The view from here

[SWC75]

I normally don’t go into a deep dive on the recruits until I do my preview in the fall but I think that this class that is being brought in is critical to the program at this juncture. This new group, together with the class of 2023 that is now being recruited, will be the nucleus of the SU basketball program for the next few years while we try to come back from this. They may also be inherited by the next coach and have a lot to do with his success, or the lack of it.

I put each of their names: Quadir Copeland, (#143 nationally/#21 combo guard per 247), Justin Taylor, (#108/#26 small forward), Chris Bunch, (#96/#25 small forward), Maliq Brown (#235/#50 power forward), and Peter Carey, (#264/#59 power forward), into search engine and read everything in the first five pages. I clicked on “videos” and watched everything that came up. I then went our basketball recruiting page and read through the threads on each player.

Reading the threads was an interesting exercise. The pattern as that the interest of the player in the schools and the school in the player was reported and our posters would begin wondering who they were and start to collect information and videos. There would be comparisons to other prospects and debates about which ones we wanted. Many posters were very enthusiastic about Quadir, Justin, Chris, Maliq and Peter. Others preferred other targets, such as Dior Johnson, (#23/4th point guard) who committed to us and backed out and will be playing for Oregon, Zion Cruz (#38/#2 shooting guard) who is going to DePaul, JJ Starling (#30/#5 combo guard), a local kid who opted for Notre Dame, Chance Westry (#31/#9 small forward) who committed to rising power Auburn, Kamari Lands (#47/#13 small forward), who also committed and then backed out before choosing Louisville, Kyle Filipowski, (#3/#2 center) – Duke, of course, and Donovan Clingan (#43/#10 center) who will play for our old pals, the Connecticut Huskies. A more recent development has been our attempts to coax Judah Mintz, (#53/#9 combo guard), who will probably announce next week and is said to favor joining Zion Cruz at DePaul, which is obviously making a big comeback. What a class we could have made of five of them!

As the higher rated recruits broke away the focus became getting commitments from the five guys we got. Praise for them increased. The highlight films were reviewed and created excitement, (that’s what highlight films are designed to do). There was a lot of tension, hoping and even praying as each kid made their decision. When they finally decided on Syracuse, there was joyous celebration and congratulations to Jim Boeheim and the staff, (mostly Gerry McNamara) and all the hard work they did. There were stories about their visiting the player’s games frequently, (they were pointed out in the stands in some videos and pictures), of Jim Boeheim picking up a player himself at the Syracuse airport and having him over for a barbeque, maintaining contact with texts and other social media, etc. The future was secured.

Then the SU basketball season started. We lost too many early games and the team’s limitations were constantly discussed. Posters soured not just on the team but the coaching staff. This seemed to invade the threads on the new recruits. Their strengths stopped being discussed and their limitations or questions were emphasized. The belief that the new class’s mediocrity compared to the guys we have/should have gotten guaranteed that the program will continue to be mediocre at best. At worst, the same things that happened to the football program in the 2000’s and the lacrosse program in the teens was now happening to the basketball program: it was falling apart. The coaches were now blamed for not doing enough to get the real blue chippers. That old picture of Jim Boeheim falling asleep at a summer league game in a high school gym was summoned up to represent Jim’s supposed attitude toward recruiting and the future of the program in general. His statement about this being a “great season” despite a 16-17 record because he got to coach his sons was thrown onto the fire. Things were pretty bleak and the supposed mediocrity of the new class was said to symbolize it.

I decided to develop my own opinions of these players, hopefully without an agenda other than my natural fan’s position of hoping for the best. The first thing I did was to click on the “history” buttons on 247. I found that in the past Justin Taylor has been ranked as high as #48 nationally, Chris Bunch as high as #70 and Maliq Brown as high as #81. Copeland has never gotten higher than #140 and Carey wasn’t even rated until 10/21/21 and his rating has not changed. A big factor has been the pandemic, which canceled season and limited other means of exposure such as camps and AAU ball. Peter Carey missed one season due to the pandemic and this past year due to an injury. The experts can’t rate or re-rate players they didn’t see. Still, hopeful predictions that our guys were going to “blow-up” in the ratings have yet to come true.

The ratings have always been controversial. They are basically a snapshot of a player at a moment early in his development. Some guys are good at that point but never get better. Some could get better but aren’t coachable or get in trouble or don’t hit the books or get injured. Other guys get steadily better or sometimes suddenly better. Sherman Douglas was an “under-the-radar” guy when he committed and a McDonald’s All-American by the time he arrived here. I still remember thinking we’d recruited a new “Fab Five” in 1996 with #6 Winfred Walton, #19 Ramel Lloyd, #38 LeSean Howard, #48 Jason Hart and #64 Etan Thomas. Walton never played for us and his career petered out. Lloyd left after one year and Howard after two without cracking the starting line-up. The two lowest rated guys stayed for four years and were part of a team as seniors that won their first 19 games, rose to a #2 national ranking and gave national champion Michigan State a scare in their own back yard. Oshae Brissett was #137 nationally and the #30 small forward and averaged 14.9 points and 8.8 rebounds as a freshman. Benny Williams was #32/#8 at the same position and as a freshman here averaged 1.9 points and 1.4 rebounds. Two years ago there was a point guard battle between Jalen Carey (#61/#7), Brycen Goodine (#97/#15) and Joe Girard (#202/#29) and Joe won. Joe in three years has scored 1,126 points and dished out 350 assists. Jalen: 323/67, Brycen: 110/26. Buddy Boeheim #349/#77 just led the ACC in scoring and his unrated brother Jimmy scored 28 points on Duke.

Basketball’s popularity has been expanding steadily since the 1960’s. More and more people have been playing the game and instruction has gotten better and earlier. It may be that these days a #50 guy is as good as a #20 used to be and a #100 guy might be as good as a #50 guy used to be and a #200 guy might be as good as a #100 guy used to be. Maybe that 1996 class wasn’t as much better than the 2022 class and the rankings made it seem. Also, the difference between rankings may get progressively smaller as you go down the list. The top 5-10 guys are the real blue chips who might be All-Americans as freshmen and then jump to the NBA. The next 20 guys might be about the same and the next 30-40 guys might be about the same and the next 50-60 guys might be about the same, etc.

Or maybe I’m just trying to rationalize what we missed out on and what we wound up with. A school that consistently recruits top 100 players will be consistently better than a school that doesn’t. A school that consistently recruits top 50 players will usually beat them and a school like Duke that has a line-up full of McDonald’s All-Americans will be hard for anyone to deal with. We are the school with the largest arena and largest crowds, no competition from pro sports, a Hall of Fame coach and, until recently, the longest streak of winning seasons in the country. Why should we be excited about a five-man class of players ranked #96, #108, #143, #235 and #264?

