Remember when I said the coaching staff

[DoctorBombay]

What if your Maginot Line of a zone isn't working? There's no alternative, no Plan B? If you're being Blitzkrieged, do you just do a Frenchy?!

.

 

[cuseattle]

If that's the case he should be completely honest and finish the sentence with "my staff and I obviously aren't very good at recruiting and/or developing players since we are the ones who brought him here." Fair is fair.

Not fair on your part. The program takes care of the kids who buy in imo.

 

[UnderHisOwnPower]

What if your Maginot Line of a zone isn't working? There's no alternative, no Plan B? If you're being Blitzkrieged, do you just do a Frenchy?!

Recent Craigslist posting: For sale: French army rifle. Never fired, only dropped once.

 

[Janner]

 

[MikeSU02]

Well considering how good this year's freshman class is, that wouldn't make much sense.

They are so good, he's playing the two freshman getting big minutes out of position and has FH teed up to be another bench player next year.

But other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?

 

[CuseCPT]

Not fair on your part. The program takes care of the kids who buy in imo.

We seem to recruit a lot of kids who won't buy in then.

 

[Nicknack]

Some here act like they've never seen this before from Boeheim. Obviously he doesn't mean what he said "literally". When you tell a person something over and over and they don't respond, time for a different approach (i.e. the presser the other night). He's just trying somehow to push Roberson's "on" button.

If Boeheim is anything, he is a loyal son of a gun. He doesn't trash guys just for the sake of it. It's about trying to get the very best out of them. I certainly understand how some don't care for his approach at times, as I question it occasionally too. However, I tend to give him the benefit of the doubt being that he knows his players (and young men) much better than any of us and knows how to coach better than most who have ever been in the game.

 

[Dave85]

Some here act like they've never seen this before from Boeheim. Obviously he doesn't mean what he said "literally". When you tell a person something over and over and they don't respond, time for a different approach (i.e. the presser the other night). He's just trying somehow to push Roberson's "on" button.

If Boeheim is anything, he is a loyal son of a gun. He doesn't trash guys just for the sake of it. It's about trying to get the very best out of them. I certainly understand how some don't care for his approach at times, as I question it occasionally too. However, I tend to give him the benefit of the doubt being that he knows his players (and young men) much better than any of us and knows how to coach better than most who have ever been in the game.

I agree. He's very good and saying something during the press conference that will ultimately motivate his players.

 

[orangenirvana]

They are so good, he's playing the two freshman getting big minutes out of position and has FH teed up to be another bench player next year.

But other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?

You're right. Boeheim and staff can't recruit for .

Here's what the current roster would resemble without early defections / transfers or penalties:

1 Tyler Ennis, Jr.
2 Michael Gbinije, RSr.
3 Jerami Grant, Sr.
4 Chris McCullough, So.
5 Moustapha Diagne, Fr.

PG Frank Howard, Fr. (offers from Kansas, UConn, Ohio State, Florida, Indiana, Virginia, etc.)
PG Kaleb Joseph, So.
SG Trevor Cooney, RSr.
SG Ron Patterson, Jr.
G/ BJ Johnson, Jr.
SF Malachi Richardson, Fr.
Tyler Lydon, Fr.
PF Tyler Roberson, Jr. (offers from Kansas, Villanova, etc.)
C Dajuan Coleman, RJr. (5 star, offer from Kentucky)
C Chinonso Obokoh, Jr.

 

[OttoMets]

You're right. Boeheim and staff can't recruit for . . . . .

Here's what the current roster would resemble without early defections / transfers or penalties:

1 Tyler Ennis, Jr.
2 Michael Gbinije, RSr.
3 Jerami Grant, Sr.
4 Chris McCullough, So.
5 Moustapha Diagne, Fr.

PG Frank Howard, Fr. (offers from Kansas, UConn, Ohio State, Florida, Indiana, Virginia, etc.)
PG Kaleb Joseph, So.
SG Trevor Cooney, RSr.
SG Ron Patterson, Jr.
G/ BJ Johnson, Jr.
SF Malachi Richardson, Fr.
Tyler Lydon, Fr.
PF Tyler Roberson, Jr. (offers from Kansas, Villanova, etc.)
C Dajuan Coleman, RJr. (5 star, offer from Kentucky)
C Chinonso Obokoh, Jr.

