Quincy Guerrier to test the NBA and enter the portal

[Day2]

How about more than one championship in 45 years?

Like I said, some people will never be satisfied.

 

[310Pigpen]

Like I said, some people will never be satisfied.

Exactly. I’m sure the long list of schools with 0 championships in 80 years must be even more miserable than lot we have here.

 

[two3zone]

I think that will be Jimmy this season.

That’s a very scary thought.

 

[orangepassion]

Maybe Q saw how much Buddy played and shot even when he was struggling mightily and figured Coach would give his other son his minutes.
Regardless, without Guerrier, we will now have Ivy League athleticism next year

 

[Bayside44]

Okay let’s play this game.
2016 team finished 9th in the ACC.
Needed a miracle comeback against Gonzaga in the S16 and an insane Malachi Richardson second half against Virginia in the E8.

Let’s talk about that FF run then.

Come on, weren't we down by a hundred to Eddie Sutton in the 2nd round in 2003? The win is the win.

 

[Alsacs]

Come on, weren't we down by a hundred to Eddie Sutton in the 2nd round in 2003? The win is the win.

My post was in response to somebody trying to take a shot at the 96 Final Four run by citing luck in the Georgia game.

 

[Bayside44]

My post was in response to somebody trying to take a shot at the 96 Final Four run by citing luck in the Georgia game.

Ah ok, just catching up.

 

[Orangezoo]

My god. There is an impressive determination and will on here to convert everyone into believing we will be mediocre if not worse because of the potential utilization of of JJ and the PG situation.

I have my frustrations but I'm at the point where I'm ready to give some of you the job starting today and see what you can do with the portal and the season. Let's see what you got. How do you handle it better? How do you get the team back to regular season rankings? How do you manage the current cultural environment?

The points are so far overplayed that screw talking. Go change things and show the world how much better you know than anyone with a clipboard in the Melo center. It would be a very entertaining exercise if anything.

A little post script note- I am not a fan of defend anything and everything from this program either and never have been.

 

[samspann1]

We have a lot of fans. Bound to be a lot of irrational ones.

History of success, large fanbase, only game in town...

The irrationality cuts both ways, though. There’s always a group who gets offended at any perceived critique of the program or coach, no matter how slight.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

My god. There is an impressive determination and will on here to convert everyone into believing we will be mediocre if not worse on here because of the potential utilization of of JJ and the PG situation.

I have my frustrations but I'm at the point where I'm ready to give some of you the job starting today and see what you can do with the portal and the season. Let's see what you got. How do you handle it better? How do you get the team back to regular season rankings? How do you manage the current cultural environment?

The points are so far overplayed that screw talking. Go change things and show the world how much better you know than anyone with a clipboard in the Melo center. It would be a very entertaining exercise if anything.

Next year's team is a hard one to project.

We definitely have talent. Buddy will pile up points. There's a lot of hype around Benny for a reason. Swider and Jimbo Jr. are solid roster adds, at worst. It feels like as it stands right now that the roster has the ingredients for JB's classic bench with 1 each of guard/forward/center seeing various minutes.

But there are some really big question marks at point guard and center, and that's a pretty big deal.

Symir hasn't lived up to his ranking out of highschool yet. We're hopeful the change of scenario does that, but he hasn't exactly set the world on fire so far.

Which can be unsettling, because fair or not to Girard, we just saw a team perform significantly better on a clean open and shut statistical case with someone else soaking up the pg minutes than Joey G. Can Girard be that engine, or do we think Symir can do it? Or do we just not have great point guard play? We didn't see a sophomore leap from Girard. Yeah, it was a weird year. But we didn't, and it does seem fair to wonder if he's the kind of player that makes big improvements.

Center is muddy. Sidibe had a decent year as a starter and had a great end to his junior season. Fact of the matter is, he did that for a team that wasn't very good. Edwards hasn't played as much, but I would argue the minutes he had last season were extremely impactful, and also were contributions he made to a better team. I think it's more likely that Edwards contributes the way we've seen than Sidibe, especially given the injury history Bourama deals with. Who knows what we'll actually see of the center rotation though.