The next step was to look again at the highlight films and see what conclusions could be drawn. Some disclaimers: I’m a sucker for a good highlight film. They are highlight films, not lowlight films, All the shots go in and all the passes go right to the intended guy. Many of them contain no defensive plays. (Were there any?) It could be argued that a lowlight film might tell us more about a player. The competition is high school and prep school kids, not college kids. Big guys vs. no big guys doesn’t tell you much. But most action clips are against top teams or against top players at a camp or competition, so they might mean something. In the end you look for traits and skills that look like they might convert to college ball. Also, my theory is that if I see a player do something good, he’s not going to lose the ability to do that, even if he doesn’t do it in another clip or a game somebody watched.

Here’s a summary of each player’s tapes along with a links to what I considered to be the most interesting ones:

 

[SWC75]

QUADIR COPELAND
Quadir is not a combo guard. He is clearly a point guard, at least on offense. On defense, due to his size, they often have him inside, guarding the paint. This may be a reason why his defense gets downgraded: he’s not used to being out front. He might also lack quickness out there. A concern for this class is that everyone is basically the size of a college forward, which might make it hard to cover guards effectively. Quadir has long arms, which give his dribble an odd look, with the elbows sticking out. it gives him a high dribble and makes him look awkward but another trait negates those things: he’d got to have huge hands. He can easily pass and dunk or make lay-ups with one hand. He can whistle fastballs into the post like he was Nolan Ryan. Our players will have to watch out for his passes or a lot of them will wind up out of bounds. But he could get a lot of spectacular Leo Rautins-like assists rocketed to the baseline if Cope’s teammates can coordinate with him. Quadir can also make sweeping Dr. J-like moves to get lay-ups and dunks, (if they work, then you can make that comparison). He can make one-handed dunks. He likes to over-dramatize his plays by falling down at the end, maybe to draw a foul. That could work sometimes and not work other times. If he doesn’t get the basket or the foul, he’s going to look kind of silly lying down on the floor like that. Those long arms and big hands could come in handy in a zone and also make him a superb rebounding guard. His tapes show an occasional outside shot and, of course they all go in. But he doesn’t have a jump shooters reputation. People “like his swag”. I hope JB will, too.
This is Cope’s best tape. He’s #20 in most shots, #13 in some. It’s all about breaking down the defense, creating his own shot, shoveling it, (a good term for his passing style) to teammates, etc. Too many trips to the floor and no defensive highlights but an impressive tape nonetheless.
Rowan Brumbaugh vs Quadir Copeland; Top 100 PG Showdown!!
Here Quadir’s IMG team gets beat by a team led by another point guard prospect, Rowan Brumbaugh, (#79/#12 – going to Texas). Brumbaugh, (#2), has more highlights so he appears to have out-played Copeland (#3), who still has a few: a nice pull-up jumper, a couple of passes inside, a penetration and dish for the three, an outside shot. Brumbaugh is usually the guy guarding Copeland but Copeland is rarely the guy guarding Brumbaugh.
DJ Wagner vs. Quadir Copeland!! Camden Remains Undefeated
Here Quadir (#23) goes up against next year’s #1 national recruit, DJ Wagner, (who we are trying to get to come here). Again his team loses and again Copeland plays inside on defense but he’s clearly a point guard on offense, an excellent penetrator and passer who can also knock down a jump shot or rise for one and rifle a pass to the baseline. This game was an exciting end-to-end game and Cope seemed comfortable with that pace. Despite being a big guard, he does not need to slow everything down to play at a preferred pace, the way Billy Edelin did. He’s also willing to throw the ball downcourt rather than weave his way up the court as so many of our recent point guards have done. I was also impressed that he seemed to take a role in preventing a fight early in the game, as a leader would.
DARIQ WHITEHEAD, RODNEY RICE Team Durant vs. QUADIR COPELAND & Team Melo HOOP GROUP JAM FEST
I just like his look in this one, (he’s #4). He looks strong and smooth. He has an NBA body. He’s in control of himself and of the ball.
QUADIR COPELAND is the BEST KEPT SECRET IN PENNSYLVANIA! BOUT TO BE FAMOUS! 6' 6" Guard 2021
This one focuses on his passing ability. Look out!
QUADIR COPELAND "SHOWS OUT AT CHOSEN LEAGUE" (Philly) 2021
This one shows how many different ways he can finish.
Team Melo 17U Guard #4 Quadir Copeland
this one shows how much he loves to fall down- but that he can keep his feet when he wants to.

Summary: Are there 142 better recruits coming out of high/prep school this year? I think not. Quadir looks like a dominant guard on offense who has all the skills you’d want to see and a tall, strong NBA-ready body with long arms and huge hands that allow him to do things with the ball most other players – even the highly rated ones - can’t do. His form on his jump shot looks good. The big question is his defense but I think with that body he can be taught to be a strong top of the key defender in our zone. I think he’ll be the best point guard we’ve had since the MCW/Tyler Ennis days and that could make a huge difference for us.

 

[SWC75]

JUSTIN TAYLOR
Justin is advertised as a Buddy Boeheim look-alike, play-alike shooting guard. I expected to see someone who was probably ahead of where Buddy was as a freshman but not yet what Buddy is now. Instead I saw in Taylor’s tapes everything I’ve seen from Buddy: three pointers, pull-ups, drives into the paint to score. Again, all the shots go in highlight films but Justin’s form was good and his shot was quick and (unlike Chris Bunch, below), was released at a high points. I’m not sure he has Buddy’s range. My big concern is that was that Justin was growing out of the Buddy mold into a full-fledged forward. He‘s grown to 6-7 and some predict 6-8. He seems strongly built. We may have recruited an entire team of forwards. I’m wondering if one reason for the late interest in Judah Mintz, other than his high ranking is that we needed a true guard in the class. (Mintz is 6-3). Then Justin hit a bad shooting slump at Peach Jam, including an 0 for 12 game. It led some posters to say that he’s not going to be ready to help up next year or maybe ever. He sure looks like he could help in his tapes.
The first thing we see is a one-handed dunk. Have you ever seen Buddy do that? There’s also a fade-away pull-up in front of a taller player, a shot blocked from above downward, drives to the basket from every angle, an alley-oop pass from three-point range, etc. Justin, (#5), seems to have solid dribbling skills- not the barely controlled Buddy style. There’s not a lot of outside jumpers but the ones that are there show a good, quick form. Buddy would have to improve to be this good and this kid’s still in high school.
Justin Taylor, c/o 2022, 6’4 SG/W, St. Anne’s Belfield, Charlottesville, VA, July 2018
Here’s one from 2018. Justin, (#1) already looks as good as Buddy.
2022 Justin Taylor: 6'6 Top 50 SG/Wing, St Anne's Belfield School (STAB) Charlottesville, VA
This one starts out to be about Taylor’s, (#5), jumpers. He shows plenty of range, a quick release and a high arc that will make him virtually unblockable. Then it shows him on the break, goring coast to coast or giving it the old stop and pop. Then it’s about his passing, which reminded me of Andy Rautins.
Highlights of Justin Taylor playing in CBG Fall & Winter League
What I like about this tape is that it has two sequences showing something that is usually absent from highlight films - sneaker-to-sneaker defense. At 24 second and 3:25 we see Justin, (#32), take on guys who want to get to the basket and out-maneuver them, barring the way. Both lead to blocks by Justin, who likes to block the ball down rather than into the third row. That gives him or a teammate a chance to get to it.

