Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="Flacusian, post: 1766378, member: 264"] And the "hits" just keep on happening. Really a deflating loss and it comes on the heels of what has seemed like a litany of disappointing developments. I have to admit that when I saw Jake's assessment of 85% I made the big mistake of letting myself get really excited about the prospect of having a tremendous stroke of luck for what seems like the first time in a long, long time. It really isn't any one thing in particular that deflates an optimistic outlook for the programs future but rather it's the cumulative effect of a steady stream of less than desirable occurrences having to be swallowed over a period of time. As was pointed out in an earlier post, when we do have the success of landing a player with talent and promise they aren't so impactful that they can bring us to the promised land but rather they are successful enough to get drafted and go to the league and leave us scrambling to get an adequate replacement. A component in Syracuse's consistent success in putting highly competitive teams out on the floor has been recruiting kids who while not necessarily top 10 or 15 ranked players, stayed around long enough to develop into major contributors and because they were in the program for more than a year or 2 they provided continuity and consistency for our program. The list of recent players who we got that were close to the top of their recruiting classes and didn't stick around long enough to pay handsome dividends AND CONTINUITY is getting to be quite sizeable. I think when considering these players it certainly needs to be acknowledged that they did contribute but it also needs to be tempered by negative effect felt by the program when by departing early or perhaps prior to when their departure may have been expected it had an adverse effect on the program. MCW... although 2 yrs is certainly better than one. Also largely responsible for final 4 run / net +2 McCullough... was a huge get and really didn't make any positive impact on the program. in spite of being injured pretty much his entire Freshman year oped for the draft. -2 Jerami Grant Again, 2 years is better than one but a 3rd year would have really been a difference maker for Syracuse. His leaving didn't really leave us without people to step in and pick up the slack but the program never fully reaped the benefits of his huge talent and physical gifts. +1/ +.5 Ennis: Perhaps arrived on the Hill the most game ready player since Carmelo. Certainly not in the same league talent wise as Melo but had poise beyond his years. The half court heave in the Pittsburgh game will be long remembered...perhaps also as the shot that landed right in the 1st round of the NBA draft. His contributions that one year were huge...BUT... His early and unexpected departure led to us to Kaleb Joseph and 2 subsequent years of almost the entire team playing outside of their natural positions. We are still feeling the effect of this one. -2 Kaleb Joseph. This kid seemed like he had a lot of promise. But as mentioned above he wasn't ready and ostensibly was going to have 1 year as Ennis's understudy to prepare himself for the big show in the Dome. He was thrust into a spot that he clearly wasn't ready for. His 2nd year was essentially a wasted scholarship. -3 And then there are the players we brought in thinking that at some point... they would make contributions and fill the needs of the program. Every time you offer a ship to a player you take up a spot that another kid might have had. Chiniso Okoboh ...never really panned out as someone who could play at this level -1 Ron Patterson. He got on the Buss out of town without contributing much of anything There were plenty of metrics on this kid prior to him being offered... this was a swing and a miss for sure. -1 B.J. Johnson I think that this one is really "the one that got away" I still feel that this kid could have been a contributor and would have been one of the kinds of players that through an extended career at Syracuse would have had the chance to be one of the "glue guys" that provide continuity and consistency in the program. He had length, he could shoot. ( he would have come around on this had he been given more time and minutes) Through no fault of his own I think his having been here is a net loss. -1 Mali Wow, this one still stings cuz it's so fresh. No argument that this kid was a special talent. Still hard to wrap my head around the fact that 2 good halves on a big stage spells bye-bye in this day and age. Getting 2 years out of this kid would have paid huge dividends for the program. But now we are faced with what coulda been... and have been through the pre draft emotional roller coaster that comes with the one and dones who weren't necessarily figured to be such. Again, like MCW, the kid had a big part in taking us close to the summit but then it was adios amigos. At least he doesn't leave a gaping hole ala Ennis. +1.5 Finally, I think my main contention is that it's safe to say that Syracuse is not in the same league as Kentucky, Duke, Kansas, North Carolina, and maybe one or two others in that they have the ability to consistently recruit and sign the top players from each class year after year and when they get an early departure / one and done they have a bevy of other similarly talented recruits that they can reload with and move ahead , business as usual. We seem to currently be stuck in this no mans land in which the best players we recruit now seem to play well enough to get drafted in the first round but more often than not their departure creates a void which cannot as easily be filled with a player of similar talent because we simply are one tier down in terms of being able to land the top players. So even though we have upped our game as far as getting better and more talented players in the past 6 or 7 years, we have paid a price in terms of the programs continuity and consistency. With the sanctions we are now subject to it makes this phenomenon even more apparent. It's my belief that Lydon is perhaps the most valuable commodity / player we have right now because he oozes talent, has a great work ethic, has been impactful since day one and he is sticking around to pay dividends for more than one year. We need more Tyler Lydons and more CJ Fairs, and more Trevor Cooneys and Rakeem Christmas's. Those guys are the staple and stable components that you build program consistency and continuity with. It's getting ever increasingly rare to find those kids in college basketball. It's also nice as a fan to watch a player develop over an extended Syracuse Basketball Career and you don't have to be reluctant to really jump on their bandwagon as a fan. We all know what the problems are that have led to this type of scenario in college basketball. And it's a damn shame because I have so many great memories of former players who stuck around for a spell and made their mark on the program while carving out a place in our hearts as fans. So... we might have lost out on this Turkish phenom... but give me a 3 or 4 year guy who can play and bleeds Orange and I'll be just fine. [/QUOTE]

Verification: What is a Syracuse fan's favorite color?