 

[OrangeDW]

My god. There is an impressive determination and will on here to convert everyone into believing we will be mediocre if not worse because of the potential utilization of of JJ and the PG situation.

I have my frustrations but I'm at the point where I'm ready to give some of you the job starting today and see what you can do with the portal and the season. Let's see what you got. How do you handle it better? How do you get the team back to regular season rankings? How do you manage the current cultural environment?

The points are so far overplayed that screw talking. Go change things and show the world how much better you know than anyone with a clipboard in the Melo center. It would be a very entertaining exercise if anything.

A little post script note- I am not a fan of defend anything and everything from this program either and never have been.

I think if we simply started the better point guard and better utilized his skill set this past year, we’d be in much better shape for next year and the majority would probably have a “we’re going to get back to being typical Syracuse next year!” mindset.

 

[Alsacs]

My god. There is an impressive determination and will on here to convert everyone into believing we will be mediocre if not worse on here because of the potential utilization of of JJ and the PG situation.

I have my frustrations but I'm at the point where I'm ready to give some of you the job starting today and see what you can do with the portal and the season. Let's see what you got. How do you handle it better? How do you get the team back to regular season rankings? How do you manage the current cultural environment?

The points are so far overplayed that screw talking. Go change things and show the world how much better you know than anyone with a clipboard in the Melo center. It would be a very entertaining exercise if anything.

I am a realist. I am not taking any pleasure in my opinion.
I don’t be negative to be negative.
I don’t have a problem with people being optimistic. I support what I believe.

What are the expectations for the program?
I know this Jim Boeheim teams won’t suck.
That isn’t what I care about.
I don’t care we don’t have a losing season. If we had a few losing seasons like UNC or UConn and had another NC that would be better.

If the expectations are now just have winning seasons and be a bubble team or slightly better then my frustration will go away.

Our roster next year will be decent. I don’t see a top 25 team in January thru March next year.
We are flawed and the short rotations only work when you have really elite talent.
Our roster shouldn’t have a huge difference between spots 8-10 if we now have players we can’t add because we play short rotations that is a problem.
If we are taking a player because we can’t wait for QG again that is bull crap as their are a ton of players in the portal.

We are getting to the point where people want to make JB bigger than the program. If that is case then just say it. He is a great coach but he is breaking the fanbase down. Way too much drama.

The next coach isn’t going to be as good. We all know that.

That is my issue.
Just because the HC thinks we are going to good doesn’t mean we are automatically going to be good.
As I said he said the same thing in 2017 and we didn’t make the tournament that season.

 

[Orangezoo]

Next year's team is a hard one to project.

We definitely have talent. Buddy will pile up points. There's a lot of hype around Benny for a reason. Swider and Jimbo Jr. are solid roster adds, at worst. It feels like as it stands right now that the roster has the ingredients for JB's classic bench with 1 each of guard/forward/center seeing various minutes.

But there are some really big question marks at point guard and center, and that's a pretty big deal.

Symir hasn't lived up to his ranking out of highschool yet. We're hopeful the change of scenario does that, but he hasn't exactly set the world on fire so far.

Which can be unsettling, because fair or not to Girard, we just saw a team perform significantly better on a clean open and shut statistical case with someone else soaking up the pg minutes than Joey G. Can Girard be that engine, or do we think Symir can do it? Or do we just not have great point guard play? We didn't see a sophomore leap from Girard. Yeah, it was a weird year. But we didn't, and it does seem fair to wonder if he's the kind of player that makes big improvements.

Center is muddy. Sidibe had a decent year as a starter and had a great end to his junior season. Fact of the matter is, he did that for a team that wasn't very good. Edwards hasn't played as much, but I would argue the minutes he had last season were extremely impactful, and also were contributions he made to a better team. I think it's more likely that Edwards contributes the way we've seen than Sidibe, especially given the injury history Bourama deals with. Who knows what we'll actually see of the center rotation though.

For me it comes down to a few things to have a better team.

