Class of 2018 - SG Eric Ayala (DE/IMG) to Maryland | Page 31 | Syracusefan.com

Class of 2018 SG Eric Ayala (DE/IMG) to Maryland

Day2 said:
Barely. We got screwed IMO and the team was good enough to make it to the Sweet 16.
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Disagree. They were streaky very good shooters, imo. That is the ONLY way they make it that far is if they go crazy from 3. They were incapable of playing diverse basketball and the defense was bad. Playing half court SOUND basketball is how you advance. Just watching Xavier, KSU, USC, etc., it was clear to me that they all had better teams and more cohesive units.

Syracuse needed some big heroics to win a few games and more often than not the half court offense was one pass and a chuck or throw it around the perimeter. All year was very little dribble penetration. More often than not there was lots of standing around and pounding the rock into the ground. Late in the season even all I was hearing was Bilas/Lappas/Fraschilla lamenting over and over with "they're standing around too much" familiar theme. That just can't happen. Then there was the defense, the dire struggle to get to 50 points against a short handed UConn, and the numerous blowout losses. Not a Tourney resume and I don't think they were truly equipped to win a game or two, imo. We'll never know but I didn't lose any sleep over it.

I'm concerned equally about how the guards lately are playing here as much as the guard recruiting choices and misses. Gbinjie was somewhat able to bail us out but even he wasn't a PG. Since Ennis left (even he struggled the second half of the season) the PGs here just look absolutely clueless even in their second years here. Howard and Joseph weee subpar and that's putting it nicely. Gillon too often looked like he never played the position. Too often there isn't enough movement it seems, backcuts, and once teams overplay passing lanes (South Carolina) we're done. I would love better X's and O's posters than I to chime in. Is the teaching just not happening? Not enough diversity in the offense? I do think we still need talent upgrades. More guys who can put it on the floor and pass, inside scoring, etc. Maybe it simply comes down to needing more talent and also not banking on these combos to be able to transition to playing PG. I hope it gets better.
 
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I know it's reaching and could be meaningless and I mentioned it earlier here but he has been active on Twitter and still hasn't retweeted zags tweet but has tweeted other stuff. Also fwiw Putnam science academy has pretty much retweeted everything regarding their players as well and they haven't either. Actually pretty much no one else has mentioned ayala staying in 18. None of the recruiters or media guys etc. Wierd..I'm wondering if dash may have some good info regarding what he's actually telling cuse...again I know it's ridiculous to be forming any opinion on a 18 year olds social media but I just found it interesting to say the least.
 
SoBeCuse said:
Disagree. They were streaky very good shooters, imo. That is the ONLY way they make it that far is if they go crazy from 3. They were incapable of playing diverse basketball and the defense was bad. Playing half court SOUND basketball is how you advance. Just watching Xavier, KSU, USC, etc., it was clear to me that they all had better teams and more cohesive units.

Syracuse needed some big heroics to win a few games and more often than not the half court offense was one pass and a chuck or throw it around the perimeter. All year was very little dribble penetration. More often than not there was lots of standing around and pounding the rock into the ground. Late in the season even all I was hearing was Bilas/Lappas/Fraschilla lamenting over and over with "they're standing around too much" familiar theme. That just can't happen. Then there was the defense, the dire struggle to get to 50 points against a short handed UConn, and the numerous blowout losses. Not a Tourney resume and I don't think they were truly equipped to win a game or two, imo. We'll never know but I didn't lose any sleep over it.

I'm concerned equally about how the guards lately are playing here as much as the guard recruiting choices and misses. Gbinjie was somewhat able to bail us out but even he wasn't a PG. Since Ennis left (even he struggled the second half of the season) the PGs here just look absolutely clueless even in their second years here. Howard and Joseph weee subpar and that's putting it nicely. Gillon too often looked like he never played the position. Too often there isn't enough movement it seems, backcuts, and once teams overplay passing lanes (South Carolina) we're done. I would love better X's and O's posters than I to chime in. Is the teaching just not happening? Not enough diversity in the offense? I do think we still need talent upgrades. More guys who can put it on the floor and pass, inside scoring, etc. Maybe it simply comes down to needing more talent and also not banking on these combos to be able to transition to playing PG. I hope it gets better.
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I think you're underestimating the zone, even this iteration of the zone. We racked up a lot of non-conference losses, but only one of those teams had zero experience (players and/or coaches) against the 2-3...and that team made the Final Four. I maintain we deserved to get in over Wake, Providence and USC at the very least. And the #6 and #3 seeds obviously weren't that daunting. Agree to disagree.
 
