So on that 09-10 roster

[moqui]

Can't be understated: Andy Rautins is one of the most valuable players in school history. And he had good help from his coaches and the underclassmen on his final team.

I agree, and I will never be able to eat enough crow over my initial estimate of Andy.

I'll also add Arinze, too. With the exceptions of Devin Brennan-McBride and Sean Williams, AR and AO were probably the two lowest rated recruits of the last 10 years, both suffered injuries that forced them to sit out an entire season, but they persevered and anchored one of the best SU squads of all time and I think their never-quit examples and leadership were, as you noted, the turning point of the program.

 

[Knicks411]

For whatever its worth (maybe not much), but I do remember Pomeroy's ratings throughout the year thought more highly of Duke than the general consensus. Doesn't mean it was right, of course. Just a random thing I remember cause I'm a nerd.

Ont he 10 v 12 thing, UK is probably part of it. Though a lot of that is some revisionist history; it was more after the tournament run in 12 that most people realized how good UK was.

I hate arguing against a team that I loved so much, but we lost three regular season games to relatively mediocre competition (Pitt, Louisville 2x), and were losing to 8-seeded Georgetown in the BET late in the 2nd half before AO went down. We also had some escapes against bad (UConn) and incredibly bad (Depaul) teams. We were an excellent but certainly beatable team.

Yeah, and don't forget that 2 of those losses were at home. You'd think the 12 team might have the better argument, sicne we lost 1 game all year with Fab. I think Moqui's point is definitely valid, they were quite possibly the best team in the country with AO (who got a shoutout on an Open Court episode I saw last night), but that doesn't mean they walk away with the title. But I've seen multiple comments on here over the years to the effect of "no doubt we win the title if AO doesn't get h urt" and that is unknowable.

 

[Brooky03]

Just hoping to scratch you way onto a 15 man roster, even if that means an inactive assignment to the D League, is far from being a "lock."

Can they make it? of course. That's not my point


right off the top of my head: Mike Edwards, starting freshman point guard for the Preseason #1 Syracuse Orangemen

That may not be your point but that's the point of this thread. They are locks, in my opinion, to make an NBA roster. That's it.

And I said prove me wrong, not come up with an example or two.