Class of 2022 SG Chance Westry (PA / AZ Compass Prep) TRANSFERRING TO SYRACUSE (4/17/23)

[DilemaCuse]

Texas tech took 5 portal guys and finished .500. Illinois took 3 portal guys and had a worse season then their last 2. It’s not the secret formula, it’s just another ingredient.

What you posted is true but it looks bad after having a losing season to do a freshman rebuild instead of a portal movement to get an immediate improvement in record

 

[Cuse181]

What you posted is true but it looks bad after having a losing season to do a freshman rebuild instead of a portal movement to get an immediate improvement in record

Well, we could've seen a Texas tech scenario, a 3 seed in '21-'22 falls to .500 in '22-'23. There's no cure-all formula, there were many issues with this team that went beyond the talent on the court

 

[pwong]

Then claim they didn’t utilize it. A conscious choice is very different than a weak effort.

Choosing to not adapt to the transfer portal/not using it effectively would be considered poor recruiting aka a weak effort.

 

[CardiacCuse]

Your right, there's a difference between a guy that has played 4 years, has maxed out in ability and been given opportunity and weve seen the results vs a guy who has only played 1 year and isn't yet the player he could become.

nowadays ncaa teams are really between a rock and a hard place...thats why the final four was no blue bloods basically, imo

you cant build slow anymore, really...not without suffering a lot...plus even if you try that...the players could just blow it up for you by leaving early- you basically can only plan for next month! but a good team takes years to put together, historically...i think thats why the big name coaches all left recently

you cant build quickly very easily, either...i think kentucky hasnt made a final four in like 9 or 10 years or something...and they get every player they want basically. duke has had more success with the one and dones...but not really as much as they should given their priviledge, imo

cant build quick if you are not a top tier blueblood...cant build quick unless you are heavy in NIL and the portal

the landscape has shifted tectonically

even teams like villanova and uva that have been able to build slow and do it with 4 year players are a bit down from where they were

its like threading a needle now

thats why i think - all things considered - bringing in a huge class of freshman that are program players - 4 year guys makes a lot of sense...even though its not the overnight success plan --- that face it doesnt exist unless you can get anyone you want

looking back should still use a lot of portal - but its a very fine line in putting all that together

seems the portal is really the way to go in this era, though

but even if you kill it with that ...you are looking a whole new team the following season...its a hamster wheel for coaches - especailly if you play a gimmick defense that takes multiple seasons to learn **cough cough ** 23 zone

JBs and good coaches advantage over the field was how they accumulated program familiarity from year to year...the new rules eliminate that possibility form even happening...thats why the sport is collapsing imo

 

[Consigliere]

We got 6 freshman because we were lazy in the portal

Except all of the freshmen except Mintz were committed before anyone was in the portal. At the time of their commitment who would you have turned away? Maliq was the lowest rated. Do you tell him ”No thanks. We’re going to wait to see who we can get from the portal.”

 

[AlaskaSU]

i think it was a strategy purposefully chosen by boeheim, on principle

i dont think it was necessarily laziness...i think he had his reasons and wanted to try to prove a point and also set the team up for next year...

doesnt mean that was the best choice but i get why he did it.

We got who we got because our first choices turned us down. Back in the day other coaches lamented that they could not compete against us for recruits. My have times changed.

 

[Cuse181]

Choosing to not adapt to the transfer portal/not using it effectively would be considered poor recruiting aka a weak effort.

Or, in the event that the effort fails, it could've been time better spent on building a long term base versus a one year band aid. The transfer experience worked for some (UConn, Mizzou, Pitt) and failed miserably for others (Georgetown, Texas Tech, Louisville, Florida, Georgia)

 

[AlaskaSU]

UConn took 4 portal guys AND also recruited like 4 Top 50 guys over the past few years.

You really need to be doing BOTH to maximize a team’s potential.


