Class of 2018 SF/PF Darius Bazley (OH)

[SUFan44]

You saw this, right? He shot 27% from three and hardly tore it up at East Carolina.

Why is Syracuse basketball interested in East Carolina transfer Elijah Hughes?

I'm hopeful that every kid contributes, but too many of them haven't been able to these past few seasons.

Frank is not a shooter. Battle is a very good guard, but not a "pure" outside shooter; he's more of a guy who is at his best attacking the rim.

Washington may turn out to be a shooter, we just don't know. Brissett has a decent chance, as does Marek. Both of those guys could turn into shooters. IMO, compared to last year, certainly, and compared to our teams this decade, this team has less shooting and could use some more.

And we do not currently have an "answer" at PG. We have questions.

I don't think your first line is very fair. There have been plenty of really good players that struggled as freshmen, especially shooters.

Andy Rautins shot 32.6% from 3 his freshman year. Preston Shumpert shot 29.0% from 3 his freshman year. Demetris Nichols shot 23% and 25% his first two years. All three of those guys had years that they shot 40%+ from deep. And are arguably 3 of the best shooters in program history.

Also, the redshirt year is likely going to help Hughes a lot. Most of the players that redshirt at SU and anywhere really benefit from getting stronger and going up against better players in practice. Hughes will likely be matched up against Tyus Battle, arguably our best player, in practice.

Not sure how good Hughes will be, but he has a few things going for him. 1) he has the athletic ability to compete at the ACC level. 2) he has the size to compete at the position we need him to (6-6). 3) we won't need him to be a star with Bazley/Brissett as our forwards. Looking back at our national championship season, you had one all-world player (Carmelo), one NBA guy (Warrick) and then a bunch of good college basketball players who had little to no chance of ever making the NBA.

The game has changed, of course, but I think Hughes will be a good college player. Not sure about his NBA prospects - he might have it - but at minimum he'll help us at a position we need help.

 

[jordoo]

I don't think your first line is very fair. There have been plenty of really good players that struggled as freshmen, especially shooters.

I would say that IthicaMatt's takes lately have not been fair or objective.

 

[kcsu]

I don't think your first line is very fair. There have been plenty of really good players that struggled as freshmen, especially shooters.

Andy Rautins shot 32.6% from 3 his freshman year. Preston Shumpert shot 29.0% from 3 his freshman year. Demetris Nichols shot 23% and 25% his first two years. All three of those guys had years that they shot 40%+ from deep. And are arguably 3 of the best shooters in program history.

Also, the redshirt year is likely going to help Hughes a lot. Most of the players that redshirt at SU and anywhere really benefit from getting stronger and going up against better players in practice. Hughes will likely be matched up against Tyus Battle, arguably our best player, in practice.

Not sure how good Hughes will be, but he has a few things going for him. 1) he has the athletic ability to compete at the ACC level. 2) he has the size to compete at the position we need him to (6-6). 3) we won't need him to be a star with Bazley/Brissett as our forwards. Looking back at our national championship season, you had one all-world player (Carmelo), one NBA guy (Warrick) and then a bunch of good college basketball players who had little to no chance of ever making the NBA.

The game has changed, of course, but I think Hughes will be a good college player. Not sure about his NBA prospects - he might have it - but at minimum he'll help us at a position we need help.

He will be a clone of Battle

 

[pearl31]

He will be a clone of Battle

well that's the plan anyway, since Battle will be gone

 

[NineOneSeven]

What's the ranking of this guy?

 

[jordoo]

What's the ranking of this guy?

I think he's around 30. They will update rankings again, I believe its after the summer.

 

[EastCoast2]

I think he's around 30. They will update rankings again, I believe its after the summer.

He's a Syracuse commit. He'll drop from 32 to 39 by August, then slowly drop to the 55-65 range by next spring. If he committed to Duke, he'd be #12 right now.3

I'm only half-joking here.

 

[jordoo]

I think he's around 30. They will update rankings again, I believe its after the summer.

True Story:
Fast rising junior forward ranked around 30 while dominating AAU is expected to jump in the rankings. Then he commits to Syracuse. ESPN decides he must not be as good as they thought. His rating sinks to about 45 by the time he hits campus. He has a great freshman season and gets drafted before of 90% of the guys ESPN had rated ahead of him.

 

[Madbiker]

What's the ranking of this guy?

