes, I grant you that the PG is an improvement b/c who wouldn't be?

I honestly think that if Kiyan wasn't in the class, Red would already have been gone.

Hope springs eternal, and I'm glad that people are feeling hopeful. Wish I could share in the enthusiasm.

However, to respectfully disagree with Cusefan69, who is a legit Board Hall of Famer. the question isn't 'only whether Red can coach them at least to a Sweet 16 next year', it's whether Red is in fact a decent college basketball coach. I'm leaning towards no.
 
Well, yes, we can only take guys who want to come here. Frankly, looks like the guys who want to come here are journeymen. If we're better next year, it's b/c of our incoming freshman class. Yes, I grant you that the PG is an improvement b/c who wouldn't be?

I honestly think that if Kiyan wasn't in the class, Red would already have been gone.

Hope springs eternal, and I'm glad that people are feeling hopeful. Wish I could share in the enthusiasm.

However, to respectfully disagree with Cusefan69, who is a legit Board Hall of Famer. the question isn't 'only whether Red can coach them at least to a Sweet 16 next year', it's whether Red is in fact a decent college basketball coach. I'm leaning towards no.
If we are better next year George and Kingz will be the reason. None of the freshmen are going to start. Not sure how you can call either a journeyman when they were coveted in the portal.
 
That’s usually my take.

He just doesn’t look like somebody who is going to help us much. I like having depth, but finding out we have Kyle and suboptimal choices at center instead of Kyle and somebody good as a center dynamic duo is disappointing.

I just watched the Clemson condensed game, where Souare had arguably his best game. Good thing George was on the same team to keep me interested because Souare was invisible and when Souare was on screen during a defensive possession he seemed to be going the wrong way most of the time.

Looking at his advanced stats, he’s not even a good rebounder or shotblocker, he’s a turnover machine and you absolutely can’t have him on the floor if you’re protecting a lead late.

Anyway, I’m not going to cry about a bench guy, especially when they are actively looking to recruit over him as we speak. But I’m disappointed if this is our guy.

Turnover machine I don’t see… he’s young and got good experience and is absolutely an end of the rotation guy vs a starters minutes guy.

At least vs the Arizona kid he’s got a lot of experience this past year to build on where the Arizona kid is basically a true freshman from a game experience standpoint.
 
Well, yes, we can only take guys who want to come here. Frankly, looks like the guys who want to come here are journeymen. If we're better next year, it's b/c of our incoming freshman class. Yes, I grant you that the PG is an improvement b/c who wouldn't be?

I honestly think that if Kiyan wasn't in the class, Red would already have been gone.

Hope springs eternal, and I'm glad that people are feeling hopeful. Wish I could share in the enthusiasm.

However, to respectfully disagree with Cusefan69, who is a legit Board Hall of Famer. the question isn't 'only whether Red can coach them at least to a Sweet 16 next year', it's whether Red is in fact a decent college basketball coach. I'm leaning towards no.
i’d agree with this
 
If we are better next year George and Kingz will be the reason. None of the freshmen are going to start. Not sure how you can call either a journeyman when they were coveted in the portal.
'Coveted'?

BTW, by definition, they're journeymen. Leaving a situation for one they hope is better.

Not looking to flame anyone, but if the freshmen aren't contributors of significance, we're not making it to the Sweet 16 based on the transfers..
 
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