Summary: Again, there are 107 recruits better than this one? He may have had a shooting slump at the wrong time but the tape is evidence of his capabilities. He may be better as a freshman than the senior Buddy.

 

[SWC75]

CHRIS BUNCH
Chris was the last piece to the puzzle, (unless Mintz shows up) and the highest ranked at #96. The new class has bene described as “springy”, meaning they are athletic and can jump. Bunch may be the springiest. He’s 6-7 (or 6-8) and a lean 185 (or 197). He’s a three-level scorer, although there are concerns about the form of his jump shot. The release seems too low, meaning not only can it be blocked but he could be crowded into not shooting at all. That could be corrected. He is a strong ‘help’ defender who loves to come out of the ether to block shots, especially from behind, not unlike Alan Griffin did against Buffalo last season. If they can fix Bunch’s shot, he could be another Griffin, (hopefully the interested version). The high end could be that he becomes another Wes Johnson, another great ‘help’ defender who was a similar size when he was here and had similar hops.
This one shows Chris’s (#3 – before he changed his hairdo), penchant for blocking shots. He also drives to the basket well. We don’t get a look at his shooting style. He seems young here, like he still has some growing up to do.
Chris Bunch (2022/Team Griffin) - War Before The Storm Highlights 3/28/2021
This shows the release point of his jump shot that has caused such concern. Chris (#8) seems to shoot from the chest, or the shoulders, not above his head. He needs a lot of room to shoot and takes a while to get the shot up.
Pro Insight: Tale of the | 2022 prospect Chris Bunch | July 2021
This one features some good defensive plays, most in the open court but one underneath the basket. Chris (#4), loves to trap players and force a bad pass. He should be good in our zone when it’s in trapping mode or in a full court press.
Chris Bunch c/o '22 Knockdown shooter showing up big.
I included this because Chris looks a little older and stronger, as well as a bit more emotional than the first one.

Comments: Chris looks like a good prospect but I have a feeling that he’s going to have to be developed physically and with that shot to become an important contributor, even if he’s the highest rated guy. I could believe that there were 95 better recruits in the country, (which is not an insult considering that there are 5 starting positions and 358 teams). I could see Justin Taylor becoming the ‘3’ before Chris. Could Chris, even though he’s 6-8, play the ‘2’?

 

[SWC75]

MALIQ BROWN
Maliq in his tapes looked like the most mature and ready to play of the five new recruits. His forte seems to be defense. He not only blocks shots and makes steals but he’s all over his man. He can make players disappear. He can also drive to the basket and score and pass. I suspect he’s also a good rebounder. The one thing I didn’t see was jump shot, which leads me to think, (after also seeing Peter Carey’s tapes) that, if the five new guys played as a unit, Brown, even though he may now be four inches shorter than Carey, would be the center while Carey would be more of a 7-1 forward. At the very least, Maliq would be an ideal ‘stretch-four’.
This well-structured tape informs us that Maliq, (#5), has a 7 foot wingspan, (which may be equal to Carey’s), and then gives us highlights of various aspects of his game. It shows off his excellent, (and probably big, like Quadir’s) hands. He can catch passes in stride without having to gather himself, (he’ll be great on the pick and roll), and also make steals, (sometimes right out of the hands of the man he’s defending), and block shots on the run. He’d be great on the press, defending the basket or even initiating the action at the other end. He has quick enough feet to maintain his position on defense and choke off drives. He looks like a good offensive rebounder and will get a lot of points on follow shots.
Blue Ridge's Maliq Brown's game highlights vs. McNamara in "Big-Bob" 55 Classic.
Here’s more good defensive plays, including closely guarding a guy 25 feet from the basket and even dogging a point guard as the takes the ball down the court. Maliq (#5) will be a lot quicker than other centers and more power forwards.
Maliq Brown '22
Here Malik (#5), demonstrates what good hands he has. He can easily catch passes and go right up and score. He can intercept passes in the air, (instead of knocking them down so that he or a teammate can retrieve them) and throws a powerful outlet pass of the sort DaJuan Coleman could throw, (but never got much of a chance to).
Best HS Frontcourt Tandem in the Country!
The description of this tape on You-Tube: “Maliq Brown and Houston Emory make up the toughest frontcourt in high school basketball. Standing at 6'9" and 6'10" respectively, each of their ability to score, facilitate, protect the rim and run the floor make them a force to be reckoned with on both ends.”
Emory resembles Carey, (who is a bit bigger) and this tape gives an impression of how well Brown (#5) plays with a fellow big man.

Comments: Are there 234 prospects better than this one in the country? I can’t imagine it. Maliq could be the answer is Cole Swider leaves, if Benny Williams just doesn’t have it or if Frank Anselem leaves. He looks like he could make an immediate difference for us, on defense and on the boards. And he wouldn’t be a non-scorer.

 

[SWC75]

PETER CAREY
Peter is now said to be 7-1 210 rather than 6-11 190 and may not be done growing. He seems like a typically skinny SU big man. But he’s very different from the Baye Keita, Paschal Chukwu type. He might be more similar to Jesse Edwards. But he’s a very well-coordinated big man who moves smoothly and can do things like turn-around jump shots we haven’t seen even from Jesse. His skill set suggests a forward more than center, even if it would mean a 7-1 forward. He can also really get up there for thunderous dunks and alley-oops as well as blocked shots. (This group will block a lot of shots.) There’s not a lot of tape on Peter because he’s missed the last two seasons to the pandemic and then a knee injury, which he says has healed. He’s an ‘X’ factor who may surprise us early but also might take a couple of years to fill out and refine his game. But he could turn out to be quite a player.