The first is the return to playing a center all year long for at least 35 mins a game. We have the pieces and not just a hope and a prayer. The defense is different with a center even if you aren't putting 2 Jerami Grants on either side of the backline. Jesse made the guards look better because opponents saw a red light when going inside.

The next is consistent shot making. We often talk about rebounding and teams making 3s and the top of the zone. Yet it was our inability to make even open shots that killed us last year. We weren't going to walk into Indy with only 3 losses but we had 5 games where we couldn't hit anything outside or inside. Things changed when Buddy's shooting started to come around. We walk into next year with 3 guys who should be able to make shots consistently ( not just every few games) in Buddy, Cole and Benny. Others will be likely streaky.

Rebounding and ball handling are the last puzzle. Rebounding is a lifelong zone issue. So it comes down to a bigger front court doing better here. Its worth at least 3-4 wins possibly more if we can improve.

Ball handling is an issue we always address with a forward as a pressure release. Someone must fill that role. Symir must help here too. That said our problem wasn't giving it away vs pressure defense it was getting too conservative which can't happen.

When I look at the team coming in there is talent and are areas we can improve. I am also a realist in my take on this. We are not a small ball program. When we play small ball we have to thread the needle. When we put a typical SU team out there size wise it provides a buffer that has been part of so many good regular seasons over the years.

 

[OrangeDW]

For me it comes down to a few things to have a better team.

The first is the return to playing a center all year long for at least 35 mins a game. We have the pieces and not just a hope and a prayer. The defense is different with a center even if you aren't putting 2 Jerami Grants on either side of the backline. Jesse made the guards look better because opponents saw a red light when going inside.

The next is consistent shot making. We often talk about rebounding and teams making 3s and the top of the zone. Yet it was our inability to make even open shots that killed us last year. We weren't going to walk into Indy with only 3 losses but we had 5 games where we couldn't hit anything outside or inside. Things changed when Buddy's shooting started to come around. We walk into next year with 3 guys who should be able to make shots consistently ( not just every few games) in Buddy, Cole and Benny. Others will be likely streaky.

Rebounding and ball handling are the last puzzle. Rebounding is a lifelong zone issue. So it comes down to a bigger front court doing better here. Its worth at least 3-4 wins possibly more if we can improve.

Ball handling is an issue we always address with a forward as a pressure release. Someone must fill that role. Symir must help here too. That said our problem wasn't giving it away vs pressure defense it was getting too conservative which can't happen.

When I look at the team coming in there is talent and are areas we can improve. I am also a realist in my take on this. We are not a small ball program. When we play small ball we have to thread the needle. When we put a typical SU team out there size wise it provides a buffer that has been part of so many good regular seasons over the years.

For me it’s ballhandling...and penetrating and defense out of that spot.

I agree, having an actual center and size will be a plus. Having a couple potentially elite shooters is a plus.

You put a big PG who can really get to the rack, pass, defend, and not get eaten up by pressure...and you’re looking at a balanced team on both ends of the court.(with JG in his more natural combo guard spark off the bench role) If that was our team, I’d be legit excited and thinking potentially wire to wire top 25.

As it stands, I see us having a couple major holes keeping us from that.

Unless Symir is actually really good. That would be huge.

 

[Cuse1055]

Next year's team is a hard one to project.

We definitely have talent. Buddy will pile up points. There's a lot of hype around Benny for a reason. Swider and Jimbo Jr. are solid roster adds, at worst. It feels like as it stands right now that the roster has the ingredients for JB's classic bench with 1 each of guard/forward/center seeing various minutes.

But there are some really big question marks at point guard and center, and that's a pretty big deal.

Symir hasn't lived up to his ranking out of highschool yet. We're hopeful the change of scenario does that, but he hasn't exactly set the world on fire so far.

Which can be unsettling, because fair or not to Girard, we just saw a team perform significantly better on a clean open and shut statistical case with someone else soaking up the pg minutes than Joey G. Can Girard be that engine, or do we think Symir can do it? Or do we just not have great point guard play? We didn't see a sophomore leap from Girard. Yeah, it was a weird year. But we didn't, and it does seem fair to wonder if he's the kind of player that makes big improvements.

