Quick thoughts on the state of the program

[Orange2389]

Facilities- The Carrier Dome and Melo Center are among the best in college basketball. While some around the game see the Carrier Dome as old and insufficient for basketball, I am certain that the Dome adds to the game day experience.
Rate A+

Coaching- JB is one of the great minds in the history of basketball and we are very lucky he is ours. He put this program on the map and into the national hoops scene. The guy has a court named after him for a reason. I also believe JB deserves his statue as well, when the time is right. Hopkins is a great assistant coach, along with Gerry.
Rate A+

Tradition/Prestige. Top 5 program in all time wins. 5 final fours. 1 championship. Speaks for itself.
Rate A+

Student Sections- I think this is one of those areas where SU can and should improve on. I realize the configuration of the Dome limits the student section, but bigger minds need to come together and get the students closer to the court on all sides. This is a college program after all.
Rate B+

Recruiting- If we truly want to be at the top of college basketball, this is where we are falling short compared to other elite programs. Every year Duke, UNC, Kentucky, Louisville, and Kansas are going after the same recruits. Every year. Syracuse offers a few of these recruits, but we are never in serious contention for most of these kids. We seem to settle for program guys, 3-4 stars. Some of these guys jump early to the NBA, but since Carmelo, when have we had a truly elite freshman come in and take control like he has? Ennis is great and probably the 2nd best talent since Melo, but how does Kansas, Duke, UNC, Kentucky , and Louisville have veteran experience - while reloading each year with perennial 4-5 star guys? As JB mentioned not too long ago, to be successful every year in college basketball, you need to have a healthy mix of freshman stars with veteran leadership. Unfortunately we settle for 3-4 star rated freshman every year, with rare exceptions. Guys like Greene, Flynn, McCullough, MCW, Ennis etc need to be arriving on the hill every year at Syracuse for them to consistently contend for Final Fours IMO. We shouldn't be like the mess that is Kentucky, but we need to step it up. I am all for the idea of having 4 year players along with some elite freshman. I find it unacceptable that a program like Syracuse can potentially lose guys like Grant and Ennis to the draft without reloading next year. All we have next year is question marks. Absolutely unacceptable for an elite program like Syracuse. And we are elite.
Rate B+

Feel free to chime in.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Facilities- The Carrier Dome and Melo Center are among the best in college basketball. While some around the game see the Carrier Dome as old and insufficient for basketball, I am certain that the Dome adds to the game day experience.
Rate A+

Coaching- JB is one of the great minds in the history of basketball and we are very lucky he is ours. He put this program on the map and into the national hoops scene. The guy has a court named after him for a reason. I also believe JB deserves his statue as well, when the time is right. Hopkins is a great assistant coach, along with Gerry.
Rate A+

Tradition/Prestige. Top 5 program in all time wins. 5 final fours. 1 championship. Speaks for itself.
Rate A+

Student Sections- I think this is one of those areas where SU can and should improve on. I realize the configuration of the Dome limits the student section, but bigger minds need to come together and get the students closer to the court on all sides. This is a college program after all.
Rate B+

Recruiting- If we truly want to be at the top of college basketball, this is where we are falling short compared to other elite programs. Every year Duke, UNC, Kentucky, Louisville, and Kansas are going after the same recruits. Every year. Syracuse offers a few of these recruits, but we are never in serious contention for most of these kids. We seem to settle for program guys, 3-4 stars. Some of these guys jump early to the NBA, but since Carmelo, when have we had a truly elite freshman come in and take control like he has? Ennis is great and probably the 2nd best talent since Melo, but how does Kansas, Duke, UNC, Kentucky , and Louisville have veteran experience - while reloading each year with perennial 4-5 star guys? As JB mentioned not too long ago, to be successful every year in college basketball, you need to have a healthy mix of freshman stars with veteran leadership. Unfortunately we settle for 3-4 star rated freshman every year, with rare exceptions. Guys like Greene, Flynn, McCullough, MCW, Ennis etc need to be arriving on the hill every year at Syracuse for them to consistently contend for Final Fours IMO. We shouldn't be like the mess that is Kentucky, but we need to step it up. I am all for the idea of having 4 year players along with some elite freshman. I find it unacceptable that a program like Syracuse can potentially lose guys like Grant and Ennis to the draft without reloading next year. All we have next year is question marks. Absolutely unacceptable for an elite program like Syracuse. And we are elite.
Rate B+

Feel free to chime in.

Check out Louisvilles recruits. Russ smith was two or three star. Andrew wiggins and Jabari Parker are sitting home. We beat UNC this year. Recruiting isn't the issue, depth may be at least for this year.

 

[longislandcuse]

Agree on Tradition and Facilities.

I think our recruiting is better than you give it credit for. We "system" recruit whereas these other schools just go for the best players they can. We also rarely go after 3 stars, most of our recruits are 4 stars with a few 5 stars mixed in.

I don't mind recruiting for the zone, I like being bigger and more athletic than everyone. We just need to figure out how to score. Athletic shooters do exist, we seem to have them every other year. Would be nice for that to be more consistent.