Eh, they've laid an egg with recruiting for the center position. There was no way Diagne was going to play here; saying we successfully recruited him isn't accurate. McCullough, similarly, was recruited as a certain one-and-done.

In a best-case scenario, if we're being honest, Boeheim was anticipating:
1 Ennis (I'll leave it to the draft gurus to judge how realistic this might be; I was on the record saying he was a four-year player, but that's neither the popular take nor what happened in real life)
2 Cooney
3 Gbinije
4 Grant (again, not sure they were relying on him to stay for four)
5 Coleman (this looked shaky from the start)

As recruited, this team was going to have some weak spots. For whatever reason, not the staff's biggest recruiting success.

 

[Nicknack]

You're right. Boeheim and staff can't recruit for . . . . .

Here's what the current roster would resemble without early defections / transfers or penalties:

1 Tyler Ennis, Jr.
2 Michael Gbinije, RSr.
3 Jerami Grant, Sr.
4 Chris McCullough, So.
5 Moustapha Diagne, Fr.

PG Frank Howard, Fr. (offers from Kansas, UConn, Ohio State, Florida, Indiana, Virginia, etc.)
PG Kaleb Joseph, So.
SG Trevor Cooney, RSr.
SG Ron Patterson, Jr.
G/ BJ Johnson, Jr.
SF Malachi Richardson, Fr.
Tyler Lydon, Fr.
PF Tyler Roberson, Jr. (offers from Kansas, Villanova, etc.)
C Dajuan Coleman, RJr. (5 star, offer from Kentucky)
C Chinonso Obokoh, Jr.

That's it?

 

[Ward]

You're right. Boeheim and staff can't recruit for . . . . .

Here's what the current roster would resemble without early defections / transfers or penalties:

1 Tyler Ennis, Jr.
2 Michael Gbinije, RSr.
3 Jerami Grant, Sr.
4 Chris McCullough, So.
5 Moustapha Diagne, Fr.

PG Frank Howard, Fr. (offers from Kansas, UConn, Ohio State, Florida, Indiana, Virginia, etc.)
PG Kaleb Joseph, So.
SG Trevor Cooney, RSr.
SG Ron Patterson, Jr.
G/ BJ Johnson, Jr.
SF Malachi Richardson, Fr.
Tyler Lydon, Fr.
PF Tyler Roberson, Jr. (offers from Kansas, Villanova, etc.)
C Dajuan Coleman, RJr. (5 star, offer from Kentucky)
C Chinonso Obokoh, Jr.

You can't leave out these factors and still consider it a fair evaluation of the staff's work recruiting (especially when who knows where we would be without Gbinije transferring in). Every school that we try to view as our peer group has had early defections and/or transfers, it is a part of the deal when you want to recruit top level players. We as a fan base view ourselves and want to be treated/viewed as a program in that top 6-8 tier but in order to compete at that level you have to recruit at a top level year in and year out. We simply haven't done that the last few years and it caught up to us the last two seasons.

Reality is we missed on some of our evaluations when making decisions on who to "take" and didn't have the player development/depth to absorb some of the early defections. This falls on the staff as recruiting, evaluating, and developing talent is a huge part of their job. Historically they have been pretty good at this but the last few years they haven't been. The reasons behind it could be discussed and debated for hours but the end results can't.

 

[FrancoPizza]

Not fair on your part. The program takes care of the kids who buy in imo.

There might be more to the story with TRob, but I think it's ridiculous to suggest that players randomly buy in or decide to put forth 110% one game (e.g. Duke) and then take a night off (e.g. Pitt). It's a cop-out line which can't be proven in any way shape or form, and it deflects attention from bigger issues. Crazy idea, but just maybe the system we're running is not putting our players in position to succeed in certain match-ups? But nah, it's just easier to blame the players for deciding to tune out - both the fans and coaches alike.