Center is muddy. Sidibe had a decent year as a starter and had a great end to his junior season. Fact of the matter is, he did that for a team that wasn't very good. Edwards hasn't played as much, but I would argue the minutes he had last season were extremely impactful, and also were contributions he made to a better team. I think it's more likely that Edwards contributes the way we've seen than Sidibe, especially given the injury history Bourama deals with. Who knows what we'll actually see of the center rotation though.

And I believe the wildcard is Anselem. Because I can see him having a breakout year if he stays. He’s got all the athleticism and looks fairly skilled/coordinated. He’s our most athletic big guy since Rak.

 

[Orangezoo]

I am a realist. I am not taking any pleasure in my opinion.
I don’t be negative to be negative.
I don’t have a problem with people being optimistic. I support what I believe.

What are the expectations for the program?
I know this Jim Boeheim teams won’t suck.
That isn’t what I care about.
I don’t care we don’t have a losing season. If we had a few losing seasons like UNC or UConn and had another NC that would be better.

If the expectations are now just have winning seasons and be a bubble team or slightly better then my frustration will go away.

Our roster next year will be decent. I don’t see a top 25 team in January thru March next year.
We are flawed and the short rotations only work when you have really elite talent.
Our roster shouldn’t have a huge difference between spots 8-10 if we now have players we can’t add because we play short rotations that is a problem.
If we are taking a player because we can’t wait for QG again that is bull crap as their are a ton of players in the portal.

We are getting to the point where people want to make JB bigger than the program. If that is case then just say it. He is a great coach but he is breaking the fanbase down. Way too much drama.

The next coach isn’t going to be as good. We all know that.

That is my issue.
Just because the HC thinks we are going to good doesn’t mean we are automatically going to be good.
As I said he said the same thing in 2017 and we didn’t make the tournament that season.

I won't replicate my last response but I think there is a heavy dose of cynicism embedded in your realist take. I'm not blind or selective in what I look at for the team I see. That said I haven't seen a team with both size and shooting like I expect we will have this year in a while. I don't see this group to be akin to 16-17. That team had no Alpha- White was a great shooter but like everyone else on that team it was a collection of guys who could shoot and not defend.

I respect fully both sides of opinion on this program. I just think the takes are overly cynical on what we go into next season with and a heavy dose of inflation respective of the players we lost. I hate seeing those guys leave. They also left a team that was an NIT team until the last 4 games of the year.

There are things that in reality must change for this team to be better than last year's but there is at least some reason to have optimism too given we will have a roster that looks more like SU than the past 3.

Also while it may seem so I'm not dumping on you here- just what I see when reading a lot of these takes. I mean for all I know we could be staring at .500 season and I would be foolish not to accept that happening too.

 

[Sherman20]

It’s unlikely that Q to the portal comes as a surprise to the staff. If they were confident about his return they wouldn’t have added both Cole and Jimmy Jr on the roster.

Q’s problem wasn’t minutes in my opinion. It was that, like many players with pro aspirations, he wanted to showcase himself so he could get to the NBA. At 6’6” he needed to demonstrate he had wing skills, and at SU he has been asked to be the PF. My guess is that if he is playing in college next year it will be on a team that has a good PF and no SF.

That doesn’t make sense. Our forwards are interchangeable on offense. Cole and Jimmy would be the PFs anyways and Q would be the SF. His shooting skills are improving. Now he just needs to work on his driving and dribbling. But his post game still needs to be part of his arsenal.

 

[Cusefan0307]

I am a realist. I am not taking any pleasure in my opinion.
I don’t be negative to be negative.
I don’t have a problem with people being optimistic. I support what I believe.

What are the expectations for the program?
I know this Jim Boeheim teams won’t suck.
That isn’t what I care about.
I don’t care we don’t have a losing season. If we had a few losing seasons like UNC or UConn and had another NC that would be better.

If the expectations are now just have winning seasons and be a bubble team or slightly better then my frustration will go away.