Peter Carey Commits to Syracuse Basketball, Discusses Decision

The Orange has its big for the 2022 recruiting class.

www.si.com

Peter, (#31), looks very quick, even explosive and is also very active on defense and a great hustler. Notice how he dives to the floor at 1:15.
Syracuse men’s basketball recruiting: C Peter Carey commits to Orange for 2022
This one should thrill the females. Peter is in a shirt/skins game and he’s on the ‘skin’ side. He’s also displaying his moves and how smoothly he can make them, including turn-around jumpers and one- handed windmill dunks. He’d be a big threat in a dunk contest.

Comment: He could be a revelation or a project. I don’t know.

 

[SWC75]

As I write this, we’ve gotten the news that Fran Anselem has entered the portal. Last year John Bol Ajak did and came back because no one was interested. Frank will get plenty of interest so I don’t expect him back. Nobody knows what Cole Swider will do. One poster claiming inside information said we’d lose three players, one of which would make him sad. I assume he’d already discounted the Boeheims so Frank was probably the one who made him sad and the other two were probably Ajak and Chaz Owns. At least I hope so as they are the ones we could most afford to lose of the remaining scholarship players. The was an apparently fraudulent report that Judah Mint z had decided to commit to us. The most likely replacement for Frank would seem to be Quincy Ballard, a 7-0 240 former player for Henninger High in Syracuse who 247 had as the #336 player and #59 center recruit three years ago. He went to Florida State, (a place where everyone gets to play) and played 147 minutes in two years. Per 40 minutes, that’s 10.3p, 9.0r, 0.5a, 0.5s, 4.6b = 24.9+, 1.9mfg 2.4mft 2.7to 5.4pf = 12.4- = 12.5NP 6.0OE 6.5FG. That’s actually not too bad, alth0ough those numbers could have been primarily from “garbage time” after games were decided. Still, he might make a competent back-up center. What he likely isn’t is the successor to Jesse Edwards, which Frank was going to be. That could be Harris or Carey – or someone else.

The situation obviously remains fluid. When we have right now is the prospect of returning Jesse Edwards, maybe Cole Swider, Benny Williams, Joe Girard and Symir Torrance. That could actually make a pretty good starting line-up if Benny realizes his potential. The five new guys would provide competition and depth at every position. Jim Boeheim experimented with using all 13 scholarships and then decided that it was pointless in the era of the portal and went back to favoring ten of them. The ideal break down of that ten would be 2 centers, 4 forwards and 4 guards, because the letter two have to cover two positions. It helps to have a forward who could play center in a pinch and a couple of swing men who could play forward or guard. Carey or Brown could be the “Stretch 4”, (depending on which one becomes the back-up center). Bunch and Taylor could be the swing men. I think that could be a better team than the one we had this year, maybe better than we’ve had in several years.

If Swider comes back, we’re down to nine guys. Ballard could be #10 and Mintz would be #11 if he came. Benny would get a great opportunity and a lot of pressure to come through. The new class, which could be described as all forwards with some accuracy, will give him competition, which may have bene the reason he had such a good game against Duke in the Dome with Taylor, Bunch and Carey looking on. Companionship may also make a difference. He’s friends with Taylor who played with Copeland at IMG. That might help him. This could still be a good team and playing the new guys early may help us retain them longer.

 

[SWC75]

How long will the five new guys be with us. here's a look at previous five man classes:

The following are years when we had at least 5 freshmen on the SU Basketball roster.

1986-87 Derrick Coleman, Stevie Thompson, Matt Roe, Keith Hughes, Earl Duncan and Erik Rogers
Coleman, Thompson and Rogers were here for 4 years, Roe for 3, Hughes and Duncan for 2.
1988-89 Billy Owens, Dave Johnson, Dave Siock, Richard Manning and Tony Scott
Johnson and Siock stayed for 4 years. Owens stayed for 3, Manning and Scott for 2.
1991-92 Lawrence Moten, Luke Jackson, JB Reafsnyder, Glenn Sekunda, Anthony Harris
Moten, Jackson and Reafsnyder stayed for 4 years. Sekunda and Hassis left after 2 years.
1996-97 Etan Thomas, Jason Hart, LeSean Howard, Ramel Lloyd, Winfred Walton
Thomas and Hart stayed for 4 years. Howard left after 2 years, Lloyd after 1 and Walton never played a game.
1997-98 Damone Brown, Alan Griffin, Eric Williams, Malik Campbell and Sam Spann
Brown and Griffin stayed for 4 years. Williams and Campbell lasted 2 years and Spann 1.
2007-08 Rick Jackson, Scoop Jardine, Jonny Flynn, Donte Greene, Sean Williams
Jackson and Jardine lasted 4+ years. Flynn and Williams lasted for 2 years, Greene leaving after 1.
2017-18 Marek Dolezaj, Oshae Brissett, Bourama Sidibe, Matthew Moyer, Howard Washington
Marek and Bourama went the distance but Washington left after 3 years and Brissett and Moyer after 2.

That’s seven previous freshman classes that were this large. Sixteen players stayed here through their full eligibility. Three players lasted for 3 years, Twelve stayed for 2 years. Three left after 1 year. One guy never played. That’s an average of two 4-year players, two 2-year players and another guy that leaves after the first year from a 5 year class.

Of course, with the transfer portal we may be lucky to have those results. Again, if we have to play them early, that might help.

 

[OHIORANGES]

How long will the five new guys be with us. here's a look at previous five man classes:

The following are years when we had at least 5 freshmen on the SU Basketball roster.

1986-87 Derrick Coleman, Stevie Thompson, Matt Roe, Keith Hughes, Earl Duncan and Erik Rogers
Coleman, Thompson and Rogers were here for 4 years, Roe for 3, Hughes and Duncan for 2.
1988-89 Billy Owens, Dave Johnson, Dave Siock, Richard Manning and Tony Scott
Johnson and Siock stayed for 4 years. Owens stayed for 3, Manning and Scott for 2.
1991-92 Lawrence Moten, Luke Jackson, JB Reafsnyder, Glenn Sekunda, Anthony Harris
Moten, Jackson and Reafsnyder stayed for 4 years. Sekunda and Hassis left after 2 years.
1996-97 Etan Thomas, Jason Hart, LeSean Howard, Ramel Lloyd, Winfred Walton
Thomas and Hart stayed for 4 years. Howard left after 2 years, Lloyd after 1 and Walton never played a game.
1997-98 Damone Brown, Alan Griffin, Eric Williams, Malik Campbell and Sam Spann
Brown and Griffin stayed for 4 years. Williams and Campbell lasted 2 years and Spann 1.
2007-08 Rick Jackson, Scoop Jardine, Jonny Flynn, Donte Greene, Sean Williams
Jackson and Jardine lasted 4+ years. Flynn and Williams lasted for 2 years, Greene leaving after 1.
2017-18 Marek Dolezaj, Oshae Brissett, Bourama Sidibe, Matthew Moyer, Howard Washington
Marek and Bourama went the distance but Washington left after 3 years and Brissett and Moyer after 2.