#32 on ESPN.com
#28 on 24/7
#43 composite rankings

 

[tee1222]

True Story:
Fast rising junior forward ranked around 30 while dominating AAU is expected to jump in the rankings. Then he commits to Syracuse. ESPN decides he must not be as good as they thought. His rating sinks to about 45 by the time he hits campus. He has a great freshman season and gets drafted before of 90% of the guys ESPN had rated ahead of him.

Bingo.
Internet archive will prove it in a few months.

 

[PhatOrange]

Bazley's game, to me, looks like he's more of a 4 than a 3. We need to have one of our forwards be able to make 3 point shots somewhat consistently, or else our offense is in a world of trouble. That's how it's always been. We need one of our forwards to be an outside threat to open up the floor for the drivers.

Brissett may turn out to be that guy. I haven't seen enough of him, but if you're the player of the year in Canada, you have to be pretty good. Certainly a Top 50 caliber kid. The two of them with Marek as the 3rd forward could be very good in a couple years, if we can hang on to them all until they're actually good. LOL

You're right, we really need Carey, and I think we need one more quality shooter, which I guess is Buddy, but I'd like a guy who we could count on to be a starter by year 2, if not right away.

what about his game makes you think he's a 4 ? The video in the very first thread screams small forward to me. I think the comparison to Tayshaun Prince is pretty accurate.

 

[IthacaMatt]

I would say that IthicaMatt's takes lately have not been fair or objective.

Compare Hughes to our last few 2G recruits and tell me if I'm being unfair. How does Hughes compare to Malachi? How does he compare to Cooney, who played on Team Final and was considered one of the best pure shooters in his class?

I have been downbeat because our recruiting has been down and our results have been down for a few years now. Boeheim's reluctance to leave cost us the guy who was his designated replacement for the last decade. Attendance is down the last few years and the program is in danger, in my opinion. Upgrades to the Dome have been on hold for 3 years. We can't put off the transition forever.

What's your take on the state of the program? Is any of what I said untrue?

 

[SUfanNC]

True Story:
Fast rising junior forward ranked around 30 while dominating AAU is expected to jump in the rankings. Then he commits to Syracuse. ESPN decides he must not be as good as they thought. His rating sinks to about 45 by the time he hits campus. He has a great freshman season and gets drafted before of 90% of the guys ESPN had rated ahead of him.

Any chance some of that narrative changes with our AD being a former ESPN guy? Some of it I get so they can blow up the games they have the rights too but they play a crap ton of Cuse games too. I just don't get why they would down grade a guy for choosing Syracuse.

 

[IthacaMatt]

what about his game makes you think he's a 4 ? The video in the very first thread screams small forward to me. I think the comparison to Tayshaun Prince is pretty accurate.

I don't see a lot of outside shooting in those videos. I see a guy with a handle that can get past people and literally fly to the rim for a dunk. I see a guy who gets his own misses and puts them back. But I don't see a lot of outside shooting, and to me, in our system, we have to have a SF who can consistently hit the 3 ball to create space for our guards to drive the lane.

He doesn't look like that guy to me. Donte Greene was a big forward who could hit the three. Carmelo could hit a three, C.J. Fair, after a couple years, could hit a three. Kris Joseph could hit a three. Kueth Duany could hit a three. Southerland and Shumpert, obviously, could drill it from three. Bazley may show that in time. But I don't see it right now as a cornerstone of his game.

 

[PhatOrange]

I can't believe there are 10 kids better let alone 30. He looks like a sure top 10 kid imho.

 

[RF2044]

I can't believe there are 10 kids better let alone 30. He looks like a sure top 10 kid imho.

Definitely of that caliber, even if not rated that elite.

 

[jordoo]

Compare Hughes to our last few 2G recruits and tell me if I'm being unfair. How does Hughes compare to Malachi? How does he compare to Cooney, who played on Team Final and was considered one of the best pure shooters in his class?

I have been downbeat because our recruiting has been down and our results have been down for a few years now. Boeheim's reluctance to leave cost us the guy who was his designated replacement for the last decade. Attendance is down the last few years and the program is in danger, in my opinion. Upgrades to the Dome have been on hold for 3 years. We can't put off the transition forever.

What's your take on the state of the program? Is any of what I said untrue?

I laid this out about recruiting in another thread:
If you really look at things it started with the 2013 class. Other than Ennis who was great and left after that season we had Johnson, Roberson, Patterson and Obokoh. We got nothing from Obokoh and Patterson. They weren't ACC level players. Roberson was a contributor for four years but he was inconsistent. Johnson is an ACC level player but came in young and moved on. So that class gave us a year of Ennis starting at PG and an inconsistent rotational player. That class combined with NCAA limits really handcuffed us. Thankfully we had brought MikeG in. We missed on some guards and added Patterson late.

