Rank your top 10 players of the JB Era.

[tbonezone]

But if we're going strictly by skill, then Dion Waiters has to be ahead of Moten, Stevie Thompson, Pearl, etc. right?

don't see it. moten consistently put up numbers inside and out. stevie t. was the best finisher and defender ever to wear orange. PEARL ? are you serious ? not even in the same paragraph let alone sentence as dwayne.
dion as a soph was BE 6th man of the year and 3rd team all conference. had he stuck around who knows.

 

[NineOneSeven]

Not that it matters, but I wonder what McNamara's numbers would have been had he played with Edelin his entire career?

Yeah but would we get quade green if edelin was with him?

 

[dasher]

Use whatever criteria you want.

1. Pearl Washington
2. Derrick Coleman
3. Sherman Douglas
4. Carmelo Anthony
5. Billy Owens
6. John Wallace
7. Roosevelt Bouie
8. Laurence Moten
9. Hakim Warrick
10. Ronny Seikaly

Honorable mention: Gerry McNamara, Jonny Flynn, Wes Johnson, CJ Fair, Etan Thomas, Jason Hart, Dion Waiters, Michael Carter-Williams, Stephen Thompson, Louis Orr, Preston Shumpert.

Marty Byrnes, first round draft choice. Outplayed Magic Johnson in 1977 in carrier Classic final? his feelings are hurt. Danny Schayes. First round draft choice. All Big East first team.

 

[OrangeDW]

I struggle with where to put Moten. He was consistently very good throughout his career, but never at any point in his 4 years at SU did he feel like a truly "great" player to me. There was that one regular season game against Villanova where he made a game-winning three towards the end, but other than that, I personally can't recall any other "iconic" moments for him.

I remember him lighting up Reggie Geary after Vitale was yapping about how Geary would shut him down.

I remember a lot of big hoops working the baseline in close games early in his career.

I remember 30 and 10 his junior year in the UConn win.

And he gets bonus points from me for his pointing and hands to the ear routine to the Georgetown crowd in the closing seconds of his last game there, an SU win. Nothing better than sticking it to them!

 

[Alsacs]

Marty Byrnes, first round draft choice. Outplayed Magic Johnson in 1977 in carrier Classic final? his feelings are hurt. Danny Schayes. First round draft choice. All Big East first team.

So give us your top 10.

 

[Dcuse]

I know the arguments against GMac, and most are reasonable. He was a bad defender, shot the ball too much, and was the best player on a very bad team at the end of his SU career. But, he finished fourth in points scored (2,099), first in minutes played (4781), second in steals (258), third in assists (648), first in three-point shots made (400) and attempted (1,131), and first in career free-throw percentage (89.1%). And in the most important game in SU history, he was lights-out.

He is probably one of the two most iconic and most beloved players of the Boeheim era along with the Pearl, and he has by far (no one else is even close) the most legendary moments in SU basketball history. GMac has to be on this list.

I'll say:

1. DC
2. Melo
3. Pearl
4. Sherm
5. Wallace
6. Owens
7. GMac
8. Thompson
9. Warrick
10. Moten

Gerry was second to J Hart in all time steals. Not sure the bad defender label can stick to that.

 

[Eric15]

Gerry was second to J Hart in all time steals. Not sure the bad defender label can stick to that.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge GMac supporter in this thread, but steals can be an extremely misleading statistic in terms of what kind of a defender a player is. GMac had endless difficulty keeping guards like Marcus Williams in front of him.

That said, if we're talking the 10 best college careers under Boeheim, not having him on the list is completely irrational in my opinion.

 

[Trueblue25]

I know theres little to argue for him being in the top 10 in the JB era, but I gotta say Michael Gbinije still to this day is very underrated on this board.

Truly watched him change his personality, while playing out of position, to become one of the great scorers and guards of our time.

 

[Grbac]

7. Kueth Duany (excellent complimentary piece -- big role on title team)

Thank you for including KD. I think he gets overlooked too often.

 

[dasher]

So give us your top 10.

Honestly, I have no desire. But I did think it was worth pointing out that we had guys that had great accomplishments that most of the board had never heard of.

 

[two3zone]

I know theres little to argue for him being in the top 10 in the JB era, but I gotta say Michael Gbinije still to this day is very underrated on this board.

Truly watched him change his personality, while playing out of position, to become one of the great scorers and guards of our time.

G was a great all around player who put up a couple of great seasons. Not sure he's top 10 but I think he's closer than most would put him.

 

[Trueblue25]

G was a great all around player who put up a couple of great seasons. Not sure he's top 10 but I think he's closer than most would put him.

Quietly held the team together when Cooney wasn't hitting anything, Malachi hadn't developed yet, Roberson disappeared and kaleb provided no relief. Not to mention we had no center. It was easy to shift focus on our bright and flashy talented freshman later in the year but we wouldn't have won 10 games without G.

Hate channeling my inner boeheim.

 

[Shark58]

Pearl
Coleman
Melo
Sherm
Billy O
Wallace
Moten
Dion
Wes
GMac

 

[Col. Bleep]

There are different reasons for picking different players: personal ability, impact on team, impact on program, etc.

Can argue this forever.
But I don't see how anyone who saw Leo Rautins play can leave him out of a top 10. Only Billy Owens is in his league when it comes to total all around skills. And only Pearl and Sherman Douglas may have been better passers.

