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Message: [QUOTE="SWC75, post: 4222923, member: 289"] GUARDS Players lost from last year’s guards: Kadary Richmond 6-5 180 Losing Kadary was, to Syracuse fans, like having a tooth pulled – and realizing that it’s not the tooth that hurts. We saw enough of him last year to see that this could be an All-American, (you might compare him to Sean Tucker in his freshman year with the football team). He was 6-5 with a 7 foot armspan, an aggressive defender but also a good ball-handler, penetrator and passer. Supposedly he didn’t have much of a jump shot but as the season went along, he even looked smooth doing that. Joe Girard was struggling and it seemed to us that Kadary was already the better player and, paired with the 6-6 Buddy Boeheim, gave us one of the biggest and best back courts in the country. Zones do better with height and, with a small frontcourt, having big backcourt could make up for that. A line-up this year of 6-5 Kadary, 6-6 Buddy, two 6-9 forwards, (Jimmy and Cole) or 6-8 Benny Williams with 7-0 Jesse Edwards would be a team very much capable of winning that Hollywood-ending national championship. But, (at least this is the supposed backstory), Boeheim, seeing Kadary’s early failed efforts at making jumps shots, had ordered him to stop shooting them and Kadary wanted to prove that he was an all-around guard, or at least develop into one. Also, JB was loyal to Joe Girard, both as the incumbent point guard and a player brought down by Covid: he stated that you don’t lose your starting position to injury: when you come back, the job’s still yours, (nobody gets ‘Pipped’). I also suspect that Jim just liked Joe better. Kadary felt frustrated by his limited role here and decided to transfer to Seton Hall. Most of the guys who have transferred from Jim Boeheim’s program have brought their troubles with them and not done well at their new locations. I did a study of SU transfers some years back and did find 18 players who left here and scored in double figures at their new school. But none were All Americans. Many played for lesser programs: Hawaii, Long Beach State, Fairfield, Iona, Lambuth, Marist. The guys who played for power five schools were playing behind clearly better players when they were here. It will be interesting to see what Kadary Richmond, Quincy Guerrier, Robert Braswell and Woody Newton will accomplish with their new schools and how much we will miss them here. If we can fill their positions well here, that will be a good anesthetic. Update: Today (10/25), I heard a clip from a JB interview in which he said that Kadary “didn’t want to work hard” and couldn’t play any more than he did here because he “wasn’t in shape” to do so. Then he went to Seton Hall “where they already have five guards. We’ll see how that works out.” Obviously, the subject of Kadary was a sore spot with him, either because of Kadary’s attitude or because everybody questioned Jim’s judgement last year - or both. He sure didn’t play like a guy who wasn’t working hard. 21.0m 12.0p 5.0r 5.8a 3.1s 1.0b positive: 26.9, 5.2mfg 1.2mft 3.0to 2.6pf negative: 12.0 = +14.9NP 5.6FG 9.3FG That’s better than Joe or even Buddy. He shot 47% from two, 33% from three and 72% from the line. So, how did he do at Seton Hall? 25.9m 13.7p 5.5r 6.4a 2.6s 0.5b = 28.7+ 7.5mfg 0.9mft 4.0to 3.2pf = 15.6- = 13.1NP 5.3OE 7.8FG He shot better from the arc, (33.3% vs. 34.5%) and the line (72.1% vs. 75.0%) but was significantly worse inside the arc (47.5% to 41.7%) and thus overall: (45.3% vs. .40.2%). The percentage of his shots that came from beyond the arc did increase from 15.1% to 21.1%. He got about 5 more minutes of playing time. He scored a couple points more and got a few more rebounds and assists. But didn’t get as many steals or blocks. He missed a couple more shots a game, shot fouls a little better, had one more turnover a game and fouled a bit more. His overall production as down almost two NP a game. His offensive efficiency was about the same but his floor game was not as good. The important thing is that he didn’t blossom into an all-American. He might in the future, but not yet. The guys who stayed: Buddy Boeheim 6-6 195 senior When Buddy was a freshman, people wondered if he was just a ‘legacy recruit’, much like Chaz Owens is seen as now. His reputation was a shooter and midway through that season, his shooting had been terrible. Through his first 15 games he was 6 for 23 on two-pointers, (.261) and 12 for 47 from three-point range, (.255). But