 

[Jasoncuse]

The problem with our recruiting has been the complete swings and misses (or underwhelming impact) of kids that were expected to be 3-4 year players:

Johnson
Patterson
Roberson to an extent
Coleman to an extent
Chino
Joseph

Outside of Roberson, Coleman and a few game stretch for Johnson last year, none of those kids have contributed much to an important (non-cupcake) win. And Roberson/Coleman haven't been more than contributing players, both with expectations of being more entrenched on this team. And Cooney has never developed any sort of consistency.

Sure, it was probably expected that Ennis would've been more than a one-and-done, but McCullough was never any sort of long term solution. I don't remember Jerami's expectations coming in, but I'm guessing most thought he was a 2-3yr player if he showed improvement, based on his length and athleticism. But Ennis/Grant have been gone for 2 years now, enough with the excuses about them turning pro.

Thankfully, Lydon and Malachi were ready to contribute immediately, because this program would've been in deep crap this year. Hopefully, they'll both be back at least one more year, and Battle/Moyer/Chukwu are capable to play from the start. The program needs to build some momentum again.

 

[orangenirvana]

There was no way Diagne was going to play here; saying we successfully recruited him isn't accurate.

Really? So the time between when Syracuse offered to the time Diagne committed/signed with Syracuse, the coaches (along with every other program that offered him a scholarship) were operating as if he was never going to play here?

I find that extremely difficult to believe.

 

[orangenirvana]

There might be more to the story with TyRobe...

Fixed...

 

[MikeSU02]

You're right. Boeheim and staff can't recruit for . . . . .

Here's what the current roster would resemble without early defections / transfers or penalties:

1 Tyler Ennis, Jr.
2 Michael Gbinije, RSr.
3 Jerami Grant, Sr.
4 Chris McCullough, So.
5 Moustapha Diagne, Fr.

PG Frank Howard, Fr. (offers from Kansas, UConn, Ohio State, Florida, Indiana, Virginia, etc.)
PG Kaleb Joseph, So.
SG Trevor Cooney, RSr.
SG Ron Patterson, Jr.
G/ BJ Johnson, Jr.
SF Malachi Richardson, Fr.
Tyler Lydon, Fr.
PF Tyler Roberson, Jr. (offers from Kansas, Villanova, etc.)
C Dajuan Coleman, RJr. (5 star, offer from Kentucky)
C Chinonso Obokoh, Jr.

First, early defections etc happen to every program. That's life. If it weren't, Kentucky would be racking up it's 5th consecutive national title or so.

Second, I never said they can't recruit. I have two issues with recruiting: 1) We aren't going for the very top tier guys anymore. So we get guys that are good enough to leave early (and they are good enough to leave early, no matter what anyone here says), but they aren't elite enough that while in college they can really elevate us to being a top 10 team. 2) We are mismanaging the guys we do bring in. Mal plays out of position. Lydon plays out of position. FH barely gets any run even though he is the only PG we have that can play minutes. Part of this is forced because of the roster, but we created this scenario.

Our offense is average... at best. Our defense, while usually good, is an anchor attached to us when we recruit.

I have no false visions of Syracuse being anything other than a stepping stone on the career path for these guys. That is fine with me. The issue is that we can't piece together a team that has parts that fit and elite talent.

That's fine. It's a hard job to do. But if we want to be considered to have at least an outside shot at title runs year in and year out, we need to be better at this.

 

[Jasoncuse]

Our offense is average... at best. Our defense, while usually good, is an anchor attached to us when we recruit.

That's a good point. Not every kid wants to go to college and play zone exclusively. And other coaches will pit that against us if they see an opening. But on top of that, recruiting for the zone limits us to certain types of players. We aren't going to be going after the Tyler Ulis types (undersized) of PG's often, if at all. We see the staff go after long, skinny athletes that they feel are good at covering area in the zone, but probably aren't necessarily the best rebounders or offensive players. Tyler Lydon has been a rare addition this year, a kid with a semblance of an offensive game despite a long, skinny frame. Malachi, too.

I'm hoping that those two are more the type that we'll recruit more. OFFENSIVELY SKILLED players that can score.

 

[longislandcuse]

First, early defections etc happen to every program. That's life. If it weren't, Kentucky would be racking up it's 5th consecutive national title or so.

