Scotch
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That’s a big starting 5. Me likey as long as we get a PG that can run the show.
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Sherman20
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we’ll just have to disagree on Q and that’s fine. Maybe Red can convince him to be the Swiss Army knife off the bench like he was this year and we could bring in another experienced PG with shooting ability from the portal, with Q as the back there and at the 2 and 3. But I think Q will want to be the starting PG, and I assume Chance would be the backup (and that’s a risk with his injury history). I guess we’ll find out in the next few weeks.
IthacaMatt
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This is way more true in the NBA than in the college game, because the NBA has bigger players who are more skilled than college players.
But lots of teams in college play 2 guys bigger than we had last year. Examples:
Houston - known for their aggressive guard-oriented defense, still plays 2 forwards who go 6-8 and 235-240.
UConn has 3 guys bigger than we have in their primary rotation - Clingan (7-2, 280), Karaban (6-8 220) and Johnson (6-10, 225).
Purdue - Edey (7-4, 300), Kaufmann-Renn (6-9, 230) and their SF is 6-6, 235.
North Carolina - Bacot (6-11, 240), Ingraham (6-7, 235), Withers (6-9, 215) and Washington (6-10, 230)
Tennessee - Aidoo (6-11, 240), Awaka (6-8, 250), and James (6-6, 235 SF).
Arizona - Ballo (7-0, 260), Krivas (7-2, 260), and Johnson (SF 6-7, 225).
Iowa State rotates 4 guys as their forwards and centers - Momcilovic (6-8, 210), Tre King (6-7, 230), Hasan Ward (6-9, 230), and Robert Jones (6-10, 256).
Creighton - Kalkbrenner (7-1, 270) and a bunch of smaller skinny guys like we have (one F is 6-9, 190 - LOL).
Kentucky - Tre Mitchell (6-9, 230), Bradshaw (7-1, 226), Onyenso ((7-0, 247), and Ivisic (7-2, 234), although he got hurt back in December.
Duke - Filipowski (7-0, 250), Mark Mitchell (6-9, 230), Ryan Young (6-10, 238)
Marquette - Ighodaro (6-11, 235), Joplin (6-8, 225), Gold (6-11, 245)
After the injuries to the centers and kicking Benny off the team, our 2 biggest guys are 6-8, 220 and 6-6, 220.
EVERY SINGLE TEAM HAS AT LEAST 3 GUYS BIGGER THAN OUR BIGGEST GUYS.
Cusefan0307
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Strength is more important than height IMO. We are weak and we have been weak for a lot of years now.
Bulldog04
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Has nothing to do with Red. Red isn’t the one saying that.
Melancer46
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Even the NBA it's close to half the teams in the league that have a legit PF starting for them. It's just that in the NBA, those guys generally have perimeter skills too.
Fly Rodder
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1) The team improved significantly once we kicked Benny off the team
Did it really? They played 9 games (6-3) after Benny was persona non grata. In their 4 games against teams in the top-half of the ACC, they went 1-3 winning a home game against UNC. Big game and big win, but it by itself doesn't make a season. They also got pasted by Clemson twice and lost to GaTech on the road. Beat Lousiville twice and a surging Notre Dame team. After removing Benny, they scored 80.4 points per game and gave up 79 ppg. Before that, in conference play, they went 6-3 over nine games scoring 71.5 ppg and giving up 77.5 ppg. Nearly all of that offensive increase is a result of Bell and JJ shooting the 3 unlike they had all season (with Benny 6.2/20.4 at 30% and without Benny they shot 6.9/18 from 3, a 38% clip).
I don't think Benny has anything to do with them making threes considering he didn't play much before he was booted.
2) New players
a) Freeman is a legit top-20 player and could have a huge impact, but he's still a freshman. All he needs to be is an upgrade over Justin Taylor, which ... that should be doable. But even the very best rookie PFs Syracuse had since Melo have been underwhelming. So, big expectations. The most points scored by a frosh in the last ten seasons is by Oshae Brissett at 553 (15ppg).
b) Westry has barely played in two years and has had knee issues dating back to being a HS player.
c) Moore is an outside the a top-100 freshman. People can't rely on that kind of player to be an immediate upgrade. I've lived through the last decade of Syracuse recruiting. Since Ennis, there have been 12 frosh guards play more than 300 minutes (Basically Kyle Cuffe minutes). Of those, three were really deployed as 3s (Malachi, Buddy and Taylor). Buddy was the median for points (217). Everyone with more points than Buddy were starters. So, realistically, expecting more than Buddy's frosh season 6-7 ppg would be expecting a lot out of Moore as an unranked freshman.
d) McLeod is not a great offensive basketball player, doesn't react quickly, looks like he runs in concrete and on defense he gets a lot of blocks.
On top of all of that, the main thing is that you're going to need to see the differnce between what a player gets you this season versus how much more a player next season gets you. For example, if we lose 750 points scored from 3 players who played this season and get 800 points next season from their replacements, how much better are we really?Seems like the idea as of now is to come back with Chance, JJ, and Bell as the offense and losing Judah's 581 points. That's a big hole to fill.
Yes players can get better, but that's such a trope that you would think all a team needs is a handful of upper classmen and they would be winners. Two seasons ago, we had a sub-500 season with four seniors (two were grad transfers) and two juniors. I don't think a year of conditioning and practice is going to make JJ and Bell into average defenders let alone top defenders.
This team needs talent at both ends of the floor and thinking that they have enough after a season where they were kept well out of the NCAA tourney, again, is troubling.
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Cusefan0307
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I won't argue argue most of this, but Moore's composite ranking has him in the top 100. Rivals he's 53 and 247 he is 54. ESPN not even having him listed brings him down. I do think he can help us next year if he can play in a structured environment and improve his shot selection. Something both he and Ian Jackson have struggled with.