Cusesky8214 said:
I know it's reaching and could be meaningless and I mentioned it earlier here but he has been active on Twitter and still hasn't retweeted zags tweet but has tweeted other stuff. Also fwiw Putnam science academy has pretty much retweeted everything regarding their players as well and they haven't either. Actually pretty much no one else has mentioned ayala staying in 18. None of the recruiters or media guys etc. Wierd..I'm wondering if dash may have some good info regarding what he's actually telling cuse...again I know it's ridiculous to be forming any opinion on a 18 year olds social media but I just found it interesting to say the least.
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Yeah, something is fishy with Ayala. If he wasn't reclassifying, why would he be taking visits from coaches over the past week? And why would SU be investing so much time with him if he wasn't reclassifying or had issues with the clearinghouse? Seems to me we would have moved on to recruiting a grad transfer weeks ago. Or maybe we did and it's been kept secret. Or maybe this is a colossal mess.
 
cuseguy said:
Yeah, something is fishy with Ayala. If he wasn't reclassifying, why would he be taking visits from coaches over the past week? And why would SU be investing so much time with him if he wasn't reclassifying or had issues with the clearinghouse? Seems to me we would have moved on to recruiting a grad transfer weeks ago. Or maybe we did and it's been kept secret. Or maybe this is a colossal mess.
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SU is involved with several grad transfers I believe. I think RF noted he was aware of one in particular.
 
JeremyCuse said:
SU is involved with several grad transfers I believe. I think RF noted he was aware of one in particular.
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We are involved with several grad transfers yet not a SINGLE mention of this anywhere? No in home visits, no officials or unofficials etc? Where have you seen we are involved with any grad transfers? Unless this is happening very recently, I have not seen a single thing about us being involved with anyone for 17 except ayala, Tucker, marek and Duarte. Am I missing something?
 
JeremyCuse said:
SU is involved with several grad transfers I believe. I think RF noted he was aware of one in particular.
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And I'm not trying to say we arent...just that I have not seen that anywhere. Curious if you have heard or seen that somewhere
 
Cusesky8214 said:
We are involved with several grad transfers yet not a SINGLE mention of this anywhere? No in home visits, no officials or unofficials etc? Where have you seen we are involved with any grad transfers? Unless this is happening very recently, I have not seen a single thing about us being involved with anyone for 17 except ayala, Tucker, marek and Duarte. Am I missing something?
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I think the staff is being very quiet about grad transfers for a few different reasons.
 
Cusesky8214 said:
We are involved with several grad transfers yet not a SINGLE mention of this anywhere? No in home visits, no officials or unofficials etc? Where have you seen we are involved with any grad transfers? Unless this is happening very recently, I have not seen a single thing about us being involved with anyone for 17 except ayala, Tucker, marek and Duarte. Am I missing something?
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Basketball recruiting existed long before social media.
 
dasher said:
I think the staff is being very quiet about grad transfers for a few different reasons.
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Gotchya...well hopefully they have something good cooking! We need some help and I personally have no problem bringing in some experience for a year to help fill our voids..we need it. Was worried there wasn't a lot of good options left out there for the grad transfer market...thought most of the good ones came off the board already?
 
OrangeXtreme said:
Basketball recruiting existed long before social media.
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Very true. Guess our school (and the kids we are recruiting) are the exception to this day and age where every single visit/talk/etc is tweeted about for the world to know. Jb must be in stealth mode I guess?
 
Cusesky8214 said:
We are involved with several grad transfers yet not a SINGLE mention of this anywhere? No in home visits, no officials or unofficials etc? Where have you seen we are involved with any grad transfers? Unless this is happening very recently, I have not seen a single thing about us being involved with anyone for 17 except ayala, Tucker, marek and Duarte. Am I missing something?
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How many in-home visits and officials did you know about on April 21st, 2016?
 
T
Day2 said:
How many in-home visits and officials did you know about on April 21st, 2016?
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That was my question, are these events as recent as today due to the ayala situation? Or have we been involved with some of the grad transfers for a little while now and it's just been kind of hush hush?
 
Cusesky8214 said:
That was my question, are these events as recent as today due to the ayala situation? Or have we been involved with some of the grad transfers for a little while now and it's just been kind of hush hush?
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Today is April 21st, 2017. Re-read my question.
 
And I don't necessarily mean just in home visits or officials. Even just reaching out to them to show interest. Seems like most of the options that have been available have given updates as to who was showing interest in them at the very least. We haven't been connected to anyone but like some have said, just because it isn't on social media doesn't mean we haven't reached out.
 
Day2 said:
We offered Gillon on April 25th. That was the first time most of us had heard of him. And he committed about a week later.
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I'll get yelled at because this is ayalas thread but seeing as tho we are talking about it, are there still some good available options left for us with the grad transfer market at this point?
 
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