We followed that up in 2014 with McCullough and Joseph. Joseph was a miss and McCullough never made it to ACC play. These were two guys we wanted and got.

The 2015 class was Richarson, Lydon and Howard. Two of those guys are in the NBA and even though Howard has struggled he has shown high level ability from time to time. Our big miss in this class was Bryant although this class produced two first round picks.

2016 was Battle, Thompson and the two Grad transfers Gillon and White. All four where starting by mid season. Battle waffled, Thompson decided very late, Gillon and White were added because we lost Richardson to the NBA and Joseph didn't work out.

2017 is another big class Brissett, Sidibe, Washington, Dolezaj and the the Grad transfer Thorpe. This class cannot wind up being like the 2013 class. I'll just say it, we missed on all of our primary targets.

2018 is Hughes and Bazley thus far. This is a great start even though we have already missed on one primary target in Swider.

If the last five years are any indication then Syracuse is going to miss on some of their priority guys while still getting some great recruits. That said the real issue is when we bring in guys that aren't ACC level players. Then add to that our better players have been good enough to leave after one or two seasons. I think we are fine with the higher level players we have brought in but have been hurt by getting program/depth recruits that aren't performing at a high enough level for the ACC.

I never said Hughes was a great shooter. You said we couldn't just have Buddy at the 2 and I said we also have Hughes. Someone else pointed out that Washington is a good enough shooter to also see minutes off the ball at the 2. You are not being objective when you completely dismiss the players we have. That's like putting on blinders. They are on the SU team, they are guards no matter what you think of their games. You may want to look up Mal and Trev's shooting numbers while at SU. I bet Mal was around 35% and Trevor was less than that. They were good but not spectacular shooters. We are likely never going to have as many high level shooters as we had last season. I think Hughes looks better than both as a driver and finisher.

 

[PhatOrange]

I don't see a lot of outside shooting in those videos. I see a guy with a handle that can get past people and literally fly to the rim for a dunk. I see a guy who gets his own misses and puts them back. But I don't see a lot of outside shooting, and to me, in our system, we have to have a SF who can consistently hit the 3 ball to create space for our guards to drive the lane.

He doesn't look like that guy to me. Donte Greene was a big forward who could hit the three. Carmelo could hit a three, C.J. Fair, after a couple years, could hit a three. Kris Joseph could hit a three. Kueth Duany could hit a three. Southerland and Shumpert, obviously, could drill it from three. Bazley may show that in time. But I don't see it right now as a cornerstone of his game.

if he can get to the rim we'll be clearing space for him. not for the guards. he's playing out at the 3 pt line, hits several 15 footers and several 3's, but why shoot outside if you can get to the rim at will.

This kid appears to be one of the best dribbling 6-9 guys we've ever recruited. his game is not that of a traditional PF 4.

 

[IthacaMatt]

if he can get to the rim we'll be clearing space for him. not for the guards. he's playing out at the 3 pt line, hits several 15 footers and several 3's, but why shoot outside if you can get to the rim at will.

This kid appears to be one of the best dribbling 6-9 guys we've ever recruited. his game is not that of a traditional PF 4.

No argument that he is an outstanding talent. But to me, he looks more like Derrick Coleman than Billy Owens. I think we still need shooters.

 

[IthacaMatt]

I laid this out about recruiting in another thread:
If you really look at things it started with the 2013 class. Other than Ennis who was great and left after that season we had Johnson, Roberson, Patterson and Obokoh. We got nothing from Obokoh and Patterson. They weren't ACC level players. Roberson was a contributor for four years but he was inconsistent. Johnson is an ACC level player but came in young and moved on. So that class gave us a year of Ennis starting at PG and an inconsistent rotational player. That class combined with NCAA limits really handcuffed us. Thankfully we had brought MikeG in. We missed on some guards and added Patterson late.

We followed that up in 2014 with McCullough and Joseph. Joseph was a miss and McCullough never made it to ACC play. These were two guys we wanted and got.

The 2015 class was Richarson, Lydon and Howard. Two of those guys are in the NBA and even though Howard has struggled he has shown high level ability from time to time. Our big miss in this class was Bryant although this class produced two first round picks.

2016 was Battle, Thompson and the two Grad transfers Gillon and White. All four where starting by mid season. Battle waffled, Thompson decided very late, Gillon and White were added because we lost Richardson to the NBA and Joseph didn't work out.