I also don't think JB is an A+. The difference between an A and an A+ is postseason success and for the talent we have year in/year out, we have underachieved in the postseason.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Student Sections- I think this is one of those areas where SU can and should improve on. I realize the configuration of the Dome limits the student section, but bigger minds need to come together and get the students closer to the court on all sides. This is a college program after all.
Rate B+

College programs don't exist without boosters and alumni.

So your idea to surround the court with students at the expense of the big money donors isn't going to fly.

 

[strumpfasaurus]

Have to disagree with your point about recruitng. We are recruiting better than ever it's just some of our guys didn't live up to expectations. Look at our 8 players that played this year,
Ennis 5*
Cooney 4*
Cj 4*
Rak 5*
Coleman 5*
G 4*
Baye 4*
Grant 4 *

And it's not fair to compare any freshman to Carmelo Anthony. He is probably the greatest freshman basketball player of all time and there is a reason why he is only one of two players to lead to his team to a national championship then bolt for the NBA. We will probably never get a freshman that talented again.

 

[stone567]

You might give a little bit of credit to Adrian Autry when it comes to recruiting. He hasn't been here long, but he is already made a tremendous mark in recruiting. And he has done a very good job with the forwards. He is an amazing Assistant Coach...as good as Hop. The recruiting has been built on the success started with Troy Weaver, then to Rob Murphy, and Adrian has carried on that tradition.

 

[CaptainJ]

I don't know if next year is an anomoly, but we do have McCollough coming in...and Duke has 5 players currently ranked higher than him coming in, last I checked. I'm thinking there is an argument the B+ might be generous if we're grading on a sliding scale. About that, it seems at times at least JB gets the lesser recruits to overperform whereas some of the some with more stars haven't quite lived up to expectations. I have wondered what JB would have done with years of Coach K's/UNC's talented recruits.

 

[longislandcuse]

I don't know if next year is an anomoly, but we do have McCollough coming in...and Duke has 5 players currently ranked higher than him coming in, last I checked. I'm thinking there is an argument the B+ might be generous if we're grading on a sliding scale. About that, it seems at times at least JB gets the lesser recruits to overperform whereas some of the some with more stars haven't quite lived up to expectations. I have wondered what JB would have done with years of Coach K's/UNC's talented recruits.

I do wonder if McCullough would be higher rated if he committed to Duke. It seems his knock isn't talent but more off the court issues and the fact he half-a$$es it at times which could mean he's bored and will pick up the slack in college or has a low motor, we'll soon find out.

Duke has a great class coming in but if all these 5 stars are like Quinn Cook, Andre Dawkins, Rasheed Sulaimon etc than i'm not too worried, good players but not better than what we bring in. They have a stud in Okafor but we've seen how 5* big men may or may not develop. We were the only team in the ACC close to Duke this year based off individual talent position for position (NBA talent) and that was done with 5- 4* and 3-5* which seems to be an accurate breakdown of what we recruit (system 4* with a couple 5 star guys).

 

[MartyMcFly]

I do wonder if McCullough would be higher rated if he committed to Duke. quote]

Don't think to hard... the answer is unequivocally and emphatically yes, every time!

 

[AZOrange]

Have to disagree with your point about recruitng. We are recruiting better than ever it's just some of our guys didn't live up to expectations. Look at our 8 players that played this year, Ennis 5* Cooney 4* Cj 4* Rak 5* Coleman 5* G 4* Baye 4* Grant 4 * And it's not fair to compare any freshman to Carmelo Anthony. He is probably the greatest freshman basketball player of all time and there is a reason why he is only one of two players to lead to his team to a national championship then bolt for the NBA. We will probably never get a freshman that talented again.

baye was a 4 star? Really? Wow if true

 

[Bornorange]

Facilities- The Carrier Dome and Melo Center are among the best in college basketball. While some around the game see the Carrier Dome as old and insufficient for basketball, I am certain that the Dome adds to the game day experience.
Rate A+

Coaching- JB is one of the great minds in the history of basketball and we are very lucky he is ours. He put this program on the map and into the national hoops scene. The guy has a court named after him for a reason. I also believe JB deserves his statue as well, when the time is right. Hopkins is a great assistant coach, along with Gerry.
Rate A+

Tradition/Prestige. Top 5 program in all time wins. 5 final fours. 1 championship. Speaks for itself.
Rate A+

Student Sections- I think this is one of those areas where SU can and should improve on. I realize the configuration of the Dome limits the student section, but bigger minds need to come together and get the students closer to the court on all sides. This is a college program after all.
Rate B+