in the second half of that season, he started to find the range: in the last 17 games he was 19/33 inside the arc (57.6%) and 35/86 (40.7%) outside of it. His numbers per 40 minutes that year: 15.9p 3.8r 2.4a 1.3s 0.2b positive: 23.6, 8.6mfg 0.5mft 1.8to 2.8pf negative: 13.7 NET: +9.9 The next year he became a starter. His minutes went from 17.1 to 35.6 per game. His overall shooting percent ages went from .446 for twos/.353 for threes/ .788 for frees to .462/.370/.714. His per 40 minutes went to this: 17.3p 2.1r 2.4a 1.2s 0.2b positive: 23.2, 9.1mfg 0.6mft 1.7to 1.9pf negative: 13.3 NET: +9.8 He was basically the same player. He missed fewer shots, although his free throw percentage dropped a bit. He rebounded less, (he may have played a little small forward in 2019: I don’t remember). He committed fewer fouls as players tend to do as they gain more experience. He scored 20+ points ten times. His worst game was also best game: He was shut out in the first half of a loss to Georgetown but poured in 25 points in the second half. His hero is Klay Thompson and he was showing he could get off on that kind of a scoring streak. Last year, for his first 15 games, (he sat out three games on a COVID scare), he shot 50/122, (.446) from 2 point range and 32/102 (.314) from three point range, scoring 14.3 points per game. But, beginning with a February 20th game against Notre Dame, he really went off and did in such a way to suggest that his career could continue at this level – it seemed like more than just a hot streak. In the last ten games he shot 79/153, (.516) from two and 45/99 (45.5) from three and averaged 23.0 points per game. In the ACC tournament he scored 27 points on NC State and 31 against Virginia’s tough defense. In the NCAA’s he blew away San Diego State with 30 points on 11/15 shooting including 7 three pointers, many from way out or with a hand in his face. Against West Virginia he hit a three in the first minute, then was shut out for the rest of the half. Bob Huggins figured he’s come up with a defense for Buddy, only to see him score 22 in the second half in another upset win. It took Houston, statistically the best defensive team in the country, to hold Buddy to 12 points in the finale. If Buddy plays like that all season, he could make a run at the national scoring title, something that hasn’t happened here since Dave Bing was playing, (last year the winner was Max Abmas of Oral Roberts at 24.6ppg). More likely he’ll settle back into the high teens on what should be a balanced team but have plenty of big games. Here are his 40 minute averages for the season: 36.2m 19.6p 2.9r 2.8a 1.5s 0.4b = 27.2+ 9.3mfg 0.4mft 1.8to 1.8pf = 13.3- = 13.9NP 9.9OE 4.0FG He shot 43.3% overall: 49.1% from two, 38.3% from three and 84.9% from the line. He improved his scoring, rebounded a bit more and had a few more assists. He’s also developed some moves to the basket and pull-up shots to give himself some options for the defenses that are now geared to stop him. He can create his own shot and is a scorer, not just a shooter. If he wants an NBA career he’s got to continue to improve his ball-handling and defensive skills and it would help if he could rebound more and get a few more assists. He does play the passing lanes well and understands his father’s zone. Plus he’s 6-6. No, I don’t think that 10 game stretch just a hot streak. I think it was a star coming into his own. We’ll see this year. There will be a lot of publicity about him and his family and a lot of pressure to perform on that level the whole season. I hope it isn’t too much. Here's Buddy’s numbers for 2021-22: 37.9m 20.2p 3.6r 3.2a 1.6s 0.1b = 28.7+ 10.3mfg 0.4mft 1.8to 1.8pf = 14.3- = 14.4NP 9.5OE 4.9FG He shot 40.6% overall, 47.0% from two, 34.1% from three and 88.4% from the line. Buddy scored a little more, (he was the conference’s regular season scoring champion), rebounded better, had a few more assists, about the same steals and few blocks. He missed more field goals, but his other negatives remained the same. His shooting percentages went down except for his free throw shooting. And, frankly, they were hardly spectacular. His drives and pull-ups were less effective and his three-point percentage. The median NCAA team percentage was 34.0. His scoring achievements were attributed to what a poster called ‘usage’. He played 38 minutes a game and put-up shots at the rate of 17.2 per 40 minutes, up from 16.4 the previous year, not a huge increase. His three-point attempts declined from 8.8 to 8.5 per 40 minutes. His