The only hint of a pass I’ll give JAB about not landing a Portal forward (or begging/bribing Swider to return) was -
Doing so likely causes Benny to bolt, which then means we (likely) don’t get Judah.

He maybe was overconfident in Benny “making the Soph leap”, but I can see how he knew how badly we needed Judah, and made his choices based on that.

Or - he just got lazy.

A trusted coach does not beg players to return. He gives honest advice.

 

[Fly Rodder]

I really wish posters would learn how to spell the names of our players.

 

[NYCCuse826]

Not sure if this should be viewed as a good thing. I know it's good to be older in CBB, but if a guy didn't produce at that age in college then there deserves to be some skepticism. It was not like Auburn was a great team themselves.

It's not a good thing. Brandon Miller is a 20 year old freshman FYI. Certain guys are going to dominate at the high school level because they're men playing against boys in the most literal manner.

 

[Sherman20]

We take 6 freshman and don't make the NCAAT. Yukon took 4 portal guys and are about to win the NCAAT. Although it was nice bringing in all the freshmen, it was extremely lazy on JAB's behalf. Portalling has to be the new recruiting.

Exactly. But we had already signed the six freshman. They’d already signed their LOIs. There was no reason at all that we couldn’t also have pounded the portal last spring for an experienced small forward.

 

[Sherman20]

UConn took 4 portal guys AND also recruited like 4 Top 50 guys over the past few years.

You really need to be doing BOTH to maximize a team’s potential.


The only hint of a pass I’ll give JAB about not landing a Portal forward (or begging/bribing Swider to return) was -
Doing so likely causes Benny to bolt, which then means we (likely) don’t get Judah.

He maybe was overconfident in Benny “making the Soph leap”, but I can see how he knew how badly we needed Judah, and made his choices based on that.

Or - he just got lazy.

Benny was the PF. And yes we needed him to return to land Judah. But Grabbing an experienced small forward out of the portal would have been fine and not scared off Benny. It was crazy to go into the season expecting Bell or Taylor to be the starting SF.

 

[Sherman20]

Or, in the event that the effort fails, it could've been time better spent on building a long term base versus a one year band aid. The transfer experience worked for some (UConn, Mizzou, Pitt) and failed miserably for others (Georgetown, Texas Tech, Louisville, Florida, Georgia)

The point is that we didn’t use the portal at all, except to find a backup center. You have to do both (build the roster with both high school recruiting and the portal) and JB didn’t bother with the latter (except for a backup center). Recruiting a base of six freshman is great. But there was a need to find a starting level small forward last spring and JB didn’t do it and we paid the price. He also could have lobbied Cole to return and he didn’t bother with that either. All the assistants were telling him that we needed to get an experienced, proven forward from the portal. JB became very stubborn at the end. There’s no denying that.

 

[PhatOrange]

They brought in 4 transfers with just 2 freshmen. One transfer is their 3rd leading scorer and another shoots 44% from 3. So out of their 9 man rotation four played for other schools last year.

Their 3rd leading scorer? Oh wow then that settles it.

Cole Swider was our 2nd or 3rd leading scorer to. There's a little more going on than just 'pound the portal." That losing Syracuse team only had 1 freshman and 3 portal kids.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Their 3rd leading scorer? Oh wow then that settles it.

Cole Swider was our 2nd or 3rd leading scorer to. There's a little more going on than just 'pound the portal." That losing Syracuse team only had 1 freshman and 3 portal kids.

Ok, so transfers didn’t help UConn at all. They would have been just as good going after 4 freshmen.

 

[Cuse181]

The point is that we didn’t use the portal at all, except to find a backup center. You have to do both (build the roster with both high school recruiting and the portal) and JB didn’t bother with the latter (except for a backup center). Recruiting a base of Sox freshman is great. But There was a need to find a starting level small forward last spring and JB didn’t do it and we paid the price. He also could have lobbied Cole to return and he didn’t bother with that either. All the assistants were telling him that we needed to get an experienced, proven forward from the portal. JB became very stubborn at the end. There’s no denying that.

