Some observations and questions

[OrangeBear]

This is my first full year as fan of Syracuse basketball. Based on what I have seen I like the fact that this team does play solid defense most of the time but is simply not good enough on offense to be a major factor come NCAA tourn. However, IF we get the right draw, this team can make a run as they have yet to be completely outmatched by ANY team they have played all year (this is where the defense has been such a factor). As has been stated by many on here, I am not huge fan of either of the guards as they are waaay too streaky and the worst part is that they seem to make really poor decisions at crucial moments in the game. I watch A LOT of college basketball aside from Cuse and Baylor and I have to say CJ Fair has to be one of the most smooth and solid basketball players I have seen in a while. The guy rarely makes poor decisions and on offense seems to have the ability to score anywhere. This leads me to a few of my questions:
1) Why is CJ Fair not HIGER on the NBA radar. I feel like he barely has any glaring weakness and is a CLEAR 3 at the NBA level?
2) We will be replacing the entire backcourt next year. What are the chances that the guys replacing the current two could be better than MCW and Triche NEXT YEAR? And what are the chances the team we field next year can actually be better than this one? I am not a big MCW fan and don't think he will be in NBA for long but I have to say the guy does create a lot of disruption on the defensive end so that will be missed.
3) Don’t flame me for asking this but does anyone know how we are doing APR wise for next year? Cuse and Baylor are playing in Hawaii next year and I am seriously considering going but only if both teams have potential to do something. I don’t expect Baylor to be a tourn team next unless they end up surprising and if Cuse is not eligible then no point in going.

 

[jec1521]

I agree. Anything is possible. I remember LVille fans last year just hoping to get out of the 1st weekend and they ended up in the Final Four. That being said, it ain't lookin' good.

Anyways,

1. Really not sure to be honest. Maybe they think he has reached his potential and won't get any better, as far as the NBA is concerned. Too much of the NBA is based off of potential.

2. Honestly, I don't think we will miss MCW and Triche much. Ennis is supposedly ready to start, and Gbinje is as well. That being said, it puts us in a very risky situation. Backcourt will not be our strongsuit next year.

3. Don't know. Sorry.

 

[Jeremy L.]

1) Why is CJ Fair not HIGER on the NBA radar. I feel like he barely has any glaring weakness and is a CLEAR 3 at the NBA level?
2) We will be replacing the entire backcourt next year. What are the chances that the guys replacing the current two could be better than MCW and Triche NEXT YEAR? And what are the chances the team we field next year can actually be better than this one? I am not a big MCW fan and don't think he will be in NBA for long but I have to say the guy does create a lot of disruption on the defensive end so that will be missed.
3) Don’t flame me for asking this but does anyone know how we are doing APR wise for next year? Cuse and Baylor are playing in Hawaii next year and I am seriously considering going but only if both teams have potential to do something. I don’t expect Baylor to be a tourn team next unless they end up surprising and if Cuse is not eligible then no point in going.

1. Mainly because C.J. isn't one of those players with ridiculous potential. On nbadraft.net he's in the first round of the 2014 draft. He is going to be amazing next year IMO. Think of him as a Kris Joseph, solid four-year player who Boeheim developed into a perfect wing man for Syracuse. He will be drafted next year.

2. We obviously don't know until our players step on the court next year. Ennis, Mike G., Patterson are all capable of getting solid minutes. In 2010 we were worried about replacing Jonny Flynn as our PG, we got Wes Johnson to play and had one of the best Syracuse teams ever. So it may not look like we will be better, but you won't know until they step on the floor. I think for what we are losing and what we are getting, we have a decent chance to be better.

3. As long as players are going to class we should be okay lol. MCW had a 3.2 in the Fall semester, so that's good...

Hope that helps.

 

[OrangeBear]

1. Mainly because C.J. isn't one of those players with ridiculous potential. On nbadraft.net he's in the first round of the 2014 draft. He is going to be amazing next year IMO. Think of him as a Kris Joseph, solid four-year player who Boeheim developed into a perfect wing man for Syracuse. He will be drafted next year.

2. We obviously don't know until our players step on the court next year. Ennis, Mike G., Patterson are all capable of getting solid minutes. In 2010 we were worried about replacing Jonny Flynn as our PG, we got Wes Johnson to play and had one of the best Syracuse teams ever. So it may not look like we will be better, but you won't know until they step on the floor. I think for what we are losing and what we are getting, we have a decent chance to be better.

3. As long as players are going to class we should be okay lol. MCW had a 3.2 in the Fall semester, so that's good...

Hope that helps.

Yeah I love CJ's game...really hope he gets a real shot in the NBA..seems to already be a under the NBA radar guy like Chandler Parsons from Florida who is doing really well with the Rockets.

As far as the guards for next year, I just hope to god they can make jump shots.

So the APR is dependent on how the players are doing this year as well, right? Hopefully they will come through so that way this is not an issue.

 

[Melancer46]

This is my first full year as fan of Syracuse basketball. Based on what I have seen I like the fact that this team does play solid defense most of the time but is simply not good enough on offense to be a major factor come NCAA tourn. However, IF we get the right draw, this team can make a run as they have yet to be completely outmatched by ANY team they have played all year (this is where the defense has been such a factor). As has been stated by many on here, I am not huge fan of either of the guards as they are waaay too streaky and the worst part is that they seem to make really poor decisions at crucial moments in the game. I watch A LOT of college basketball aside from Cuse and Baylor and I have to say CJ Fair has to be one of the most smooth and solid basketball players I have seen in a while. The guy rarely makes poor decisions and on offense seems to have the ability to score anywhere. This leads me to a few of my questions:
1) Why is CJ Fair not HIGER on the NBA radar. I feel like he barely has any glaring weakness and is a CLEAR 3 at the NBA level?
2) We will be replacing the entire backcourt next year. What are the chances that the guys replacing the current two could be better than MCW and Triche NEXT YEAR? And what are the chances the team we field next year can actually be better than this one? I am not a big MCW fan and don't think he will be in NBA for long but I have to say the guy does create a lot of disruption on the defensive end so that will be missed.
3) Don’t flame me for asking this but does anyone know how we are doing APR wise for next year? Cuse and Baylor are playing in Hawaii next year and I am seriously considering going but only if both teams have potential to do something. I don’t expect Baylor to be a tourn team next unless they end up surprising and if Cuse is not eligible then no point in going.

1. He doesn't really have many translatable NBA skills. He's too small for a PF but not skilled enough for a SF. He doesn't really have NBA range. He's very efficient in the mid-range, but it takes a lot of time for him to get his shot off. He doesn't really have any ball-handling skills (not as bad as Southerland, but not much better either). And personally, I just think he's a great college player and that's it. In the same way that I felt like Terrence Jones was a great college player, but didn't really have skills that translate to the next level, I feel the same way about Fair. I don't think that the ways in which he scores in college will work for him in the NBA. He'll get a chance as a 2nd round pick or maybe a late 1st, but it's going to take a lot of hard work for him to develop an NBA game.

2. MCW is going to be tough to replace. I think Gbinje will be good. I think Cooney will be far improved from this year, and Ennis should be good too. I think it's going to be tough to replace MCW, but we should be deeper in the very least, so when one of our guards have a poor game like MCW and Triche have had a few times this year, we'll hopefully have someone else that can step up the way that we had last year.