two-point attempts went up from 7.6 to 8.7 and his free throw attempts went up from 2.3 to 3.7. His scoring went up because he was driving to the basket more and getting to the line more. The great debate was whether his shooting percentages went down because he became a worse shooter or because he was the focus of the defense even more than he was as a junior after that late season run. I thought he was being double-teamed all the time. One poster denied that and told me “Buddy just dribbled into the defense”. I don’t think he lost the capacity to shoot as he did as a junior overall but those last ten games were not the birth of a superstar. Buddy was shooting on a level in those games that his talent couldn’t sustain. He’s a good college scorer, not the next Jerry West. He’s the best we had so going from 36 to 38 minutes doesn’t bother me. The big mystery is why this team wasn’t able to get the defensive pressure off of him. We had three other shooters: Cole, Joe and Jimmy, who shot 38% from three, Buddy’s number from the previous season. Jimmy also provided a second guy who could drive to the basket and Jesse Edward became a huge pick and roll guy. How could defense afford to double-team Buddy? We averaged 77.4 points per game, 21st in the country, so maybe the defense did pay for focusing on Buddy, but not enough to get them off him. And what will next year’s team do when there’s no Buddy and they can focus on his former teammates? Joe Girard 6-1 185 junior Joe came out of high school as one of the highest scorers in history, one of 7 players to have averaged 50 points a game for a season, (and 48 the next), and he’s already had a better career than the other six guys had: [URL="https://www.maxpreps.com/news/UyXepO5-fk6ozmDEwqlr9Q/top-10-single-season-high-school-basketball-scoring-averages,-including-bjorn-bromans-7th-place-finish.htm"]Top 10 single-season high school basketball scoring averages, including Bjorn Broman's 7th-place finish - MaxPreps[/URL] In his first season, he quickly won the point guard position both by default as both Jalen Carey and Brycen Goodine flopped, and Joe proved to be a more than adequate replacement. From last year’s preview: “Here are Joe’s 40-minute averages for his freshman year and then the numbers of some other prominent Syracuse point guards who started as freshmen: Joe Girard: 1,056 minutes 15.1 points 3.7 rebounds 4.3 assists 1.8 steals 2.3 turnovers 1.8 fouls Two pointers: 38.5%, three pointers: 32.3%, free throws: 89.4% Pearl Washington: 1,087m 16.9p 3.1r 7.3a 2.8s 4.1to 3.7pf 54.4%/(no three pointers)/66.2% Michael Edwards 794m 10.5p 1.8r 8.5a 1.5s 4.0to 3.1pf 49.5%/33.7%/75.0% Adrian Autry 1,030m 11.7p 3.1r 6.4a 2.4s 4.3to 4.0pf 44.0%/31.7%/70.5% Jason Hart 1,144m 10.7p 4.0r 6.4a 3.1s 3.5to 3.0pf 39.5%/32.9%/69.0% Gerry McNamara 1,236m 15.1p 2.6r 5.0a 2.5s 2.8to 2.2pf 31.7%/35.7%/90.9% Jonny Flynn 1,243m 17.6p 3.0r 6.0a 1.7s 3.1to 1.6pf 52.9%/34.8%/77.5% Tyler Ennis 1,215m 14.6p 3.8r 6.2a 2.4s 1.9to 2.3pf 42.9%/35.3%/76.5% Kaleb Joseph 847m 8.7p 3.2r 5.6a 1.3s 3.4to 2.7pf 41.8%/20.0%/71.9% Joe scored as much as GMAC and better than anybody except the Pearl and Jonny. He didn’t hit 6 three pointers in the first half in the national championship game as GMAC did but he’s a streak shooter and might have if he had a team around him that could have gotten there. He is stronger, (he won two state titles as a football quarterback and at 195 pounds weighs almost as much as our 6-10 guys) and was a better rebounder than any of them except, Jason Hart and, (strangely – I don’t recall him getting a lot of rebounds), Tyler Ennis. He didn’t have a lot of assists but 4.3-1.8 isn’t a bad assist-to-turnover ratio. I remember him having quick hands – he wasn’t just stealing passes. He was a good and creative dribbler and took good care of the ball. He didn’t get in foul trouble. He’s a bit small, (listed at 6-1 but I wonder), for the zone and had problems covering shooters or preventing the ball from getting into the paint. Ironically what he wasn’t was an outstanding shooter. He could hit from range and had a quick release but missed 230 shots- 8.7 per 40 minutes. He wasn’t the #1 option and wasn’t feeling the brunt of the defense. He wasn’t a penetrator, so all his offense came from the outside. He needs better shot selection and to use his dribbling skills to get around people to set up shots and passes. I think it will come as he matures. He’s a gym rat and will continue to work on these things.” In 2021, Joe had built himself to get