Jasoncuse
2022 Iggy Winner: NCAA Tourament
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2011
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You don't understand how not being able to field a roster with personnel well suited for all of the positions is a significant problem? If Tucker [for example] chooses to play elsewhere, then our roster as currently constituted wouldn't have a true small forward on next year's squad, and would likely have to resort to pursuing a band aid via the 5th year transfer option.
I think it is dumb to knock the other schools. There are a variety of reasons why an athlete might choose to go to Oregon or even Georgia Tech instead of here. But our basic inability to land prospects at key positions of need and perpetually getting locked into focusing only on one target while other targets are out there is a problem.
Keep in mind that heading into the class of 2017, everyone knew / understood well in advance that this was an important class, and that we needed to stock up on the perimeter positions. Right now, we've got half the class filled, half of the available scholarships still unclaimed, and the two guys we lined up in November both project as bigs, not wings / guards. Howard Washington was a nice depth pick-up. But who starts at 1 and 3 next season?
I hope that we land both Tucker and Ayala--I really do. That group would a really nice class, and plug most if not all of our roster's holes. But the fact that neither of these guys has committed, and that we're seemingly all in on both of them [yet again] is worrisome. And in the case of Ayala -- I would love to land this kid. But it is frustrating that an unprecedented number of top 100 point guards have shaken loose this spring, and we haven't pursued actively any of them in lieu of focusing exclusively on Ayala. Hope it pans out, because if not we made the same mistake we made with Green.
I'm not disagreeing with what you've been saying. As I attempted to say, our philosophy is the problem, not necessarily the actual program. I have no idea what JB is doing going after 1 kid at each position. It's flat out silly, IMO. I've said that, like numerous others have. I hate how this program has recruited, how they only recruit specific types of players from specific areas, and now it's getting even more questionable. I'm just saying that if they choose elsewhere, it doesn't necessarily have to be a knock on Syracuse.
Guard play fuels college basketball, yet Syracuse seems to refuse to get with the program. Our best years have been mostly lead by terrific PG's. Yet, that position remains an afterthought. The current team is going to be awful on offense, barring some miraculous improvement, so a Tucker is obviously a monster recruit to get. Overlooking, or not even bothering with any of the guards that recently became available is flat out insane to me, especially with who we have penciled in at PG.
I don't disagree with any of it. I just think a kid choosing another school that he feels is best for him doesn't have to be a knock on SU.