Class of 2024 SG Aiden Tobiason (DEL) TRANSFERRING TO SYRACUSE (4/13/26)

[longtimefan]

Yes, I was. He was considered a potential 1st rounder last year

You interrupted my dialogue with Orangefan1.

 

[Ottoman]

Both.

I think we're going to play more man-2-man or press defenses under GMac [I do not discount the possibility that some zone will be mixed in]. Defensively, I'd expect to field a three guard lineup [most like Dual / Doty . Tobiason, with 3M / Kiyan backing up those spots].

Tobiason really gives us both some scoring pop and positional versatility. I think we're going to play a lot like Villanova under Jay Wright circa 2006 -- when he started Lowry, Nardi, Ray, and Foye. Obviously, not sure that our talent is on par with them -- but that's what I'm expecting.

Thanks for the analysis. The 3-guard lineup sure seems likely, given who we kept and the recent additions.

Do you imagine we will go with two PF's or the traditional C down low? If I remember correctly, Villanova didn't really use traditional 7-footers.

 

[JrodCuse]

6’5 with a 7+ ft wingspan? Yes please

 

[SaltineW]

From one old fart to another - nice post - still wish we could land a PG like Sherman Douglas or someone like Derrick Coleman or the Louie and Bouie show. Those were great days.

Hopefully we have more great days ahead.

...and to think. Sherm was quite literally un-rated -- as in NO STARS! Here's to more 'Cuse success, for the sake of our younger fans because, if you saw Pearl play live and in person, you're already spoiled!

 

[IthacaMatt]

Thanks for the analysis. The 3-guard lineup sure seems likely, given who we kept and the recent additions.

Do you imagine we will go with two PF's or the traditional C down low? If I remember correctly, Villanova didn't really use traditional 7-footers.

A 3 guard lineup is an offensive construct.
On defense, one of them still has to defend another team's SF.
Right now, that looks most like Doty.

 

[cuseattle]

The last guy from Delaware on our roster went to two Final Fours. We're back!

Cooooooney!!!

 

[SaltineW]

yeah for me when the wheels were falling for red (and JB)...esp when red had those deep rosters his last 2 years------why he didnt throw a full court press out there at least just to see it...boggled mymind...then again, he probably couldnt have coached it up well enough anyway...but still...it woulda worked with the right coach...the team was long and athletic this year

The SU team that beat Tennessee this year and should have beaten Houston gave whatever that maximum effort stuff was all about. We all saw it. SU was playing ferociously on defense. From there on though, they stopped trying. If a team doesn't give effort, it really limits what buttons a coach can push during a game.

One button that Red could have pushed a whole lot more often, would have been the Boeheim Post Immediate Substitution button. Scream at the person you just yanked from the game for xyz. Then sit them. Assert yourself as the head coach. Demand effort. Autry was too nice. Too soft. Love him though and respect all he's done for the SU program as both a player and a coach.

I wanted to see Pitino level fire on the sidelines. Players need to be coached up tough if you want to them to play defense. Defense is about effort. Almost any player can become a good defender, if they truly want to be. One quote that slipped under the radar from the GMAC Introductory Presser was when he said his teams were going to, "Dive for Loose Balls." I thought that to be a very interesting statement, because I know what that means in Syracuse Basketball Nomenclature.

Think back to Mike Hopkins, the player. Not the coach. The player. Who here remembers how hard nosed Hop was as a player? He dove for lose balls. He sacrificed his body nightly. He played true in your face defense. He attacked the glass hard and he was smart too. Not a good shooter. Not a talented offensive player. But a good athlete, and a player who gave it everything he had. So why is Hop important in this analogy?

Because he instilled a drill at Syracuse, one that Boeheim embraced and one that became a standard SU drill under Boeheim. Coach Hop named the drill Psycho, after how he preceived himself and the way he approached playing defense.

Picture the team on the baseilie. A player steps up, under the basket. Hop blows the whistle, kid starts shuffling his feet, palms up, in the crouch. Coach blows the whistle and thows out an arm, left or right. Player shuffles in that direction, never crossing his feet. Coach flings the ball at the player. Player secures it, zips it back to the coach. This goes on for at least 90 seconds. Then, Coach blows twice on the whistle, turns and flings a bounding ball toward mid court or further, usually towards one of the sidelines.

Player must then race down court and dive on the ball before the ball goes out of bounds, or, scoop it up and attack the glass if possible. Shot blocker is stationed at the far foul line. Then, two walk ons are placed on each sideline, same side of court as players start from. Now, when coach blows the whistle, they sprint towards the ball too. Only catch? They can't dive. Only the player who is shuffling can dive.

