With nothing to do and the world in a state of abject disaster, why not dream of a day when we can just focus on Syracuse basketball instead of our jobs or families! With that in mind, some thoughts on the storylines that could be interesting looking ahead. To me, I'd boil it down to three main questions that will determine whether we a tourney team or not. Not really sure our ceiling is really spending the year in the top 25 and being a legit threat to make a deep run, but hopefully I'm surprised. Having said that, don't really feel like we have to look at Elijah leaving as a complete death knell on the upcoming season.
For the purposes of this exercise I'm going to assume Griffin gets a waiver. If he doesn't then Q gobbles up more minutes and we probably get a longer look at Braswell (assuming he's healthy, I suppose) for better or for worse. I'll touch on that issue a bit later, but let's hope we get a waiver.
Storylines
1.) How do we replace Elijah Hughes as playmaker, leader?
For all the scoring we lose with Hughes, I'm not as concerned about our ability to, generally, put the ball in the basket. Feel like Dolezaj and Q can improve a bit, Griffin can add some scoring, a healthy Braswell could be a decent offensive player, Girard should improve, etc. Don't think we make up his 19 ppg entirely but think we should still score enough to be competitive.
The issue, to me, is that Hughes was such a positive presence as a leader -- particularly in a season when things could have very easily caved in and been a sub-.500 disaster with a not-so-positive presence in that role -- and that he developed into a really well-rounded playmaker -- got other players involved and created off the dribble, something we sorely lacked (and may still lack).
The leadership void should be something we can fill -- think Buddy/Dolezaj/Sidibe are really hard-working veterans, which is a good place to start, and Girard is a fiery competitor which could be infectious. The only issue is you never know until you see it play out.
The playmaking is tougher to know. Like Girard's passing and think he can be more dangerous if he shoots a little better and adds some creativity to his finishing inside the arc. But that's a tall order for a kid who's a little small and not going to blow by people. Buddy might add something to his game but again, not going to blow by guys and it's going to be tough for him to be a go-to option the way Hughes was. Griffin should help but the highlights of his year look a lot like Hughes' first-year syracuse highlights to me. It's pretty rare for a kid to go from that to what Hughes became off the dribble. People love Kadary and I hope they're right but tough to know what to expect as a frosh.
To me, this is the most difficult aspect to replace. Think we'll score enough but do we have someone we can lean on against physical teams and in crunch time to get a good look? Not entirely sure.
2) Elijah Hughes as defensive/rebounding weakness
The thing that gives me some hope for the season is we were a bad defensive team and either bad or horrible on the defensive glass for the entire two-year Hughes run. Obviously there are factors beyond Hughes' play for this but I found him to be an inconsistent defender and average-at-best rebounder, at least for what we ask our forwards to do in that regard.
The front line of an improved, senior year Sidibe, Dolezaj, Griffin and Q with perhaps some Braswell mixed in and maybe a more effective Edwards when he's called on, should make us better on the glass at a minimum. Q and Griffin are both good rebounders, Braswell has some really nice length and seems to have some solid instincts on both ends of the floor. Dolezaj appears to be adding some weight so assuming it's not Tyler Lydon/Jameel Dumas weight, that could help him be a bit less of a pushover. Sidibe, and I'm not sure people give him enough credit for htis, is a really good rebounder for his position. Dude averaged 7+ boards a game as a center. Since we went exclusively (or at least almost exclusively) to zone in the 95-96 season, only Etan (2x), Rick Jackson in his year as a center, and Rak have eclipsed or equaled Sidibe's 7.6 rpg from last season. The kid worked hard even though it wasn't always with great results.
Buddy and Girard are what they are as a backcourt and that likely won't be particularly good defensively. But if those two can at least improve -- and with girard I feel like it's a consistent intensity on that end of the floor that would at least help -- we could ultimately be at least a bit better defensively and much better on the defensive glass. If you look at our schedule, we had a ton of games where we just got completely destroyed on the glass -- PedSt, UVA (first game), Georgetown, Oklahoma State, Louisville, Carolina (first game), Clemson, Duke, Florida State, etc. Have to feel like we can hold our own a bit better there even if we're not an elite rebounding team this season.
Not sure anyone will agree with that, but it could really help particularly when you're look at really trying to add 2-4 wins, not 5-7 wins, which I don't think we're going to do.
3) Third-guard factor
The loss of all three guards to transfer this season was surprising to me but really the key loss is Goodine. I think many here overstate how much he should have been playing last year but there's no doubt losing him hurts. Had he improved his offensive game -- had the makings of a capable shooter and passer who needed to improve his handle and aggressiveness there -- he would have made an ideal complement to buddy/girard b/c he was clearly a much better defensive presence.
Having said that, we're left with Kadary. The questions here are these: Can he be good enough defensively to get on the floor? and Can he be a playmaker who JB can trust offensively? Both are intriguing b/c he clearly has talent offensively but he can't turn the ball over as often as he makes a play. He won't earn crunch-time minutes that way. And defensively I'm just not sure what he brings. He should be our most athletic and perhaps longest guard but does he actually play defense? Feel like this remains a question.
Ultimately he should get an opportunity here, but how effective he can be -- as high as many posters are on him -- remains a question, IMO.