Recruiting- If we truly want to be at the top of college basketball, this is where we are falling short compared to other elite programs. Every year Duke, UNC, Kentucky, Louisville, and Kansas are going after the same recruits. Every year. Syracuse offers a few of these recruits, but we are never in serious contention for most of these kids. We seem to settle for program guys, 3-4 stars. Some of these guys jump early to the NBA, but since Carmelo, when have we had a truly elite freshman come in and take control like he has? Ennis is great and probably the 2nd best talent since Melo, but how does Kansas, Duke, UNC, Kentucky , and Louisville have veteran experience - while reloading each year with perennial 4-5 star guys? As JB mentioned not too long ago, to be successful every year in college basketball, you need to have a healthy mix of freshman stars with veteran leadership. Unfortunately we settle for 3-4 star rated freshman every year, with rare exceptions. Guys like Greene, Flynn, McCullough, MCW, Ennis etc need to be arriving on the hill every year at Syracuse for them to consistently contend for Final Fours IMO. We shouldn't be like the mess that is Kentucky, but we need to step it up. I am all for the idea of having 4 year players along with some elite freshman. I find it unacceptable that a program like Syracuse can potentially lose guys like Grant and Ennis to the draft without reloading next year. All we have next year is question marks. Absolutely unacceptable for an elite program like Syracuse. And we are elite.
Rate B+

Feel free to chime in.

The Dome: For Basketball is only second to the Garden.

Student Section: Just as not been the same since they closed Manley and raised the Drinking age, not a coincidence.

Recruiting : We recruit to fit the program and I think we get some dam good players.

 

[HOFCeluck]

The Dome: For Basketball is only second to the Garden.

lol

 

[Trueblue25]

Facilities- The Carrier Dome and Melo Center are among the best in college basketball. While some around the game see the Carrier Dome as old and insufficient for basketball, I am certain that the Dome adds to the game day experience.
Rate A+

Coaching- JB is one of the great minds in the history of basketball and we are very lucky he is ours. He put this program on the map and into the national hoops scene. The guy has a court named after him for a reason. I also believe JB deserves his statue as well, when the time is right. Hopkins is a great assistant coach, along with Gerry.
Rate A+

Tradition/Prestige. Top 5 program in all time wins. 5 final fours. 1 championship. Speaks for itself.
Rate A+

Student Sections- I think this is one of those areas where SU can and should improve on. I realize the configuration of the Dome limits the student section, but bigger minds need to come together and get the students closer to the court on all sides. This is a college program after all.
Rate B+

Recruiting- If we truly want to be at the top of college basketball, this is where we are falling short compared to other elite programs. Every year Duke, UNC, Kentucky, Louisville, and Kansas are going after the same recruits. Every year. Syracuse offers a few of these recruits, but we are never in serious contention for most of these kids. We seem to settle for program guys, 3-4 stars. Some of these guys jump early to the NBA, but since Carmelo, when have we had a truly elite freshman come in and take control like he has? Ennis is great and probably the 2nd best talent since Melo, but how does Kansas, Duke, UNC, Kentucky , and Louisville have veteran experience - while reloading each year with perennial 4-5 star guys? As JB mentioned not too long ago, to be successful every year in college basketball, you need to have a healthy mix of freshman stars with veteran leadership. Unfortunately we settle for 3-4 star rated freshman every year, with rare exceptions. Guys like Greene, Flynn, McCullough, MCW, Ennis etc need to be arriving on the hill every year at Syracuse for them to consistently contend for Final Fours IMO. We shouldn't be like the mess that is Kentucky, but we need to step it up. I am all for the idea of having 4 year players along with some elite freshman. I find it unacceptable that a program like Syracuse can potentially lose guys like Grant and Ennis to the draft without reloading next year. All we have next year is question marks. Absolutely unacceptable for an elite program like Syracuse. And we are elite.
Rate B+

Feel free to chime in.

Facilities A: Melo Centers amazing, the Domes classic, charming but needs some touches.

Coaching: B+: I think Jim's an all time great, clearly as he's a hall of famed. However, I don't like what he did in conference and into march this year. I think his time is nearing.

Tradition/Prestige: A-/A we can improve is what I'm saying.

Student Section B-: You all show up for the big games, now realize that you go to SU and show up to every game you can.

Recruiting B: Good, but not incredible. Ennis was a big hit.

 

[LennX6]

I don't know if next year is an anomoly, but we do have McCollough coming in...and Duke has 5 players currently ranked higher than him coming in, last I checked. I'm thinking there is an argument the B+ might be generous if we're grading on a sliding scale. About that, it seems at times at least JB gets the lesser recruits to overperform whereas some of the some with more stars haven't quite lived up to expectations. I have wondered what JB would have done with years of Coach K's/UNC's talented recruits.

Don't go by the ratings. I am convinced they all go up a grade when the graders find out either Duke or Kentucky make an offer.

 

[Czar]

I enjoy people bitching about Duke and Kentucky bumps, as if us having a player doesn't bump up grades too.

 

[longislandcuse]

I enjoy people bitching about Duke and Kentucky bumps, as if us having a player doesn't bump up grades too.

We've had a couple 5 star flameouts but they are usually big men who have a high bust/late development propensity regardless of school. Paul Harris was a freak athlete who was solid but never lived up to the hype, however, looking at him you could see why he was rated so high. Some of these "5 star" players that UK and Duke get are just puzzling.