GMAC was a player when this drill was in it's heyday. He knows the value of diving for a loose ball. His 2003 team won a Natty by playing all out - every game. Now, re-watch the Duke vs. Siena game. Note how Siena played. Granted they went cold vs Duke's zone and lost, but look at Doty racing towards balls and diving out of bounds. I was screaming at the TV during that game, "YEAH! LET'S GO!!" I loved the brand of basketball I was watching.

Will GMAC install the Psycho drill? You bet he will. At the end of the day, GMAC wants to allow as few points per game as possible. If SU can pick up a ball here or there that the other team can't get, it equals extra possessions. That's what will often separate a middling SU team from an opponent. Extra Effort! It might even lead to helping SU learn to win again.

 

[Dinkyspond]

Love the Addison comp. Hugely underrated - one of my favorites.

I think when all is said and told, Raf had a nice pro career, both overseas and about 6 years in the NBA.

 

[McCuse]

White was just under 1 million. That I know. Now, I don't know what Aiden cost us. I'm sure it was a pretty penny. But before this, there was no way we were at 5 million. We have enough money for a solid 5 and then some.

This is getting very interesting!

 

[bnoro]

This is the first get that I think actively improves our roster year over year.

 

[shu 49]

I'm not a true zone guy per se, but I have attended more than 20 Syracuse practices over the years and I've also attended a number of coaching clinics that Coach Boeheim spoke at - including one on his 2004 tour after winning the natty. First a little background, then my answer to your provocative question shu!

Coach Boeheim ran three traps. One is the one you mentioned. The two guards at the top of the zone would fly at the ball handler right after he crossed half court. The wings would run out to intercept if PG passed to the wings and C was in charge of the entire middle of the court. He had to fly up and get a hand on the ball. It's very hard for a PG to hit the dunker in that trap, as its a very long pass and the C might be able to also get a hand on it. Big, dumb, slow big men couldn't rotate properly until they were Juniors or Seniors, assuming Boeheim had at least two years to develop them and teach them to rotate.

For those curious, the two other traps SU used to run out of the 2-3 were:
1. The trap on the Wing. Strong side G and attack the wing pass while ball is in the air. Weak side guard prevents pass back to PG by infiltrating the lane. C takes high Elbow away. Only option to beat this trap was a lob to the dunker or a skit pass to weakside wing.
2. The dreaded corner trap out of a time out. As soon as the ball was in the air on a pass to the corner, the trap sprung. Strong side and G both trap in the corner. PG slips into the lane between the corner and the wing - also can leak into the lane to the high elbow, C takes high elbow or low block away. This trap was pretty much an automatic turnover.

Traps out of the 2-3 required mobile, athletic players. Wings needed length and foot speed. Centers had to be mobile and smart. In college hoops, it's very rare for a post player to come into college and be able to move his feet and be in the right spots defensively. This, more than any other factor, is what made Boeheim's zone begin to degrade towards the end.

Trapping Zone defenses are a thing of beauty. Denny Crum ran his vaunted full court 2-1-2 which is a trap you never see any more in today's game, but it was lethal, as it could be disguised as a M2M full court press.

Where Coach Boeheim was pure genius, was that he developed 3 half-court traps out of a 2-3 zone. If you go back to game tape and watch Magic Johnson's Michigan State team play the 2-3, you see an example of what was IMHO the most suffocating straight up zone I've ever seen played. There was no three point line back then, so the MSU zone wasn't susceptible to being "busted" by daggers. The MSU could pack-in, rebound and run - with Magic running the fast break and passing over the top of the retreating defense.

In the 80's, with Sherman Douglas at the point, SU was referred to as the Baby Lakers. SU was able to rebound back then and Sherm ignited the fast break, often lobbing ahead to the high flying Stevie Thompson. By then the three-point shot had been adopted and I think it took college coaches some time to figure out how to pick apart "even" zone defenses like the 2-3 with "odd" high or low 1-4 offensive sets. Rick Pitino was masterful at shredding Boeheim's zone, primarily because he understood it from a once inside the program view.

IMHO, with the advent of the three-point line, most zone defenses became to a degree - obsolete. That's where Boeheim and his knowledge of player rotations came into play. It eventually became tough to play the 2-3 with the caliber of athletes that Boeheim was attracting to SU in the later years.

The zone that SU ran was very different than a traditional zone, mainly because it accounted for trying to defend three-point shots. Traditional zones can't expand enough to cover up top, the wings and the corners, even though they move, the players acting within them don't rotate like Syracuse players under Boeheim were taught to. Match-up zones exist(ed) also - Temple's Dick Cheney was perhaps the greatest college architect of match-up style of zone where players would play M2M vs any offensive players in their areas. This required the weakside defensive players to simply switch with the on ball defener, who would face guard his man as long as he was on the strong side, even covering him all the way to the weak side. In this respect, a strong side guard or wing might flow through to the weak side and stay there, while the weakside guys flexed to the strong side.