1. Derrick Coleman - Great skills in everything. Great impact.
2. Pearl - What needs to be said?
3. Carmelo - One year but led us to the Promised Land
4. Sherman Douglas - Ideal point guard/playmaker.
5. Billy Owens - Could do everything at highest level.
6. Leo Rautins - See above.
7. John Wallace - Put the team on his back to the finals.
8. G-Mac - Gutsiest player...whatever had to be done to win.
9. Roosevelt Bouie - Another impact player for program.
10.Lawrence Moten - Light 'em up Lawrence. Ignoring the TO call.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

I struggle with where to put Moten. He was consistently very good throughout his career, but never at any point in his 4 years at SU did he feel like a truly "great" player to me. There was that one regular season game against Villanova where he made a game-winning three towards the end, but other than that, I personally can't recall any other "iconic" moments for him.

I was at that game. My dad scored front row Tix under the basket because students were on break. That three was good the second he squared up.

Wallace also had a huge dunk right in front of me that game. Only time I've ever been visible on a sportscenter top ten highlight.

Moten may have been one of the best pure basketball talents we've ever seen. He absolutely was a great player.

 

[Orangtiz]

As a 19 year old college kid I am limited in this, and I will only rank players that I remember playing:

1) Melo
2) Hakim Warrick
3) GMac
4) CJ Fair
5) Rick Jackson
6) Jonny Flynn
7) Wesley Johnson
8) MCW
9) Gbinije
10) Rak

 

[JLine]

Pearl
DC
Owens
Melo
Sherm
Wallace
Bouie
Moten
Warrick
Rony

The rest in no real order, but shooting out names.

Forth
Waiters
Wes J.
Louie
Stevie
Pace
Kueth
Andy
MCW
Triche
Devo
Flynn
Silent G
Rick the Ruler
Red
David J.
McNeil
Rak
Cooney
Kouwe





GMac

 

[OttoMets]

I am ranking these very simply in order of who I have gotten the most pleasure out of watching play for Syracuse...

1. Derrick Coleman
2. Gerry MacNamara
3. Hakim Warrick
4. Carmelo Anthony
5. Sherman Douglas
6. Pearl Washington
7. Rony Seikaly
8. Stephen Thompson
9. John Wallace
10. Roosevelt Bouie

Honorable mention: Lawrence Moten, Billy Owens

I dig that criterion. Can't argue with that!

 

[Day2]

Also, A "post Gmac" list would probably be a great thread as well? We have had some GREAT players since then, but they neither had the longevity of earlier players nor the success of our (and everyone else's) greatest 1 and done.

Challenge accepted:

1. Wes Johnson
2. Dion Waiters
3. Arinze Onuaku
4. Michael Carter-Williams
5. Fab Melo
6. Jonny Flynn
7. Eric Devendorf
8. Rick Jackson
9. Michael Gbinije
10. Andrew White III

 

[OttoMets]

But if we're going strictly by skill, then Dion Waiters has to be ahead of Moten, Stevie Thompson, Pearl, etc. right?

To parse it further, what do we mean by skill?

Dion's closer to having the total package than Moten, but damned if I could find someone more skilled in terms of ability to make the right play or find an angle to take a difficult shot that he'll make 50% of the time than Moten. It's difficult to articulate what he had (and it wasn't shooting ability, athleticism, or handle), but part of it was a very special and high-level basketball skill that we haven't seen in a Syracuse player for 20 years since.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Challenge accepted:

1. Wes Johnson
2. Dion Waiters
3. Arinze Onuaku
4. Michael Carter-Williams
5. Fab Melo
6. Jonny Flynn
7. Eric Devendorf
8. Rick Jackson
9. Michael Gbinije
10. Andrew White III

Dion 2nd? Arinze 3rd? No Rautins, Fair or Triche and White included. Yikes.

 

[Alsacs]

Challenge accepted:

1. Wes Johnson
2. Dion Waiters
3. Arinze Onuaku
4. Michael Carter-Williams
5. Fab Melo
6. Jonny Flynn
7. Eric Devendorf
8. Rick Jackson
9. Michael Gbinije
10. Andrew White III

CJ Fair? Scoop Jardine?

 

[OttoMets]

I struggle with where to put Moten. He was consistently very good throughout his career, but never at any point in his 4 years at SU did he feel like a truly "great" player to me. There was that one regular season game against Villanova where he made a game-winning three towards the end, but other than that, I personally can't recall any other "iconic" moments for him.

It's problematic that Moten's two iconic moments (well, other than a mouth-to-mouth kiss with Mike Hopkins) were a) a five-second call to lose a Big East tournament game and b) an even more unspeakable mistake to lose an even more important game.

There's a little luck in all of this, especially given how we regard tournament success. If that timeout doesn't get noticed, there's a good chance we beat Memphis and get a wide-open regional final shot against whatever crappy team upset Kansas (wow, that happens a lot with Kansas). That sort of run happening on a Moten-captained team...well, if he plays well, that mirrors everyone's rationalization for McNamara as Legend.

 

[Alsacs]

Post GMac for me.
1. Dion Waiters
2. CJ Fair
3. Wes Johnson
4. Michael Carter-Williams
5. Jonny Flynn
6. Michael Gbinije
7. Rick Jackson
8. Brandon Triche
9. Arinze Onuaku
10. Scoop Jardine

 

[Day2]

Dion 2nd? Arinze 3rd? No Rautins, Fair or Triche and White included. Yikes.

You heard me. Let's see your list.