That’s seven previous freshman classes that were this large. Sixteen players stayed here through their full eligibility. Three players lasted for 3 years, Twelve stayed for 2 years. Three left after 1 year. One guy never played. That’s an average of two 4-year players, two 2-year players and another guy that leaves after the first year from a 5 year class.

Of course, with the transfer portal we may be lucky to have those results. Again, if we have to play them early, that might help.

Thank you so very much for all you do.
You are fantastic!

 

[SWC75]

Judah Mintz has now committed to Syracuse so I decided to review his highlights, too in the manner I did his fellow classmates. One thing I will say now: I was worried that our class was too uniformly big: everyone was over 6-6. Quadir Copeland was the only one whose game looked purely like a guard. Justin Taylor isn’t Buddy II because he’s already 6-7 205 and he already loves to drive to the basket to score. Judah gives us a highly rated 6-3 pure guard to go with Sy Torrance and Joe Girard. We needed to be able to “go mall” in the backcourt to deal with smaller quicker teams. Judah is #24 in every video.
Judah is very quick and attacks, attacks, attacks. He has a herky-jerky style and can go at the basket from different angles. It’s like a boxer who bobs and weavers and throws punches from different angles rather than straight on. It’s hard to defend against one. He also, amazingly gave up a lay-up on one play to dribble back out and hit a teammate who got the lay-up instead. He’s going to be well-liked.
Top 100 senior prospect Judah Mintz shines with Oak Hill Academy
He puts all he can behind throws. As with Quadir, our guys will have to get use to catching fastballs. I also not that Judah can take his jumper as high as is needed to get it over whoever is guarding him.
Pro Insight: Tale of the | 2022 prospect Judah Mintz | 01.06.22
This one focuses more on his defense. He uses his quickness to stay with people. He gets one of those “come from behind” blocks. He spends a lot of time in the paint on both ends but can knock down jumpers, too. He also has a nice behind the back pass for a three. I won’t call it a no-look pass because he does peak.
Judah Mintz Handle Levels are on 100!
This one focuses on his ball-handling. He bends over and gets the ball close to the ground and puts his body between the defender and the ball. He dribbles to set up shots for himself and passes to others.
Top 50 Guard | Judah Mintz Breakdown
Thanks to NC State for this one. Sorry, Wolfpack. Judah leans into defenders when he’s driving. Not enough to get called for a foul, just enough to back them off and get by them. The “comp” is interesting: Ayo Dosunmu is the reason why Alan Griffin didn’t start at Illinois.
Judah Mintz (2022/Team Durant) - Southern Jamfest Highlights 5/23/2021
This emphasizes Judah’s defensive ability. Also, he can get hammer ed and still make a jump shot.
Pro Insight: Tale of the | 2022 prospect Judah Mintz | July 2021
This is a good -all round tape showing all his skills but the breakaway dunk at 1:25 would sure bring the house down in the Dome!
Judah Mintz (Gonzaga) Official 2019-20 Capitol Hoops Mixtape
This might be the best tape of all. (Judah wears #10 here) The over-the-head block at 35 seconds is amazing.

Comments: Yeah, there’s a difference between Judah, the #53 recruit in the country and our other guys who are rated #6 and above. Judah does things at 45 RPM when everybody else is at 33 1/3 and he’s great at both ends of the court. The pace of the game will get revved up when he’s in there.

 

[AustinCuse]

Thank you SWC - appreciate you taking the time to research and post this analysis. It will be interesting to come back to this around December. Cheers!

 

[Orangezoo]

God Bless you sir. Awesome stuff

 

[MDCuse]

Fun read!! Thanks SWC!!

 

[Melancer46]

Figured I'd tag on my short synopsis of these guys. I've watched a handful of Copeland, Taylor, Bunch, and will be getting into Mintz's games now that he's committed to us.

Mintz

• Based on my stat-tracking (which unfortunately due to the limitations of the NIBC site isn't 100% complete), I have Mintz as the leading scorer in the league, ahead of basically all the top recruits in this year's class (the NIBC is basically the premier high school basketball league).
• Shot 54% from the field and 50% on 3's (though he only took 18 3's in his 11 games).
• 78% from the FT line and he pretty much lived at the line, drawing fouls at a rate on par with famous foul merchants like Trae Young; his free throw rate (essentially a ratio of free throws compared to field goal attempts) is an astounding 43%.
• I won't comment on his defense and playmaking at the moment as I think that's much better to glean from watching his games and I haven't gotten there yet. But at any rate, he's on a stacked high school team and led that team in scoring on great scoring efficiency; he projects as a stud.

Bunch

• Bunch played in the NIBC as well but he has struggled massively in those games.
• He shot 29% from the field and 28% from 3 (though a more promising 75% on free throws on a handful of attempts)
• Essentially functioned as just a spot-up shooter for his team; he doesn't really create off the bounce at all.
• Seems to have potential as a finisher around the rim, but just can't really get their on his own right now. Getting him out in transition will probably be very helpful for him while he develops the rest of his game.
• Has a really wide base on his jumpshot, which is fine though not ideal for catch-and-shoot 3's, but it makes it difficult for him to shoot off the dribble as it just isn't comfortable for him.
• Averaged over a block per game and in general has some potential as a defensive player
• All in all, barring some serious development from him in the offseason, I don't really expect him to make much of an impact as a freshman, but there's some potential in there. Having said that, I felt pretty much the same way about Woody Newton and Woody ended up being more NCAA-ready than I thought so maybe Bunch will be a pleasant surprise.