2017 is another big class Brissett, Sidibe, Washington, Dolezaj and the the Grad transfer Thorpe. This class cannot wind up being like the 2013 class. I'll just say it, we missed on all of our primary targets.

2018 is Hughes and Bazley thus far. This is a great start even though we have already missed on one primary target in Swider.

If the last five years are any indication then Syracuse is going to miss on some of their priority guys while still getting some great recruits. That said the real issue is when we bring in guys that aren't ACC level players. Then add to that our better players have been good enough to leave after one or two seasons. I think we are fine with the higher level players we have brought in but have been hurt by getting program/depth recruits that aren't performing at a high enough level for the ACC.

I never said Hughes was a great shooter. You said we couldn't just have Buddy at the 2 and I said we also have Hughes. Someone else pointed out that Washington is a good enough shooter to also see minutes off the ball at the 2. You are not being objective when you completely dismiss the players we have. That's like putting on blinders. They are on the SU team, they are guards no matter what you think of their games. You may want to look up Mal and Trev's shooting numbers while at SU. I bet Mal was around 35% and Trevor was less than that. They were good but not spectacular shooters. We are likely never going to have as many high level shooters as we had last season. I think Hughes looks better than both as a driver and finisher.

And I'm not saying that Hughes will be a terrible player. But as a guard, he is more of an athlete than a shooter. I wish we had a couple more shooters.

We really could have used Swider, IMO. Since we missed on him, whoever we bring in as our last guard (because Boeheim says he's taking another big to complete this class) has to be a knock-down shooter from 3.

 

[ssbriefcase]

I don't see a lot of outside shooting in those videos. I see a guy with a handle that can get past people and literally fly to the rim for a dunk. I see a guy who gets his own misses and puts them back. But I don't see a lot of outside shooting, and to me, in our system, we have to have a SF who can consistently hit the 3 ball to create space for our guards to drive the lane.

He doesn't look like that guy to me. Donte Greene was a big forward who could hit the three. Carmelo could hit a three, C.J. Fair, after a couple years, could hit a three. Kris Joseph could hit a three. Kueth Duany could hit a three. Southerland and Shumpert, obviously, could drill it from three. Bazley may show that in time. But I don't see it right now as a cornerstone of his game.

Just for measure, he shot 40% from 3 at the NBA top 100 camp. I think his J will be plenty good enough by the time he hits campus. I think his shot will be better than Joseph's or CJ's when they arrived. He could easily play the 3 IF he was needed to. His handle is crazy good for his size.

 

[jordoo]

And I'm not saying that Hughes will be a terrible player. But as a guard, he is more of an athlete than a shooter. I wish we had a couple more shooters.

We really could have used Swider, IMO. Since we missed on him, whoever we bring in as our last guard (because Boeheim says he's taking another big to complete this class) has to be a knock-down shooter from 3.

I agree Hughes is more of an attack off the bounce guard than a spot up shooter. If your original point was that you are worried about shooting this season and next I would agree that those are valid concerns.

Yes Swider would have brought an element as a shooter that we could have used. I am confident that Dolezaj and Brissett will be good at slashing to the basket so hopefully they can make open 3's enough of a clip to keep teams honest and allow them to slash. I'm not worried about Bazley's shot at all.

 

[dasher]

the word from high school coaches that played against him when he was in high school was that he was a great shooter. Not good. Great. Now, his #'s sure didn't show that at ECU. But people from here in Ct swear he is a terrific shooter. We shall see. Hopefully, they are right.

 

[iommi]

what about his game makes you think he's a 4 ? The video in the very first thread screams small forward to me. I think the comparison to Tayshaun Prince is pretty accurate.

Depends on what we are looking for. He's a wing on defense regardless. Offensively, perhaps he would be more of a matchup nightmare as a 4. Baz going to be a fantastic wing for us. He can certainly handle it like a 3. His shot looks fine but he could use greater consistency. If his shot doesn't come, put him at the 4 and he'd be fine.

Baz really does need to spend a lot of time in the weight room though. He's skinny.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Just for measure, he shot 40% from 3 at the NBA top 100 camp. I think his J will be plenty good enough by the time he hits campus. I think his shot will be better than Joseph's or CJ's when they arrived. He could easily play the 3 IF he was needed to. His handle is crazy good for his size.

That's very positive. Of course it was only last week, but let's hope he keeps getting better.
He looks like an elite recruit. Very psyched to see him join us. He looks on the level of that big Oak Hill kid who took a late look at us last fall.