What made SU's zone tough to play against for many opponents, especially when the defense had really come together well towards the end of a given season, was that no other team in college baskeball ran it quite the same way -- not even Coach Boeheim's close friend, Coach K at Duke, played it the same way. Therefore, to answer your question Shu, I don't think any zone defense would really work year in and year out in today's game. NCAA basketball now emphasiezes shooting like never before and there are simply too many teams with multiple shooters on them. That's how rosters are designed nowadays.

When Coach Shayer went Zone on Siena in the Tournament this year, Siena went cold and Duke won a game they could have easily lost. Siena missed their outside shots and Boozer & Co controlled the boards and Duke was able to limit Siena to one shot and out down the stretch. The zone has a place in the swiss army knife, but most teams playing at a high level are primarily running M2M as their primary defenses.

So what would work? A zone that has the right personnel to face guard and not let opposing PG's and Wings get into the paint, while also being able to execute frequent half-court traps -- and it would have to be able simultaneously defend three point shots. That's a big ask for most teams to 100% commit to running a very specific zone and there's a good chance that a team like that could be taken down by a hot shooting team that could pound the glass also -- because rebounding out of a zone is hard when the other team is taking a lot of three's. Most teams take more three's when they face zones, modern coaches have figured out that it's wise to do that.

What we don't really see much these days are teams that press for huge chunks of games. A pressing team could implement full court or three-quarter court zone traps. If such a team were stocked with the right personnel, likely a very deep team too, that would be something college hoops hasn't seen in a very long while. Presses inherently give up transition three pointers in today's game. Teams will break the press and pass up dunks or layups for open looks from deep. Imagine that? But that's the way the game is now. IMHO, zones are no longer primary defenses. Not to say they don't work, because if an opponent has trouble shooting and the team implementing the zone can rebound, then popping into a zone (against certain opponents) can mean the difference between a W and an L.

Well thank u. That’s exactly the things I saw without the reasoning behind it so I never fully got why. Never thought the first one was effective much where the down low or third one u mentioned worked wonders. Ps. In my memory it worked better but no actual stats on it of course. Again thank u. I do see it as still a weapon especially if we play not great shooting teams.

 

[Sherman20]

Yes, I forgot about Sir Tasman of New South Whales. IMHO, he's a depth piece - one who will actually play though (unlike SU's backup centers of late). Based on the cost of aquiring a good C this year, I think I'm resigned to GMAC landing not one, but two big men. I have my eye on a certain center, but there's been no SU connection reported. But I'll let the cat out of the bag so as not to disappoint:

A good post player to pair with Goodrick and White would be Drew Scharnowski from Belmont. Iowa is all over him though. He's not a true C but he fits the mold of what GMAC is doing.

Great find here in Scharnowski. He’s deceptively athletic in the lane. Would be great to see him in Orange. Not surprised to hear that McCollum wants him to come to Iowa. I wonder if he follows his Belmont coach Casey Alexander to K State.

 

[granthath9]

Great find here in Scharnowski. He’s deceptively athletic in the lane. Would be great to see him in Orange. Not surprised to hear that McCollum wants him to come to Iowa. I wonder if he follows his Belmont coach Casey Alexander to K State.

I'd imagine the guys that CA wants from Belmont he'll get. He has a big budget and give them nice compensation and those guys would feel comfortable in his system obviously.

 

[NineOneSeven]

Both.

I think we're going to play more man-2-man or press defenses under GMac [I do not discount the possibility that some zone will be mixed in]. Defensively, I'd expect to field a three guard lineup [most like Dual / Doty . Tobiason, with 3M / Kiyan backing up those spots].

Tobiason really gives us both some scoring pop and positional versatility. I think we're going to play a lot like Villanova under Jay Wright circa 2006 -- when he started Lowry, Nardi, Ray, and Foye. Obviously, not sure that our talent is on par with them -- but that's what I'm expecting.

Semantics but I’ll go out on a short limb and say it won’t be (given they had 3 NBA guards, 2 of them w lengthy careers).

Those were some fun Nova teams though. The 4G lineup around one big who wasn’t even “big”— Will Sheridan and Curtis Sumpter.

 

[RF2044]

Semantics but I’ll go out on a short limb and say it won’t be (given they had 3 NBA guards, 2 of them w lengthy careers).

Those were some fun Nova teams though. The 4G lineup around one big who wasn’t even “big”— Will Sheridan and Curtis Sumpter.