Taylor

• Taylor plays on the IMG Post-Grad team with Quadir Copeland. The team and the teams they play are kind of a mess relative to the NIBC; defense is largely optional, offensive systems essentially boil down to taking turns isolating (or in IMG's case, running the same couple simple plays all game.
• In the games I watched, Taylor shot 53% from the field, 50% from 3, and 92% from the FT line (including a promising 60% at the rim and 40% from mid-range). I also watched him warm up before a couple of his games and he shot the ball very well there as well for whatever that's worth; obviously no defense on the warm-up shots but it at least lets you see him get up 100+ shots pretty quickly. Needless to say, all of these percentages are very promising and I think he looks the part as a shooter. If I were to critique his shooting form; he tends to jump backwards or straight up on his jumper rather than jumping slightly forward the way people are generally taught nowadays. I'm curious to see if we mess with his form at all or just leave it as is.
• His ball-handling leaves a lot to be desired; it's not that he can't dribble at all but you can tell his lackluster ball-handling limits the ways he's able to attack defenses. He'll sometimes beat his man/get his man off-balance and end up pulling it back out instead of attacking because he just can't dribble well. Having said that, he operated as the secondary ball-handler next to Copeland on his team and didn't turn the ball over a ton so he made it work for the most part.
• Seems to be ahead of his teammates in terms of reading defenses, finding holes in the zone, making backdoor cuts, etc. And when teams went to a 2-3 zone against IMG, Taylor was the guy they put at the free throw line.
• I think rrlbees (correct me if I'm wrong) said he rebounds pretty well for his size, but in the games I saw, you can probably count his total rebounds on one hand. He seems to kinda hang out on the fringe when a shot goes up, being ready to recover if an offensive rebound occurs but also ready to spring out in transition if IMG got the ball. IMG also just struggled on the boards in general.
• I think he'll struggle to stay in front of guards at times, but doesn't seem like a major liability defensively.
• All in all, Taylor seems to be a pretty solid all-around player. I think his intelligence and shooting ability will give him a chance to have a decent role on next year's team and if he can tighten up his ball-handling a bit or mix it up inside more, he could be a major contributor in the future.

Copeland

• As mentioned above, he plays on the IMG Post-Grad team with Taylor.
• Gets to the free throw line a lot, as he tends to hang, contort his body in mid-air, and fall down a lot in ways that makes it near impossible to resist calling fouls.
• When he isn't drawing fouls, he struggles to score. In the games I watched, he shot around 20% at the rim, and that was inflated a bit due to some offensive rebounds for easy put-backs.
• Shoots very few jumpers to the point that there's nothing to glean from his shooting percentages in-game. I did watch him in warm-ups the same as I did for Taylor and he shot around 45% from 3 in warm-ups, which I would say is not promising.
• Having said that, he shot over 80% from the free throw line in the games I watched on a fairly large sample size, including some clutch free throws, so not totally a lost cause (and considering the way he draws fouls, that should come in handy).
• Pretty loose handle, feels like he's on the verge of losing the ball very often but tends to corral it at the last second. Would definitely like to see him tighten the handle up if he's going to be a lead guard in the future, but I would have said the same about MCW in the past and he obviously made it work for himself in college just fine. I would add he does a nice job using his size to protect the ball from defenders.
• Talented passer, a lot of no-lookers, long distance bounce passes, etc. He'll definitely turn the ball over as a result of these tendencies, but he'll also make passes that other players simply aren't capable of so you take some of the bad with the good.
• He's an active rebounder, particularly on the offensive end. As a 6'6" point guard, he knows he can generally grab rebounds over the man guarding him and he does it frequently.
• Defensively, IMG doesn't give much effort in general but he's easily the worst of the bunch in that regard. It seems at times that he actually wants his man to score; you'll see a handful of times in each game where he just completely falls asleep on defense and realizes his man is on the other side of the court at the last second. IMG switches a lot of screens and when switches onto a big man, they naturally try to post up and he offers no resistance at all.
• The low effort carries over to the offensive end of the floor when he doesn't have the ball as well as he just kinda stands around, sometimes not even keeping an eye on where the ball is. He just isn't really interested in the game unless there's a chance he's about to get the ball.
• All in all, I know a lot of this seems pretty negative, but his talent is very apparent. He's a 6'6" guard with very promising passing skills, and the frame and athleticism to potentially be a good defender if the coaches can get him to try. There's a good player in there; maybe even an NBA player. But the way he plays in high school will definitely put him in Boeheim's doghouse. I think he probably needs time to develop his skills and effort level; I don't personally expect much from him as a freshman. But there's a lot of potential there if he wants it.

Brown's report will be much shorter, as I've really only seen highlights of him and don't have any numbers to back it up.

Brown

• Pretty well-built PF already and seems to get after it defensively. You can see him pressuring guys out on the perimeter, blocking shots, diving on the floor, getting deflections/steals, etc.
• Shoots a set-shot and it looks real rough to me. I wouldn't expect him to be stretching the floor offensively.
• Seems to be a very talented passer for his size and makes a lot of winning plays in general.
• I don't really expect him to score the ball effectively without just being gift-wrapped dunks and layups. He doesn't seem to handle the ball well and isn't an explosive athlete so I tend to think he'll have to get by being a garbage man offensively.
• The defense, winning plays, and effort level could give him a chance at some early playing time, but he just doesn't seem skilled enough offensively to bank on it IMO. We'll see though; I'm really interested to see what he looks like against ACC athletes.

I can't really comment on Carey as it's been so long since he's played. Really no idea what we're getting with him, but just based on his height and weight, he seems like a project.

 

[orange44]

Outstanding work...thank you!!

 

[UpstateSM]

I have no idea if Carey will be able to see the court next season but there is no way he is the 264th best recruit in the country. There isn't much film that I can find but what I can watch is impressive. Sure seems like a top 100 kid.

 

[NorSyr66]

Great work as normal SWC!! Hopefully you will get one more chance to break down a decent backup for Jesse now Frank has opted for the portal. If we stay with what we have, your words on Brown seem encouraging. I would rather have a person with potential stretching to get up to speed than an unhappy veteran sitting on the bench. Your comments on Mintz have spurred my excitement to get basketball season rolling again at the Dome. Lets Go Orange.

 

[SWC75]