Sbucketball
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I don't know, I think there's plenty of P5 starting spots for Q. Not every P5 team is Duke or Kansas. And for what it's worth, I think Q is just scratching the surface and will get a lot better next year.
How about Bell as a two with cope as a 1 and Freeman, Brown and a transfer big when we want play bully ball
atlanticuse
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Didn't we used to win as the team with big guys / long wingspans?
I feel like that recipe is what made us successful.
We're just small and not as balanced/talented at the 4-5 as we once were.
edit - although 2009-10, we were 30-5 with a pretty small team who could score... until the game vs. Butler, when we couldn't.
Sbucketball
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Yeah, the whole this team got so much better because Benny was dismissed take was overblown on here. Benny sucked and had a toxic attitude, but the team had a mini-run because Bell went on a heater and JJ got better offensively, and the schedule eased up.
I have said that I think Q will start at point next year and I hope it happens. He made huge strides from last to this and even from beginning to now with ball control and even his shooting is improving. Knowing he has a chance will help him concentrate on his weaknesses and will improve even more there.
M2MPrinciples
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I'd quibble a bit with the "small" descriptor. Rick and AO were only 6'9" but they were tough and big enough to push guys around and withstand contact. None of our current centers can tolerate a stiff breeze.
Niastri
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Onuaku in particular was massive. I remember a UNC forward driving into him. It clearly should have been called a charge... But the guy just bounced off Onuaku and fell down. Syracuse came away with the ball, so it was just a non call.
Onuaku, and to a lesser extent Jackson, was just so strong he could give away a little height and still be dominant. Onuaku getting injured late in the season cost us plenty. He was terrific.
Col. Bleep
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Love the steals this year but still need DEE-FENSE! DEE-FENSE!
Sherman20
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Hmmm…. I don’t get what you’re trying to say here.
Fly Rodder
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I wondered and was surprised he wasn't on ESPN's list when I looked. I could have sworn he was top-100. But still a frosha dn one who won't be starting or expected to get significant minutes. I still think 6-7 ppg would be about as expected.
I'm not sure Q is a good enough shooter to start at a decent P5 team. Maybe he starts somewhere, but finds himself on a 10 win team like Jesse this year with WV. His best gig might be with Cuse and with coaches that know how to best leverage his strengths.
Same with Bell. How many mid to high level P5 teams does Bell start for given his weak rebounding and turnstile defense? Great shooter, but whatever team he transfers to the fans will be complaining about the same things we are, and likely demanding he come off the bench. Not sure if he's humble enough though to come off the bench after 2 years as a mediocre starter.
Also thinking out loud here...are all starters on all teams given a guarantee by the coach that they will start before the season begins? In a perfect world, we bring in the best possible players, let them compete, and the starting lineup will present itself in practice.
I think we can realistically improve in a few spots, bringing in a total of 5 new kids.
- Benny -> Freeman
-Hima -> Moore
-Taylor ->portal
-Carey -> portal
-Judah takes a bag -> portal
2 freshman and 3 portal transfers + jj, Bell, Brown, Q, Westry, Cuffe, McLeod, Patterson. May the best 10 play...
But I literally know nothing about recruiting, the portal, or coaching basketball at any level so this is all pie in the sky and what actually happens will probably be much different.
Same with Bell. How many mid to high level P5 teams does Bell start for given his weak rebounding and turnstile defense? Great shooter, but whatever team he transfers to the fans will be complaining about the same things we are, and likely demanding he come off the bench. Not sure if he's humble enough though to come off the bench after 2 years as a mediocre starter.
Also thinking out loud here...are all starters on all teams given a guarantee by the coach that they will start before the season begins? In a perfect world, we bring in the best possible players, let them compete, and the starting lineup will present itself in practice.
I think we can realistically improve in a few spots, bringing in a total of 5 new kids.
- Benny -> Freeman
-Hima -> Moore
-Taylor ->portal
-Carey -> portal
-Judah takes a bag -> portal
2 freshman and 3 portal transfers + jj, Bell, Brown, Q, Westry, Cuffe, McLeod, Patterson. May the best 10 play...
But I literally know nothing about recruiting, the portal, or coaching basketball at any level so this is all pie in the sky and what actually happens will probably be much different.
Bulldog04
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Some donors want to run it back.
Sbucketball
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Does this change anything about Judah's situation?
Bulldog04
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Yes but we will see how this shakes out. Will be an interesting couple of weeks.
We definitely need to get bigger and stronger thats clear to anyone who watches. What I was referring to in my post was playing traditional bigs, or guys who do most of their work in the paint, at the same time. Looking at the list you have the traditional bigs like Aidoo, Ballo, Kalkbrenner, etc, they're not on the floor at the same time as some of the secondary guys listed. UNLESS they are wings or can stretch the floor. For example Bacot and Ingram pair together nicely because Ingram is a wing and shoots 38% from three. Kalkbrenner plays with Mason Miller a wing who's 45% from three. Ighodaro and Joplin whos 38%. Kentucky's bigs who you listed are never on the floor together. Clingan with Karaban who's 40%. With Duke, Mitchell is not a threat from outside but Filipowski is so they complement each other. Arizona Ballo and Krivas never see the floor together but they do with Keshad Johnson 39%. Donnie right now is more of a forward than a wing. With that being said he can most definitely share the floor with a traditional big because he can knock down the three. But Donnie, Maliq, and traditional big will never work together unless Maliq and Donnie improve the way they play on the perimeter. In today's brand of basketball you need as many shooters as possible and as much spacing as possible and having the three of them share the floor together takes that away.
Cusefan0307
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What a time to be alive.
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