Class of 2019 PG Dakota Leffew (GA) Portal to Georgia

[IthacaMatt]

I think the biggest question is why? How has football come in and raised all this NIL money? How does Indiana have all this NIL money but we don't? We have one of the biggest fan bases in the nation and constantly lead in attendance why are we lacking in NIL? What are other basketball programs doing that we are late to the party with? Why didn't the Red hire generate buzz and new funding streams for the program?

There is no reason why Syracuse, one of the top basketball brands in the nation, is taking a back seat to anyone in NIL to be honest.

My guess would be that we have a couple "whales" for football, and none (or fewer) for hoops.
I would think that there's a few people in particular who have had pretty successful careers here who might step up to bridge the apparent gap. We are clearly competing for third tier people in terms of NIL in hoops.

 

[kidorange]

We can win enough with guys like Leffew to spark interest and generate more NIL capital. People want ROI and not spending 100's of thousands on a Jesse Edwards and watching burn in the dumpster in front of them. It's a building process, we just need a few more bricks. Our position when NIL took off was hugely detrimental. I feel like a couple tournament bids and we'll be rolling.

 

[kcsu]

I think this is a fair read. A few weeks ago, we were hoping for Mack or Reynolds. But Leffew seemed like a good alternative as a top 100 transfer. Now some posters are hinting that Nova might overtake us for Leffew. So it’s reasonable that people would be disappointed, if this is actually true, especially since we’ve known for a month or more that we’d need a new starting PG. But we also assume Red has a pivot planned. Maybe there’s somebody interested in us that hasn’t hit the portal yet, and Red is working behind the scenes on that.

It won't be the end of the world if JJ, cuffe, and Chance handle the point

 

[Wrinkle]

It won't be the end of the world if JJ, cuffe, and Chance handle the point

Starling and Westry, OK. Cuffe -- no no no no no NO NO NO

 

[IthacaMatt]

Starling and Westry, OK. Cuffe -- no no no no no NO NO NO

He's not that bad as a backup PG. You guys are pretty quick to judge.

 

[djcon57]

It won't be the end of the world if JJ, cuffe, and Chance handle the point

Not the end of the world in a...I'll wake up tomorrow and the sun will rise way, sure.

But the Syracuse basketball team will most likely not be a tourney team next year with those options at point.

 

[OmahaCuse]

Yeah, that’s a problem then. How is it not? I don’t care about Big East schools only have to fund basketball. We should have a bigger or close to the same NIL budget as Nova, Gtown, SJU and the rest.

Basketball only boosters only get asked for 1 sport. All of

Pimento cheese. Big titties!

Ok but why would they make Roach their top target when he just entered the draft. Makes no sense unless they don’t care about winning. They’re hoping he doesn’t get drafted and comes to play for them.

Maybe it’s because Leffew did not pick them and they switched the narrative to going after a bigger fish. We would have done the same assuming he picks us.

 

[dasher]

Not the end of the world in a...I'll wake up tomorrow and the sun will rise way, sure.

But the Syracuse basketball team will most likely not be a tourney team next year with those options at point.

I agree with you although Westry could be a wild card. But that is a reach at this point.

 

[djcon57]

I agree with you although Westry could be a wild card. But that is a reach at this point.

Agreed. Other wildcard would be Freeman as some insane 1 and Done outlier that is actually a winning college player.

Other than that...I don't see it.

 

[RF2044]

It won't be the end of the world if JJ, cuffe, and Chance handle the point

It would be the beginning of the end of Red's time at SU.

 

[Nicknack]

I think this thread is bad for my mental health.

 

[baggerbob]

Agreed. Other wildcard would be Freeman as some insane 1 and Done outlier that is actually a winning college player.

Other than that...I don't see it.

I really hope Red is going after someone else and not waiting around for this player.
Fran would already have pivoted to another player and wrapped him up.
In the portal he who waits is lost.

 

[djcon57]

He's not that bad as a backup PG. You guys are pretty quick to judge.

He played a grand total of 0 non walkon mins without either Mintz, Copeland, or JJ on the floor. You've never seen him play PG.

 

[kcsu]

It would be the beginning of the end of Red's time at SU.

Chance
JJ
Bell
Freeman
Lamp

With Moore, Cuffe, McLeod, Patterson, Davis

Can win 20. I agree its not what anyone wants but and it's a huge but,If Chance is healthy he has a huge upside and poses some major match up issues for opponents.
Lets hope we don't have to go there.

 

[phil77]

It would be the beginning of the end of Red's time at SU.

I agree for two reasons if we don't have the money to secure a PG and then if we don't make the tournament his seat is going to be extremely hot.

 

[dasher]

I really hope Red is going after someone else and not waiting around for this player.
Fran would already have pivoted to another player and wrapped him up.
In the portal he who waits is lost.

It's been 3 days.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Chance
JJ
Bell
Freeman
Lamp

With Moore, Cuffe, McLeod, Patterson, Davis

Can win 20. I agree its not what anyone wants but and it's a huge but,If Chance is healthy he has a huge upside and poses some major match up issues for opponents.
Let’s hope we don't have to go there.

Terrible. We need a new goal. 20 games is blahhh. No way Red rolls with that team. JB would, but he’s not JB.

 

[J-Rock 3838]

Some of you in this thread just need to breathe! The sky isn't falling.

 

[cuseattle]

Starling and Westry, OK. Cuffe -- no no no no no NO NO NO

I get why some people are nervous about Cuffe, but he had some moments that impressed. I bet he pushes the starters at practice too. He just seems like a competitor and I'm not ready to make any judgement on his ceiling after one year.

And Leffew... When do we think he announces?

 

[IthacaMatt]

Chance
JJ
Bell
Freeman
Lamp

With Moore, Cuffe, McLeod, Patterson, Davis

Can win 20. I agree its not what anyone wants but and it's a huge but,If Chance is healthy he has a huge upside and poses some major match up issues for opponents.
Lets hope we don't have to go there.

You still need 2 more guys on that team, another guard and another forward, or else you're not going to get through the season.

 

[grepal]

I say we play JJ at point if we don't land our guy. He played pg albeit in an exhibition, when Judah was hurt. I liked how he pushed the ball better than any other guys we've had at point in years. Maybe I'm overreacting on a single exhibition game, but I think he can at least give us what Judah did as a distributor.Then we can go grab a stud sg to pair with him

I think we have a stud coming in as a freshman

 

[Cuse_NYC]

It won't be the end of the world if JJ, cuffe, and Chance handle the point

Eh. If Chance goes down. It gets very scary

 

[CU44SE]

Soooo hear me out. Jimmy B has a cushy job at Syracuse now. Does he really need the money after the millions of dollars he made in his career? Syracuse should up that salary. He then signs players to NIL deals since he is still getting payed a regular salary. Syracuse essentially funds the NIL.

Yes, I am half kidding and I am sure this would be highly frowned upon. Im sure there is something against school employees, but who really knows with the rules these days.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

Soooo hear me out. Jimmy B has a cushy job at Syracuse now. Does he really need the money after the millions of dollars he made in his career? Syracuse should up that salary. He then signs players to NIL deals since he is still getting payed a regular salary. Syracuse essentially funds the NIL.

Yes, I am half kidding and I am sure this would be highly frowned upon. Im sure there is something against school employees, but who really knows with the rules these days.

How easily folks spend other people’s money.

 

[Wrinkle]

He's not that bad as a backup PG. You guys are pretty quick to judge.

I think we can all agree Cuffe showed absolutely nothing in the way of PG skills. I like him on the end of the bench I just don't see how we could want him handling the ball at any point. We are down BAD if that ever ends up materializing