Anyway, think those will be interesting plots to watch this season. Are there others? Not sure. Don't see woody or JBA being big factors, but perhaps I'm wrong. Maybe Anselem is something if we get him? Not sure. We shall see I guess.
For the purposes of this exercise I'm going to assume Griffin gets a waiver. If he doesn't then Q gobbles up more minutes and we probably get a longer look at Braswell (assuming he's healthy, I suppose) for better or for worse. I'll touch on that issue a bit later, but let's hope we get a waiver.
Storylines
1.) How do we replace Elijah Hughes as playmaker, leader?
For all the scoring we lose with Hughes, I'm not as concerned about our ability to, generally, put the ball in the basket. Feel like Dolezaj and Q can improve a bit, Griffin can add some scoring, a healthy Braswell could be a decent offensive player, Girard should improve, etc. Don't think we make up his 19 ppg entirely but think we should still score enough to be competitive.
The issue, to me, is that Hughes was such a positive presence as a leader -- particularly in a season when things could have very easily caved in and been a sub-.500 disaster with a not-so-positive presence in that role -- and that he developed into a really well-rounded playmaker -- got other players involved and created off the dribble, something we sorely lacked (and may still lack).
The leadership void should be something we can fill -- think Buddy/Dolezaj/Sidibe are really hard-working veterans, which is a good place to start, and Girard is a fiery competitor which could be infectious. The only issue is you never know until you see it play out.
The playmaking is tougher to know. Like Girard's passing and think he can be more dangerous if he shoots a little better and adds some creativity to his finishing inside the arc. But that's a tall order for a kid who's a little small and not going to blow by people. Buddy might add something to his game but again, not going to blow by guys and it's going to be tough for him to be a go-to option the way Hughes was. Griffin should help but the highlights of his year look a lot like Hughes' first-year syracuse highlights to me. It's pretty rare for a kid to go from that to what Hughes became off the dribble. People love Kadary and I hope they're right but tough to know what to expect as a frosh.
To me, this is the most difficult aspect to replace. Think we'll score enough but do we have someone we can lean on against physical teams and in crunch time to get a good look? Not entirely sure.
2) Elijah Hughes as defensive/rebounding weakness
The thing that gives me some hope for the season is we were a bad defensive team and either bad or horrible on the defensive glass for the entire two-year Hughes run. Obviously there are factors beyond Hughes' play for this but I found him to be an inconsistent defender and average-at-best rebounder, at least for what we ask our forwards to do in that regard.
The front line of an improved, senior year Sidibe, Dolezaj, Griffin and Q with perhaps some Braswell mixed in and maybe a more effective Edwards when he's called on, should make us better on the glass at a minimum. Q and Griffin are both good rebounders, Braswell has some really nice length and seems to have some solid instincts on both ends of the floor. Dolezaj appears to be adding some weight so assuming it's not Tyler Lydon/Jameel Dumas weight, that could help him be a bit less of a pushover. Sidibe, and I'm not sure people give him enough credit for htis, is a really good rebounder for his position. Dude averaged 7+ boards a game as a center. Since we went exclusively (or at least almost exclusively) to zone in the 95-96 season, only Etan (2x), Rick Jackson in his year as a center, and Rak have eclipsed or equaled Sidibe's 7.6 rpg from last season. The kid worked hard even though it wasn't always with great results.
Buddy and Girard are what they are as a backcourt and that likely won't be particularly good defensively. But if those two can at least improve -- and with girard I feel like it's a consistent intensity on that end of the floor that would at least help -- we could ultimately be at least a bit better defensively and much better on the defensive glass. If you look at our schedule, we had a ton of games where we just got completely destroyed on the glass -- PedSt, UVA (first game), Georgetown, Oklahoma State, Louisville, Carolina (first game), Clemson, Duke, Florida State, etc. Have to feel like we can hold our own a bit better there even if we're not an elite rebounding team this season.
Not sure anyone will agree with that, but it could really help particularly when you're look at really trying to add 2-4 wins, not 5-7 wins, which I don't think we're going to do.
3) Third-guard factor
The loss of all three guards to transfer this season was surprising to me but really the key loss is Goodine. I think many here overstate how much he should have been playing last year but there's no doubt losing him hurts. Had he improved his offensive game -- had the makings of a capable shooter and passer who needed to improve his handle and aggressiveness there -- he would have made an ideal complement to buddy/girard b/c he was clearly a much better defensive presence.
Having said that, we're left with Kadary. The questions here are these: Can he be good enough defensively to get on the floor? and Can he be a playmaker who JB can trust offensively? Both are intriguing b/c he clearly has talent offensively but he can't turn the ball over as often as he makes a play. He won't earn crunch-time minutes that way. And defensively I'm just not sure what he brings. He should be our most athletic and perhaps longest guard but does he actually play defense? Feel like this remains a question.
Ultimately he should get an opportunity here, but how effective he can be -- as high as many posters are on him -- remains a question, IMO.
Anyway, think those will be interesting plots to watch this season. Are there others? Not sure. Don't see woody or JBA being big factors, but perhaps I'm wrong. Maybe Anselem is something if we get him? Not sure. We shall see I guess.