stronger but also got a bit slower. Then he was really slowed down by a Covid attack – probably the worst on the team. Also, the pock-marked schedule made it hard to anyone to get any kind of rhythm. Then there was Kadary Richmond, who was taller, longer, more athletic and showed every skill you’d want in a point guard. Fans got mad at Boeheim for sticking with Joe and JB got mad at the fans for questioning his judgement. Fans were then disgusted when Kadary left and we were left with Joe. Let’s see how far Joe’s sophomore performance declined from his freshman performance, (per 40m): Freshman: 15.1p 3.7r 4.3a 1.8s 0.1b = 25.0+ 8.7mfg 0.4mft 2.3to 1.8pf = 13.2- = 11.8NP 6.0OE 5.8FG 34.8% overall /38.5% from 2/32.3% from 3/89.4% frees Sophomore: 14.1p 4.2r 5.1a 2.0s 0.1b = 25.5+ 8.6mfg 0.6mft 3.0to 2.0pf = 14.2- = 11.3NP 4.9OE6.4FG 35.5%/ 38.5% / 33.3%/78.0% He was basically the same player each year. In 2021, he scored a bit less but rebounded more and had more assists, (thank you Buddy!), shot three pointers slightly better and foul shots noticeably but not alarmingly worse. He had a few more turnovers. His assist-to-turnover ratio went from 4.3/2.3 to 5.1/3.0. Both could be better. But the biggest things were that he didn’t become a better player in his second year and he had Kadary Richmond breathing down his neck. Buddy Boeheim made a big move up in his third year. Maybe Joe will, too. Buddy and Kadary could have been the best backcourt in the nation but Buddy and Joe, having started and been productive for three years aren’t bad. Joe came out en fuego but the results got more mixed as the year went on. His stats per 40 minutes: 34.1m 16.2p 3.3r 4.9a 1.9s 0.0b = 26.3+ 7.8mfg 0.4mft 3.3to 1.5pf = 13.0- = 13.3NP 8.0OE 5.3FG 39.2%/37.6%/40.3%/88.2% Joe scored better because he was outstanding rather than mediocre from three. His other numbers remained the same, except him assist to turnover ratio continued to decline from 4.3/2.3 as a freshman to 5.1/3.0 as a sophomore 4.9/3.3 this year. (Compare that to Sym Torrence’s numbers, below.) His shot selection didn’t change much: 5.1 twos/8.2 threes as a freshman, 5.6/7.7 as a sophomore and 5.0/7.9 this year. I think he might have been the primary beneficiary of the defensive attention Buddy got. Late in the year Joe worked with Symir at the point and Joe and the ‘2’, which worked well as they were both in their natural positions. That may be our starting backcourt next year. Symir Torrence 6-3 190 junior Essentially, Symir is the closest thing we’ve got as a replacement for Kadary Richmond. He’s not quite as tall or long but he’s got good size for a guard and - surprise! - he was actually the higher rated recruit by 247: Kadary: [MEDIA=twentyfoursevensports]player_id=268742[/MEDIA] #90 nationally and #1`9 as small forward. “Good length for a combo guard. Solid athlete. Good two foot jumper. An off-the-dribble scorer. Great change of direction moves on the drive. Rebounds his position and has good potential as a defender.” Symir: [URL="https://247sports.com/player/symir-torrence-46048261/"]Symir Torrence, Syracuse Orange, Combo Guard[/URL] #75 nationally and #11 combo guard “Good physique for a point guard, and he can also play shooting guard. A physical slasher who passes well off the dribble. Loves to set players up but is a quality scorer as well. Quality rebounder as a guard who can defend at a high level and defend multiple positions. Plays with an edge and competes. Could develop into an NBA player.” Symir opted to go to Marquette, where he didn’t play a lot: [URL="https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/symir-torrence-1.html"]Symir Torrence College Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com[/URL] As a freshman, he was behind senior Markus Howard, the nation’s leading scorer with 27.8ppg, Koby McEwen, a junior transfer from Utah State who had averaged 15.6ppg there and 9.5 with the Golden Eagles and Greg Elliott, a sophomore who had been the 224th best recruit and 49th shooting guard in the country coming out of high school. The next year he was behind D.J. Carton, a sophomore transfer from Ohio State who had been ranked the 34th best recruit in the country who had scored 10.4 for the Buckeyes and now 13.4 for Marquette, McEwen, who scored 10.2 and Elliott who scored 6.2. His per 40m averages in his two seasons there: Freshman: 11.0m 8.2p 6.0r 7.5a 1.2s 0.0b = 22.9+ 3.8mfg 0.5mft 3.3to 4.5pf = 12.1- = 10.8NP 3.9OE 6.9FG overall: .410, 2 pointers: .467 threes: .375 frees: .727 Sophomore: 13.0m 7.3p 