I meant more the interchangability of the parts, positions 1 through 3. I definitely don't expect us to play four guards like Nova [not with White and potentially Folefac on the roster], but I do expect us to get after it defensively like they did.

If I had to guess today, the lineup would be:

1 Dual
2 Doty
3 Tobiason
4 White
5 Player to be named later

 

[Niastri]

I'm finding full game highlights of Temple to post. Not much Tobiason specific video to watch. But this one is a Tobiason Highlight, even though it isn't.

Plus, Tobiason and Temple did something that we couldn't.

 

[Niastri]

The highlights of the best team Tobiason and Temple played this season.

 

[Orangezoo]

He had a nice game in a win over USF too.

 

[Niastri]

One more, against the team that took the American conference bid to the NCAA tournament.

 

[Niastri]

He had a nice game in a win over USF too.

Apparently, you and I are capable of parallel engineering a thought process.



(or: Great minds think alike)

 

[Orangezoo]

Apparently, you and I are capable of parallel engineering a thought process.



(or: Great minds think alike)

As someone charged often with putting together board presentations I love the first way you described it and I’m stealing that lol.

 

[orangepassion]

I'm finding full game highlights of Temple to post. Not much Tobiason specific video to watch. But this one is a Tobiason Highlight, even though it isn't.

Plus, Tobiason and Temple did something that we couldn't.

Plenty of Cruz Davis highlights there, as well. Let's bring them together.

 

[Niastri]

Tobiason looks like a great pickup.

Temple was an average team, at best, with a 167 NET, 139th in SRS, playing against the 153rd SOS.

They finished 16-16 in the American, the 9th or 10th highest rated conference. It is a weird conference, with the top schools (this year South Florida and Tulsa) being contenders for at large bids, and with bottom feeder schools competing for worst teams in the country. Conference realignment will do that to you. The former best AAC schools are playing in other conferences now.

That said, playing for a bad school, Tobiason looked really good.

He averaged 15.3 ppg, on 10.4 shots per game on .604 TS%. He averaged 4.8 free throws a game, shooting .800. Tobiason is a very efficient scorer, especially considering his 3pt percentage dipped dramatically from his freshman season's excellent .412 to only .338 on fairly high volume 4.3 three pointers attempted. When I first started looking into his scoring, I thought he was a volume shooter that fired his way to scoring numbers, but I was wrong.

Tobiason is a versatile offensive player, with the ability to get to the rim and finish, including some highlight reel dunks in traffic or in the act of being fouled.

He follows two things GMAC seems to look for in players, he protects the ball, only 1.4 TO per game, in 35 minutes played, a low 9.8 TO%. Tobiason moves the ball effectively, with 2 assists per game and a solid 11.9 Assist%

GMAC also seems to value steals, and Tobiason is a 2.1 Steal% player last year, using his long arms to disrupt dribble penetration both on and off the ball and intercept passes. 1.2 steals per game is a healthy total that only George topped last season among Orange.

That said, both the eye test and advanced metrics like him but don't love him on defense. His DRtg was 110.8, 8th on what appeared to be a defensively challenged Temple team. His DBPM was positive, at least, at .4, but he is not a plus defender. He has long arms and is fairly athletic, which he puts to good use on offense, but on defense, he just isn't quite there. In full game highlights, he was repeatedly "almost there" on defense. Perhaps with a few more reps and continued coaching, he can improve more than incrementally, and GMAC seems to be building a hard nosed defensive team, so Tobiason has that going for him as well.

Tobiason doesn't rebound well. Somehow 3.7 fell into his hands every game, but I attribute that to lots of minutes and lots of missed shots more than any particular skill. His rebound% was 6.2, which was 9th on Temple. Ironically, watching game tape, Tobiason is a committed practitioner of the box out. He always found somebody to put a body on... Maybe the guys who don't box out then get the rebound?

Overall, I expect Tobiason to be a team leader in scoring, and hopefully he can continue to improve incrementally in scoring and defense while keeping his efficiency and continuing to get steals.

A really nice pickup, with a lot of skill and plenty of room to grow from a solid scoring role player to a star.

 

[SUFan44]

One more, against the team that took the American conference bid to the NCAA tournament.

I still don't think Temple had like minded individuals. Great for us.

 

[Orangezoo]

Years after Ryan Daly helped Aiden Tobiason as a high school recruit, the two are joining forces at Syracuse

Syracuse transfer commit Aiden Tobiason discusses his decision to pick the Orange.

247sports.com

Great read. Points to the connections our staff has coming from different programs and backgrounds and why it’s easy to see they are doing things that aren’t as visible and have been grinding.