I’m hopeful that with the competition and companionship of so many young prospect that he knows, Benny Williams will finally blossom. Since he was unready to contribute this season, (save for the Duke game, when Taylor, Carey and Bunch were there to watch him), he could be almost an unofficial member of the 2022 class, with one less year of eligibility. I decided to peruse his highlights as if this past season didn’t happen in hopes that there will be similar highlights for Benny next year.
Here’s the Benny we never saw: aggressive, confident, having fun. His jumper has an arch to it. He moves easily through the defense and runs the court well. Blocks consecutive shot son the same possession. He used the backboard on lay-ups and scores one with a finger roll and another with a mini-hook. Maybe the most impressive play is an alley-oop that a teammate missed and Benny is suddenly there for the follow shot (3:08). I don’t think I’ve ever seen a player follow his own alley-oop. Two reservations: I’d like to see him block shots down and towards a teammate. Also, there’s not much defense being played here. Benny plays as if he’s never bene fouled. Maybe the physical nature of the college game threw him off this season. Maybe he only likes the sport when it’s easy and fun. Or maybe I’m just searching for explanations of what happened this year.
5-Star Benny Williams DUNKED EVERYTHING! Full Myrtle Beach Mix
As if to answer me, Benny gets physical with a guy trying to get physical with him at 1:05 and wins. He takes a loose ball almost coast-to-coast before dishing to a teammate at 1:40. He dribbles to set up a nice turn-around jumper at 1:55. At 2:26 comes another alley-oop follow up but I think it’s the same one: the opponent’s unis look the same. He was closer to the basket than it looked in the first tape. He has a couple of nice lay-ups at 3:00 – one when it looked like he was going past the basket but reached back to put it in and the other off a whirling baseline more.
HIGHLIGHTS: Brandon Murray WINDMILL + Benny Williams Alley OOP; IMG Goes Crazy at #PhenomPGNationals
This is more of a game highlight than an individual highlight reel but I’m including it to show Benny’s passing ability, which is considerable and which didn’t get to see much of last year as he rarely seemed to have the ball. That’s one thing that excites me about the new results: they all seem to pass the ball – and catch it – well. If they play team ball, they will be hard to stop.

Next year’s team will get back, (as far as we now know), Jesse Edwards, maybe Cole Swider, Joe Girard and Symir Torrance who will be seniors and even John Bol Ajak and Chaz Owens will be juniors if they are still around. We don’t know what rabbits JB will pull out of the transfer portal. Benny Williams will be a sophomore who has yet to develop on this level. Quadir Copeland, Justin Taylor, Chris Bunch, Maliq Brown, Peter Carey and Judah Mintz will be promising freshmen, several of whom know Benny and the others. I hope they can bond together and see themselves as a group. If this program is to make a comeback, these last seven, (and whoever we recruit for the following year) will lead us out of the woods. I believe they represent a significant talent upgrade from what we’ve had in recent years and can get us back into the rankings and battling for the conference title and maybe even the national title, (but one step at a time there). At the very least, the thought of that will get me through the spring and summer with a good feeling about where the program is going. Being a fan isn’t about unbridled optimism, but it is about eternal hope.

 

[richard levy]

Darryl Royal, "Potential, it means you ain't done it yet". I would add, "it sure does give us a lot to write and think about"

 

[SWC75]

Figured I'd tag on my short synopsis of these guys. I've watched a handful of Copeland, Taylor, Bunch, and will be getting into Mintz's games now that he's committed to us.

Mintz

• Based on my stat-tracking (which unfortunately due to the limitations of the NIBC site isn't 100% complete), I have Mintz as the leading scorer in the league, ahead of basically all the top recruits in this year's class (the NIBC is basically the premier high school basketball league).
• Shot 54% from the field and 50% on 3's (though he only took 18 3's in his 11 games).
• 78% from the FT line and he pretty much lived at the line, drawing fouls at a rate on par with famous foul merchants like Trae Young; his free throw rate (essentially a ratio of free throws compared to field goal attempts) is an astounding 43%.
• I won't comment on his defense and playmaking at the moment as I think that's much better to glean from watching his games and I haven't gotten there yet. But at any rate, he's on a stacked high school team and led that team in scoring on great scoring efficiency; he projects as a stud.

Bunch

• Bunch played in the NIBC as well but he has struggled massively in those games.
• He shot 29% from the field and 28% from 3 (though a more promising 75% on free throws on a handful of attempts)
• Essentially functioned as just a spot-up shooter for his team; he doesn't really create off the bounce at all.
• Seems to have potential as a finisher around the rim, but just can't really get their on his own right now. Getting him out in transition will probably be very helpful for him while he develops the rest of his game.
• Has a really wide base on his jumpshot, which is fine though not ideal for catch-and-shoot 3's, but it makes it difficult for him to shoot off the dribble as it just isn't comfortable for him.
• Averaged over a block per game and in general has some potential as a defensive player
• All in all, barring some serious development from him in the offseason, I don't really expect him to make much of an impact as a freshman, but there's some potential in there. Having said that, I felt pretty much the same way about Woody Newton and Woody ended up being more NCAA-ready than I thought so maybe Bunch will be a pleasant surprise.

Taylor

• Taylor plays on the IMG Post-Grad team with Quadir Copeland. The team and the teams they play are kind of a mess relative to the NIBC; defense is largely optional, offensive systems essentially boil down to taking turns isolating (or in IMG's case, running the same couple simple plays all game.
• In the games I watched, Taylor shot 53% from the field, 50% from 3, and 92% from the FT line (including a promising 60% at the rim and 40% from mid-range). I also watched him warm up before a couple of his games and he shot the ball very well there as well for whatever that's worth; obviously no defense on the warm-up shots but it at least lets you see him get up 100+ shots pretty quickly. Needless to say, all of these percentages are very promising and I think he looks the part as a shooter. If I were to critique his shooting form; he tends to jump backwards or straight up on his jumper rather than jumping slightly forward the way people are generally taught nowadays. I'm curious to see if we mess with his form at all or just leave it as is.
• His ball-handling leaves a lot to be desired; it's not that he can't dribble at all but you can tell his lackluster ball-handling limits the ways he's able to attack defenses. He'll sometimes beat his man/get his man off-balance and end up pulling it back out instead of attacking because he just can't dribble well. Having said that, he operated as the secondary ball-handler next to Copeland on his team and didn't turn the ball over a ton so he made it work for the most part.
• Seems to be ahead of his teammates in terms of reading defenses, finding holes in the zone, making backdoor cuts, etc. And when teams went to a 2-3 zone against IMG, Taylor was the guy they put at the free throw line.
• I think rrlbees (correct me if I'm wrong) said he rebounds pretty well for his size, but in the games I saw, you can probably count his total rebounds on one hand. He seems to kinda hang out on the fringe when a shot goes up, being ready to recover if an offensive rebound occurs but also ready to spring out in transition if IMG got the ball. IMG also just struggled on the boards in general.
• I think he'll struggle to stay in front of guards at times, but doesn't seem like a major liability defensively.
• All in all, Taylor seems to be a pretty solid all-around player. I think his intelligence and shooting ability will give him a chance to have a decent role on next year's team and if he can tighten up his ball-handling a bit or mix it up inside more, he could be a major contributor in the future.