4.2r 4.7a 0.9a 0.1b = 18.2+ 5.4mfg 0.9mft 2.7to 2.4pf = 11.4 - = 6.8NP 1.0OE 5.8FG .311/.560/.139/.667 His three-point shooting declined sharply in his second year there, from 9 for 24 to 5 for 36. His other numbers were down but still pretty good and he committed fewer fouls. Here’s Richmond’s per 40m from his one year here: Freshman: 21.0m 12.0p 5.0r 5.8a 3.1s 1.0b = 26.9+ 5.2mfg 1.2mft 3.0to 2.6pf = 12.0- = 14.9NP, .453/.475/.333/.721. It’s ironic that the one thing he was clearly better at than Symir, (that is measurable by the numbers), was scoring and JB didn’t want Kadary to shoot. Kadary’s legs and arms at longer. He plays in three dimensions, Symir more in two. Kadary looks like an NBA player, Symir more like a good college player. But we need good college players. And Symir played AAU ball with both Buddy and Joe so their chemistry might be better. Here are Symir’s numbers this season at SU: 13.0m 7.9p 4.8r 9.0a 1.3s 0.2b = 23.2+ 4.6mfg 1.0mft 2.7to 2.1pf = 10.4- = 12.8NP 2.3OE 10.5FG .416/.420/.375/.500 His scoring and rebounding weren’t much different than at Marquette. His scoring consisted almost exclusively of drives to the basket. He showed a knack for using the backboard that reminded me of one of my favorite players from my youth: Sam Jones of the Celtics, who was the master of the bank shot. But there wasn’t really any jump shot with range. What he got to do here was to distribute the ball to multiple shooters after breaking down the defense off the dribble and it enabled him to get an astronomical 9.0 assists per 40 minutes, compared to just 2.3 turnovers, a ratio far beyond anything Joe Girard was capable of. He wasn’t the defensive force that Kadari had been. Other than that, he was largely the same player that he had been at Marquette. The fact that he was a junior suggested that he reached his ceiling. But he’ll be an experienced point guard next years, something that Quadir Copeland won’t be. I suspect we’ll at least star the year with Symir and Joe in the backcourt and see how it goes from there. I like our roster. I think everyone can play at this level. I don’t think that anyone is a ‘project’ - anymore. We have increased size and great depth in big men. We may finally have a true center who can dominate inside. Swider, Boeheim and Williams could be a great forward rotation while the Buddy and Joe show continues in the backcourt. Those two may not be defensive whizzes but a third year playing together should count for something. We’ve lost some good individual defensive players but the Boeheim zone is all about team defense and it plays better when we are big, which we now are at 4 positions. Symir, at the least, should make a fine third guard. There’s going to be plenty of outside shooting, although we’ve had some recent teams that thought they’d be a superior perimeter team that struggled due to the lack of an inside scoring presence. Maybe we can change that now. My main concern is depth at forward and guard. Three-man rotations are great but what if we get injuries and foul trouble? Who among the centers could play forward? Who among the forwards could help out at guard? Who among the guards could help out at forward? Everybody wishes we had Kadary Richmond. I wish we had Robert Braswell or Woody Newton, as well. We had three guys not ready to play at this level: the marginal John Bol Ajak and Chaz Owens and the hugely disappointing Benny Williams. The other guys all contributed but had a combination of strengths and weaknesses that weren’t enough to get us over the hump. We could score but were too dependent on the jump shot, which is always going to be erratic. For that reason, JB likes the isolation game that gets the ball inside and puts us on the line, where we were excellent. But he was doing it with jump shooters, so the results were erratic. Our ball-handling was poor, at least until we got Torrance involved. And he was such a poor scorer and foul shooter we didn’t tend to have him in there at the end of games, several of which slipped away from us. We started out as a bad defensive team. By the end of the season I’d say we were a decent one but too many losses were in the bank and even at the end we had a hard time sustaining it for 40 minutes. We might have at least continued the winning season streak with better injury luck but he’d had good luck with injuries until then. I’d have to say that we were what our record - 16-17 – is what we were with this group of players. [/QUOTE]

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