Our roster next year will be decent. I don’t see a top 25 team in January thru March next year.
We are flawed and the short rotations only work when you have really elite talent.
Our roster shouldn’t have a huge difference between spots 8-10 if we now have players we can’t add because we play short rotations that is a problem.
If we are taking a player because we can’t wait for QG again that is bull crap as their are a ton of players in the portal.

We are getting to the point where people want to make JB bigger than the program. If that is case then just say it. He is a great coach but he is breaking the fanbase down. Way too much drama.

The next coach isn’t going to be as good. We all know that.

That is my issue.
Just because the HC thinks we are going to good doesn’t mean we are automatically going to be good.
As I said he said the same thing in 2017 and we didn’t make the tournament that season.

Ehh tbh I don’t think a lot of people are making JB bigger than the program. Sure there’s a small few, but the group that criticizes everything is louder than it’s ever been. There’s always going to be two sides there and now those sides are just shouting at each other everywhere so it’s hard to get any other viewpoint in

To be fair I haven’t completely understood the roster construction, but dasher made the right point when he said we had to get a forward so we didn’t get stuck with our pants down if Quincy left.

Also some of the opinions on Quincy and Jimmy are just flat out wrong and I’m seeing a lot of fans playing racial stereotypes, but continue on...

 

[Alsacs]

I won't replicate my last response but I think there is a heavy dose of cynicism embedded in your realist take. I'm not blind or selective in what I look at for the team I see. That said I haven't seen a team with both size and shooting like I expect we will have this year in a while. I don't see this group to be akin to 16-17. That team had no Alpha- White was a great shooter but like everyone else on that team it was a collection of guys who could shoot and not defend.

I respect fully both sides of opinion on this program. I just think the takes are overly cynical on what we go into next season with and a heavy dose of inflation respective of the players we lost. I hate seeing those guys leave. They also left a team that was an NIT team until the last 4 games of the year.

There are things that in reality must change for this team to be better than last year's but there is at least some reason to have optimism too given we will have a roster that looks more like SU than the past 3.

I don’t think Swider and Jimmy Jr. are much better than Guerrier and Griffin.

That is part of my opinion.
I think Edwards will make the defense better.

I think the top of the zone isn’t good defensively JB said the forwards were the problem defensively. We are bringing in 2 new forwards they are going to be learning the system on the fly.

I wonder if the HC will blast the forwards defense anymore. Because you know why.

I think the HC constant spin has made more cynical in what he says.
I just want less drama and to actually progress and adapt.

I don’t see next year being much different from last season.
Our PG play I don’t see it being much better. Until I see it I won’t believe it.

I don’t think Symir is a bad player but I don’t see him being better than Kadary was last year.

 

[Orangezoo]

For me it’s ballhandling...and penetrating and defense out of that spot.

I agree, having an actual center and size will be a plus. Having a couple potentially elite shooters is a plus.

You put a big PG who can really get to the rack, pass, defend, and not get eaten up by pressure...and you’re looking at a balanced team on both ends of the court.(with JG in his more natural combo guard spark off the bench role) If that was our team, I’d be legit excited and thinking potentially wire to wire top 25.

As it stands, I see us having a couple major holes keeping us from that.

Unless Symir is actually really good. That would be huge.

Symir is quick and a pass first PG who has the tools to beat his man. We don't need him to be great just need him to be that guy and an active defender along with for Joe to be a little better version of the guy he was as a freshman. If we can get that then it adds things we need and both are within realistic expectations. We aren't going to get Sherm and Gerry out there but we don't need to.

 

[Alsacs]

Ehh tbh I don’t think a lot of people are making JB bigger than the program. Sure there’s a small few, but the group that criticizes everything is louder than it’s ever been. There’s always going to be two sides there and now those sides are just shouting at each other everywhere so it’s hard to get any other viewpoint in

To be fair I haven’t completely understood the roster construction, but dasher made the right point when he said we had to get a forward so we didn’t get stuck with our pants down if Quincy left.