Second, I never said they can't recruit. I have two issues with recruiting: 1) We aren't going for the very top tier guys anymore. So we get guys that are good enough to leave early (and they are good enough to leave early, no matter what anyone here says), but they aren't elite enough that while in college they can really elevate us to being a top 10 team. 2) We are mismanaging the guys we do bring in. Mal plays out of position. Lydon plays out of position. FH barely gets any run even though he is the only PG we have that can play minutes. Part of this is forced because of the roster, but we created this scenario.

Our offense is average... at best. Our defense, while usually good, is an anchor attached to us when we recruit.

I have no false visions of Syracuse being anything other than a stepping stone on the career path for these guys. That is fine with me. The issue is that we can't piece together a team that has parts that fit and elite talent.

That's fine. It's a hard job to do. But if we want to be considered to have at least an outside shot at title runs year in and year out, we need to be better at this.

The bolded part is dead on.

We have three big time talents on this time. All three of them are playing out of position.

 

[Jake]

How does it help the APR if either one of them leave?

So Chukwu wouldn't have come here without Chin? Come on.

Not just you but so many others around hear one little thing about a story and just run with it like its the whole story.

Chino is on pace to graduate this year...and he and Chukwu have a kinship based on where they grew up. Don't undersell his impact on landing Chukwu.

 

[DoctorBombay]

Some here act like they've never seen this before from Boeheim. Obviously he doesn't mean what he said "literally". When you tell a person something over and over and they don't respond, time for a different approach (i.e. the presser the other night). He's just trying somehow to push Roberson's "on" button.

If Boeheim is anything, he is a loyal son of a gun. He doesn't trash guys just for the sake of it. It's about trying to get the very best out of them. I certainly understand how some don't care for his approach at times, as I question it occasionally too. However, I tend to give him the benefit of the doubt being that he knows his players (and young men) much better than any of us and knows how to coach better than most who have ever been in the game.

Agreed.
I'm way past the point of hoping JB changes his outlook on certain things, that's just beating a dead horse. But I reserve the right to call him out as any fan should do, and it certainly doesn't stop me from being a big fan.
My perpetual pet-peeves (try saying that 5x fast), are the short-bench and the maniacal insistence on playing the 2-3 zone, come hell or highwater. That defense allows teams to attack us, which any decent tournament-bound team can do in Feb-March. They know what to expect going in, and if they can keep pace while adjusting to it in-game, things often get interesting for us. Hence the perennial swoons and often premature exits over 30+ years of coaching.
We've all seen this movie before.:noidea:

 

[Jake]

had lost confidence in Joseph? Well, and this is once again this is not my opinion , but don't be surprised if Roberson isn't back next year? Are you saying transfer Dash? Nope. Believe it or not, and please don't hurt yourself rolling over in laughter, Roberson could go pro early. This has nothing to do with today. He has people close to him that want him to declare for the draft. I kid you not. These same people thought he would be a one and done. Have they ever watched a NBA game?

I think JBs post game comments served several purposes related to what you've posted.

It's amazing what some alleged advisors will tell kids.

 

[two3zone]

Chino is on pace to graduate this year...and he and Chukwu have a kinship based on where they grew up. Don't undersell his impact on landing Chukwu.

Not underselling but even without Chino I don't see why Chukwu wouldn't come here. Perfect system for him, coming from a place he wasn't playing much, and we recruited him before he went to Providence and he liked it here.

While it may be look like I'm under selling it, I think people are overselling it.

 

[pulaski74]

had lost confidence in Joseph? Well, and this is once again this is not my opinion , but don't be surprised if Roberson isn't back next year? Are you saying transfer Dash? Nope. Believe it or not, and please don't hurt yourself rolling over in laughter, Roberson could go pro early. This has nothing to do with today. He has people close to him that want him to declare for the draft. I kid you not. These same people thought he would be a one and done. Have they ever watched a NBA game?

Holy s,,t, mals one and done, tr is going pro, dc is not coming back, guess lydons next, where is all this crap coming from. The guys who have been one and done or two and done were good players, these guys are adaquate at best.

 

[Eric15]

First, early defections etc happen to every program. That's life. If it weren't, Kentucky would be racking up it's 5th consecutive national title or so.

A team comprised of UK players from the past 6 years could easily win an NBA title.