Hind sight is 20-20. Had bell been a 13-14 a game guy shooting 40% from behind the line this would’ve never been a discussion. I’m not sure who was available to cuse last year so I can’t begin to guess whether or not they chased in the portal. It seems like it’s more active this year, yet still no scoring forward, if they dont get one will red be called lazy?

 

[PhatOrange]

Ok, so transfers didn’t help UConn at all. They would have been just as good going after 4 freshmen.

Nobody said they didn't help. But, growing the current freshman is better imo that transfers who are no better than the current freshman, soon to be sophomores. Bring in Dickinson would be great, Westry is an unknown commodity at this point. Hasn't shown anything. Love him or hate him Bell actually averaged 6.6 and shot 40% over an ACC season as a freshman.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Hind sight is 20-20. Had bell been a 13-14 a game guy shooting 40% from behind the line this would’ve never been a discussion. I’m not sure who was available to cuse last year so I can’t begin to guess whether or not they chased in the portal. It seems like it’s more active this year, yet still no scoring forward, if they dont get one will red be called lazy?

Most posters on the main board wanted to take a transfer SF last offseason because most posters did not think any of the freshmen outside of Mintz were ready to produce numbers like that. What happened this past year was not a surprise.

It's refreshing to see HCAA go after transfers like Westry even if I don't think he's very good.

 

[Cuse181]

Most posters on the main board wanted to take a transfer SF last offseason because most posters did not think any of the freshmen outside of Mintz were ready to produce numbers like that. What happened this past year was not a surprise.

It's refreshing to see HCAA go after transfers like Westry even if I don't think he's very good.

I am not saying it was a surprise, but there also needed to actually be someone for Syracuse to go after.

 

[Cusefan0307]

I am not saying it was a surprise, but there also needed to actually be someone for Syracuse to go after.

Based on the transfers that Miami and UConn took there were. We just didn't offer them.

 

[Cuse181]

Based on the transfers that Miami and UConn took there were. We just didn't offer them.

Could be true, could be they didn't pick up the phone. Entirely possible that syracuse was not an attractive destination last year. The situation is bad regardless, but I am not in the know enough to claim we didn't do something so matter-of-factly

 

[Cheriehoop]

They brought in 4 transfers with just 2 freshmen. One transfer is their 3rd leading scorer and another shoots 44% from 3. So out of their 9 man rotation four played for other schools last year.

They had 5 players enter the portal plus they lost 4 seniors - 9 in total were gone from last year’s team.

 

[MikeSU02]

I was basically president of the Maliq Brown fan club, but we need to level up on talent across the board.

So, with that noted, what's the deal with Chance? A player like him seems perfect as a wing for us and can pair well with JJ and Judah.

We need more defense, more guys that can dribble and create, more athleticism.

I know we all want dead eye shooters to re-create the 2017 Golden St Warriors, but we need more than just that.

 

[Cusefan0307]

They had 5 players enter the portal plus they lost 4 seniors - 9 in total were gone from last year’s team.

Those transfers were basically booted from the team because they weren’t good enough.

 

[Sherman20]

Hind sight is 20-20. Had bell been a 13-14 a game guy shooting 40% from behind the line this would’ve never been a discussion. I’m not sure who was available to cuse last year so I can’t begin to guess whether or not they chased in the portal. It seems like it’s more active this year, yet still no scoring forward, if they dont get one will red be called lazy?

It’s not hindsight when many many posters on this board last spring were saying we needed at least one if not two experienced transfers to be a contender last season. It was talked about ad nauseum on here. There were reports that our assistants wanted to try to land at least one experienced forward out of the portal and JB said nope. Many posters who watched these kids in high school knew Bell and Taylor weren’t going to be ready for primetime. It was too risky to depend on freshman at that spot. This is about JB’s roster building negligence, pure and simple.