Players Returning Next Year

[Jake]

Portal PG/Cope/Cuffe
JJ/Moore/Cope/Cuffe
Freeman/Bell/Westry/Cope
Brown/Freeman
Portal C/Brown/McCloud

Seems like this is what we will be shooting for next year. I would say Bell is the wildcard if he comes back or not. Those portal players need to be upperclassmen and the point guard needs to be a shooter.

I’m starting to believe this will be the goal for next year.

Love Cope, but he’s not a primary ball handler, but he can play a lot between the 1 & 3.

 

[CardiacCuse]

I am most worried about the 5. The injury bug sucks. I don’t see how we keep both Carey and Patterson.

I think the consensus is that we need a ready to play big for matchups where Brown is not the guy and McCloud’s height novelty won’t work.

Carey had his chance when Benny was dismissed and it was squandered with injuries and not being ready to play. Patterson who knows.

Autry can’t keep multiple centers that are projects. Gotta pick 1 young guy and stick with him.

if carey (year 3) and patterson (year 2) arent ready to meaningfully contribute next year, I dont see how they are brought back...in the portal era it doesnt make sense...in the 90s maybe it would.

considering mcleod will have a ton of question marks as well (if he returns)

my preference is start over at the C spot totally...and bring in a new corps there.

but i get that that is very unlikely to happen - red is going to be very loyal to his players...i just hope he doesnt bring all 3 back...

 

[Fly Rodder]

Love Cope, but he’s not a primary ball handler, but he can play a lot between the 1 & 3.

Seems his best role right now is to be the spark plug off the bench to go in where the team is getting a mismatch. He's got the best vertical of anyone on the team IMO ... he could probably play the 4 or 5 in a pinch.

 

[Jzsshuttles]

Copeland isn’t coming back here to come off the bench again..

 

[Red2003]

Copeland isn’t coming back here to come off the bench again..

He will if he gets paid to which he will. He’s sat enough mins to realize how quickly he can pick up fouls early on.

He’ll be fine with 25-30 mins a game off the bench especially since he knows he’ll be closing games out.

Autry made it pretty clear this year that the bench players are getting more mins than starters

 

[cusefan88]

Carey seems like a good guy and teammate but idk at this point. I wonder if his level is more for Umass, Rhode Island or even a solid America East program like Vermont or UMass-Lowell.

 

[two3zone]

And Bell, where he belongs, at the 2. Let JJ and Cope split time at the 1. JJ does not score enough for a 2. Bell at the 2 could shoot all day long if he is on.

No guarantee that Brown will be back. He left the door open. If we don't have the pieces to dance, I would not bet on him staying. He about said as much.

What guard is Bell defending?

 

[AlaskaSU]

Bell can’t play the 2. His handle isn’t close to good enough

If we nee d a 2 to handle we have JJ. We might not need a 2 who can handle but we do need a shooter, and we need to be bigger up front. Bell plays small for a forward.

 

[AlaskaSU]

What guard is Bell defending?

What forward is he defending?

 

[two3zone]

What forward is he defending?

Rather have him not guarding a forward than a primary ball handler.

 

[rrlbees]

Bell needs to be a 7th man if he's not going to put in effort in on both ends of the court. He doesn't shoot 45% every night to justify him getting big minutes otherwise.

Then JJ should be 8th man?

 

[djcon57]

Then JJ should be 8th man?

Maybe?

Probably?

 

[Orangezoo]

What guard is Bell defending?

Security

 

[FrancoPizza]

It's not the same situation but famously Dion Waiters decided to stay another year and listened to the staff and improved a ton. Hoping same thing happens for Bell.

You could put lightning in bell’s ass and he still wouldn’t approximate the impact that waiters had.

 

[721Comstock]

What guard is Bell defending?

A school crossing guard?

Maybe.

 

[Fly Rodder]

Then JJ should be 8th man?

Sure. Not fan of his defensive game either.

 

[Scott11]

And he can't do much other than shoot from a set (ish) position. A decade of mediocrity really put the blinders on people.

Dion went from an above average frosh in limited minutes to a top-5 pick in his sophomore year. If Bell sticks around, I hope he can at least be above average as a junior 6-7th man. God that team was sooooo good. Six future NBA players. One regular season loss on the road to a decent ND team who shot the lights out and SU didn't. Tough loss to a very good Ohio State team that was getting away with murder plowing into people and reaching in generating tons of bad calls on SU.

Melo would have slowed down Sullinger in that game.

 

[tptcuse]

Portal PG/Cope/Cuffe
JJ/Moore/Cope/Cuffe
Freeman/Bell/Westry/Cope
Brown/Freeman
Portal C/Brown/McCloud

Seems like this is what we will be shooting for next year. I would say Bell is the wildcard if he comes back or not. Those portal players need to be upperclassmen and the point guard needs to be a shooter.

I think Bell portals if this is the case.

Copeland is in a tricky spot if we get a stud PG. If we get a strong PG who isn't an all-league type, I can see Copeland staying knowing he has a chance to compete for the starting point guard spot and/or come off the bench for 1, 2, and 3 to add up to lots of minutes.

 

[AlaskaSU]

Rather have him not guarding a forward than a primary ball handler.

He would have a height advantage. We need to get bigger. Bell at forward does not work. He is too slender to bang underneath.

Rather have him not guarding a forward than a primary ball handler.

 

[grepal]

Copeland isn’t coming back here to come off the bench again..

I want him to start but Waiters came off the bench and it worked out OK for him. I need Cope, my favorite player in years

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

Folks are crazy thinking Bell doesn’t start. The guy is an emerging star. (I was not a fan, not hopeful, last year or beginning this year.) His improvement is exponential. Red and staff are pushing the right buttons. Brown starts at center, and slides to the 4 when Freeman rests.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

I want him to start but Waiters came off the bench and it worked out OK for him. I need Cope, my favorite player in years

Not as a Jr.

 

[dasher]

I am most worried about the 5. The injury bug sucks. I don’t see how we keep both Carey and Patterson.

I think the consensus is that we need a ready to play big for matchups where Brown is not the guy and McCloud’s height novelty won’t work.

Carey had his chance when Benny was dismissed and it was squandered with injuries and not being ready to play. Patterson who knows.

Autry can’t keep multiple centers that are projects. Gotta pick 1 young guy and stick with him.

Disagree. We can keep both. We have 13 ships. We rarely use all 13.

 

[Cuse2023]

Some of you guys do not realize that Donnie will probably never see time at the 3.

 

[Sherman20]

If we lost him this would have been the one we said "what if" about next year. Donnie has a higher ceiling and I have no doubt will get a good look at the NBA, but there's a solid chance Junior-year Maliq is more effective than Freshman-year Donnie, especially in the beginning of the season, so if he left and Donnie had a slow start, it would burn. This is not an indictment on Donnie because I'm very high on him. Just being realistic that we can't assume a freshman will dominate from the tip in November. Also Maliq covers 2 positions. Great news to start the week.

Maliq and Freeman will give us the building blocks for a dominant front court next season. If we add a skilled big boy center who’s a voracious rebounder and has post moves and skill, look out.