Copeland

• As mentioned above, he plays on the IMG Post-Grad team with Taylor.
• Gets to the free throw line a lot, as he tends to hang, contort his body in mid-air, and fall down a lot in ways that makes it near impossible to resist calling fouls.
• When he isn't drawing fouls, he struggles to score. In the games I watched, he shot around 20% at the rim, and that was inflated a bit due to some offensive rebounds for easy put-backs.
• Shoots very few jumpers to the point that there's nothing to glean from his shooting percentages in-game. I did watch him in warm-ups the same as I did for Taylor and he shot around 45% from 3 in warm-ups, which I would say is not promising.
• Having said that, he shot over 80% from the free throw line in the games I watched on a fairly large sample size, including some clutch free throws, so not totally a lost cause (and considering the way he draws fouls, that should come in handy).
• Pretty loose handle, feels like he's on the verge of losing the ball very often but tends to corral it at the last second. Would definitely like to see him tighten the handle up if he's going to be a lead guard in the future, but I would have said the same about MCW in the past and he obviously made it work for himself in college just fine. I would add he does a nice job using his size to protect the ball from defenders.
• Talented passer, a lot of no-lookers, long distance bounce passes, etc. He'll definitely turn the ball over as a result of these tendencies, but he'll also make passes that other players simply aren't capable of so you take some of the bad with the good.
• He's an active rebounder, particularly on the offensive end. As a 6'6" point guard, he knows he can generally grab rebounds over the man guarding him and he does it frequently.
• Defensively, IMG doesn't give much effort in general but he's easily the worst of the bunch in that regard. It seems at times that he actually wants his man to score; you'll see a handful of times in each game where he just completely falls asleep on defense and realizes his man is on the other side of the court at the last second. IMG switches a lot of screens and when switches onto a big man, they naturally try to post up and he offers no resistance at all.
• The low effort carries over to the offensive end of the floor when he doesn't have the ball as well as he just kinda stands around, sometimes not even keeping an eye on where the ball is. He just isn't really interested in the game unless there's a chance he's about to get the ball.
• All in all, I know a lot of this seems pretty negative, but his talent is very apparent. He's a 6'6" guard with very promising passing skills, and the frame and athleticism to potentially be a good defender if the coaches can get him to try. There's a good player in there; maybe even an NBA player. But the way he plays in high school will definitely put him in Boeheim's doghouse. I think he probably needs time to develop his skills and effort level; I don't personally expect much from him as a freshman. But there's a lot of potential there if he wants it.

Brown's report will be much shorter, as I've really only seen highlights of him and don't have any numbers to back it up.

Brown

• Pretty well-built PF already and seems to get after it defensively. You can see him pressuring guys out on the perimeter, blocking shots, diving on the floor, getting deflections/steals, etc.
• Shoots a set-shot and it looks real rough to me. I wouldn't expect him to be stretching the floor offensively.
• Seems to be a very talented passer for his size and makes a lot of winning plays in general.
• I don't really expect him to score the ball effectively without just being gift-wrapped dunks and layups. He doesn't seem to handle the ball well and isn't an explosive athlete so I tend to think he'll have to get by being a garbage man offensively.
• The defense, winning plays, and effort level could give him a chance at some early playing time, but he just doesn't seem skilled enough offensively to bank on it IMO. We'll see though; I'm really interested to see what he looks like against ACC athletes.

I can't really comment on Carey as it's been so long since he's played. Really no idea what we're getting with him, but just based on his height and weight, he seems like a project.

I think physically they can match up with anybody. there are skills that still have to be learned and the daily dedication and in game effort has to be there. JB will push them to the latter. I think it would also help if they bond well together and each individual wants to hold his end up and do well for the group.

 

[SWC75]

Darryl Royal, "Potential, it means you ain't done it yet"

How could they?

Except for Benny they aren't here yet. (And was he really 'here'?)

 

[SWC75]

Great work as normal SWC!! Hopefully you will get one more chance to break down a decent backup for Jesse now Frank has opted for the portal. If we stay with what we have, your words on Brown seem encouraging. I would rather have a person with potential stretching to get up to speed than an unhappy veteran sitting on the bench. Your comments on Mintz have spurred my excitement to get basketball season rolling again at the Dome. Lets Go Orange.

I didn't Mintz words.

 

[newmexicuse]

Awesome thread...many thx to SWC and MLance.

 

[joct]

How long will the five new guys be with us. here's a look at previous five man classes:

The following are years when we had at least 5 freshmen on the SU Basketball roster.

1986-87 Derrick Coleman, Stevie Thompson, Matt Roe, Keith Hughes, Earl Duncan and Erik Rogers
Coleman, Thompson and Rogers were here for 4 years, Roe for 3, Hughes and Duncan for 2.
1988-89 Billy Owens, Dave Johnson, Dave Siock, Richard Manning and Tony Scott
Johnson and Siock stayed for 4 years. Owens stayed for 3, Manning and Scott for 2.
1991-92 Lawrence Moten, Luke Jackson, JB Reafsnyder, Glenn Sekunda, Anthony Harris
Moten, Jackson and Reafsnyder stayed for 4 years. Sekunda and Hassis left after 2 years.
1996-97 Etan Thomas, Jason Hart, LeSean Howard, Ramel Lloyd, Winfred Walton
Thomas and Hart stayed for 4 years. Howard left after 2 years, Lloyd after 1 and Walton never played a game.
1997-98 Damone Brown, Alan Griffin, Eric Williams, Malik Campbell and Sam Spann
Brown and Griffin stayed for 4 years. Williams and Campbell lasted 2 years and Spann 1.
2007-08 Rick Jackson, Scoop Jardine, Jonny Flynn, Donte Greene, Sean Williams
Jackson and Jardine lasted 4+ years. Flynn and Williams lasted for 2 years, Greene leaving after 1.
2017-18 Marek Dolezaj, Oshae Brissett, Bourama Sidibe, Matthew Moyer, Howard Washington
Marek and Bourama went the distance but Washington left after 3 years and Brissett and Moyer after 2.

That’s seven previous freshman classes that were this large. Sixteen players stayed here through their full eligibility. Three players lasted for 3 years, Twelve stayed for 2 years. Three left after 1 year. One guy never played. That’s an average of two 4-year players, two 2-year players and another guy that leaves after the first year from a 5 year class.

Of course, with the transfer portal we may be lucky to have those results. Again, if we have to play them early, that might help.

Good stuff. One addition that increases the 88-89 and 91-92 numbers: In 88-89 Mike Hopkins was part of the class, and redshirted that year, same with Lazarus Sims in 91-92. So both were 6-man classes, and both of them stayed for 5 years.

 

[SWC75]

Good stuff. One addition that increases the 88-89 and 91-92 numbers: In 88-89 Mike Hopkins was part of the class, and redshirted that year, same with Lazarus Sims in 91-92. So both were 6-man classes, and both of them stayed for 5 years.

I tend to count guys with the classes with which they first played. When you
redshirt, your career is postponed for a year.