Also some of the opinions on Quincy and Jimmy are just flat out wrong and I’m seeing a lot of fans playing racial stereotypes, but continue on...

With the transfer portal loaded with talent I don’t think we had to take Jimmy so we weren’t caught with our pants down.

As I think we could find a forward if QG decided to go pro.

That is why losing Woody hurt even and for that JB should take the blame for.
If we can’t get caught with our pants down it’s because Woody left and why did he leave?
Our coach only recruited one player in the class of 2021 that was his call.

 

[Orangezoo]

I don’t think Swider and Jimmy Jr. are much better than Guerrier and Griffin.

That is part of my opinion.
I think Edwards will make the defense better.

I think the top of the zone isn’t good defensively JB said the forwards were the problem defensively. We are bringing in 2 new forwards they are going to be learning the system on the fly.

I wonder if the HC will blast the forwards defense anymore. Because you know why.

I think the HC constant spin has made more cynical in what he says.
I just want less drama and to actually progress and adapt.

I don’t see next year being much different from last season.
Our PG play I don’t see it being much better. Until I see it I won’t believe it.

I don’t think Symir is a bad player but I don’t see him being better than Kadary was last year.

Defensively last year the entire zone was bad. We couldn't defend the interior well and guards had to crash. The wings were lazy many games on D. Joe and Buddy got lazy many games on D. It was a team effort to suck on D. Braswell rotating like a mad man, playing Jesse and Kadary were bright spots as the season progressed. The center position eliminated the need to over rotate and Joe and Buddy got out on shooters better late in the year. That has to continue no matter what.

Symir won't be better than Kadary but if he can be as good using his own tools as being faster it would go a long way.

One thing that is fair to note too is that had a guy like AG not gone awol and Bourama not been hurt you could have projected a much better year. We didn't get to see the true ceiling of what last year could be.

 

[Alsacs]

Defensively last year the entire zone was bad. We couldn't defend the interior well and guards had to crash. The wings were lazy many games on D. Joe and Buddy got lazy many games on D. It was a team effort to suck on D. Braswell rotating like a mad man, playing Jesse and Kadary were bright spots as the season progressed. The center position eliminated the need to over rotate and Joe and Buddy got out on shooters better late in the year. That has to continue no matter what.

Symir won't be better than Kadary but if he can be as good using his own tools as being faster it would go a long way.

One thing that is fair to note too is that had a guy like AG not gone awol and Bourama not been hurt you could have projected a much better year. We didn't get to see the true ceiling of what last year could be.

I see a 19-12 team next season.

Buddy will be a contender for ACC POY.
I just hope Benny isn’t the 3rd forward if he is I can tell you right now I will be very frustrated.

I just refuse until I see it to believe it will be better. The roster has some pieces but the flaws are still there.
Who will break down a defense like Houston or team that plays hard.

We take advantage of the fact of a lot of teams we play don’t play to our weaknesses.
It’s why coaching in college hoops is inferior to the NBA.
If we faced good coaching they would exploit our flaws every game against even talent.

 

[Cusefan0307]

I’m not sure how anyone can make predictions about the ACC next year. I think you can throw teams in a hat to predict the order of finish. Literally everyone is going to have a completely different roster.

Fans are upset about Woody leaving, but if Benny is as good as advertised I‘m not sure how this forward group would be worse than last year. We need to remember when we played our best this season Griffin did nothing and Quincy‘s play started to tail off. We never had everyone firing on all cylinders this year. The team chemistry seemed off.

 

[Cusefan0307]

With the transfer portal loaded with talent I don’t think we had to take Jimmy so we weren’t caught with our pants down.

As I think we could find a forward if QG decided to go pro.

That is why losing Woody hurt even and for that JB should take the blame for.
If we can’t get caught with our pants down it’s because Woody left and why did he leave?
Our coach only recruited one player in the class of 2021 that was his call.

We probably should have 10 guys. Anything more than that and people are going to transfer and schools are prioritizing the portal over HS kids right now.

And the board is assuming Jimmy stinks and isn’t athletic. There‘s no debate there. Fans aren’t even giving the kid a chance.