SWC75
Bored Historian
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Since the present is in the deep freeze and the future is a mystery, let’s talk about the past, specifically by comparing what I said about the players in my season preview at the end of October and what transpired during the season, as well as what, (if anything), I hope to see from the players we think are returning in the future.
CENTERS
BOURAMA SIDIBIE
Then:
When Bourama came here it seemed like only a matter of time before he would beat out Paschal Chukwu for the starting positon at center. He was a smaller player by 4 inches and 20 pounds but clearly a more talented one, as evidenced by the highlight film below from his high school years. It shows an aggressive, mobile defender who tries to turn his blocked shots into passes. It shows a big man who can hit jump shots, drive past people and run the break and has the beginnings of a post-up game. Basically everything you’d want in a college center.
But he could never beat Chukwu out because of his painful knees, which were weakened by tendonitis, causing debilitating pain which would come and go. In some games the pain relented, including a memorable, (and frankly amazing) 18 point, 16 rebound performance in only 20 minutes at our old nemesis, Pitt. But the good games were rare and not nearly as productive as that.
Now:
Bourama showed little sign of his knee problems and moved well all season. However he was almost continually in foul trouble, limiting him to 24 minutes a game. For much of the season, he continued to fail to show his early promise, although his production was better than some fans realized because of his foul trouble, which not only limited his playing time but caused him to play tentatively when facing benching or expulsion.
Jim Boeheim was a frequent public critic, especially of the big games opposing big men kept having against us. Or Ariel of Oklahoma State had 19 points and 8 rebounds compared to Bourama’s 6 and 9. Mike Watkins of Penn State was 15/16 to B’s 2/1 in 17 minutes of play. Iowa’s All-American Luka Garza has 23/9 to B’s 8/8. Georgetown’s Omer Yurtseven had 19/9 to B’s 2/5. Notre Dame’s John Mooney had 28/14 to B’s 2/6. Tevin Mack of Clemson had 32/10 to B’s 2/4, Duke’s Vernon Carey was 26/17 to B’s 8/7. Malik Williams of Louisville was 14/13 vs. B’s 2/5. North Carolina’s Garrison Brooks was 26/14 but this was when Bourama was really getting going and he answered with 17/15 and 6 blocks. All these games were losses. What the last of those games proved was that even when Bourama was playing well, we were too vulnerable inside. That suggests that he was not the entire problem. Even when blocking 6 shots he was like a goalie whose defense is allowing too many shots on goal. This also could at least partially explain the foul trouble: if Bourama was consistently being challenged by players with the ball in the paint, he’s going to commit more fouls that if the defense out front was better. Bourama is said to be the team’s best student. He’s smart enough to be able to avoid fouls if the ball isn’t constantly coming at him.
Bourama finally responded to JB’s constant criticism late in the season with a succession of productive games: 6 points, 10 rebounds 1 block and 3 steals against Georgia tech; 13/10/4/5 vs. Pittsburgh; 17/15/6/1 vs. UNC, 9/12/1/2 vs. Boston College; 2/10/2/0 vs. Miami and 12/13/2/3 vs. UNC again, a game were we played excellent defense and Brooks got 18/4 while Bourama played 35 minutes with 4 fouls. That stretch comes to an average of 10 points, 12 rebounds, 3 blocks and 2 steals a game. If he can average that in his senior season, we’ll all be delighted.
JESSE EDWARDS
Then:
Two things come to mind that Jim Boeheim has said many times: that big men take longer to develop and that foreign players take longer to develop. Big men have to “grow into their bodies” and learn new skills as they progress from guard to forward to center. One SU assistant coach, discussing Marek Dolezaj, said that players don’t’ really begin to get stronger until they stop growing and fill out. Dolezaj was 6-8 when he was recruited, reached 6-9 as a freshman and 6-10 last year. He’s now begun to gain a little weight and develop a few muscles. That’s been an issue with all of our foreign big men. Foreign players usually have not been playing basketball since childhood and are behind in fundamental skills. They probably haven’t been eating high protein diets, either. Yet we keep recruiting foreign big men and then becoming impatient when they don’t seem to be developing the way we’d like.
It helps if the foreign player is from Europe where basketball has become a big-time sport and the players may have been playing it for a longer period of time. Marek Dolezaj arrived here with an advanced, versatile game and “high basketball IQ”. Jesse Edwards started playing basketball at age 13. He’d already finished second in a national high jumping completion and had grown to 6-1. His older brother was watching LeBron James videos on the internet and Jesse became interested in the sport. That was a good thing as he grew another 10 inches. “I’m quite new at the game. There’s a lot of things I can still work on. There’s a lot of room to get better.’’ His British father, despite being 6-7, was a cricket player. Syracuse.com: “Edwards’ lack of basketball experience puts him in stark contrast with most American-born players. He has both size and athleticism plus a smooth shooting stroke shot that allows him to step away from the basket and loft feathery jump shots….Edwards decided he needed a year in prep school in the states to prepare for college and went to IMG Academy in Florida, a place with college-level training facilities that specializes in preparing not only students but athletes for college stardom. When Syracuse first recruited him, he was listed as 6-11 185. He’s now listed as much as 215, although even that is rather skinny for a 6-11 guy.
“Most players in Europe grow up playing out of position. In America, if you are big, you are a center, where you just stand under the basket and grab rebounds,” he said. “So I grew up doing a whole lot of different stuff, you know? I’m used to playing a lot of different positions, doing more than just grabbing rebounds. I think that’s what the coaches liked about me. I don’t have really one thing – I’m mostly just an all-around player.” His coach at IMG, Brian Nash: ““He has some things you can’t teach. He’s got some moves in the post. He’s got a spin move, he can face up, he can put the ball on the floor and he shoots the three. He’s really talented.’’
Now:
Jesse definitely showed flashes, (to borrow a G-Rob term) of the player he could be someday. He’s the tallest of our centers and clearly has the greatest reach, (he’s ‘longer’). He moved gracefully and showed the ability to score and rebound and also pass very well, although I didn‘t see any ‘feathery jump shots’. He had 10 points, 5 rebounds and 2 blocks against Bucknell, 7/3/1 vs. Georgia Tech, 7/3/2 vs. Louisville and 5/3/1 vs. North Carolina in the finale. Per 40 minutes of play, he averaged 13.7 points, 9.6 rebounds and 2.7 blocks. To the fans, he was the “back-up quarterback” who should have been playing when Bourama was ineffective. JB had to keep reminding people that he was doing this against the lesser teams or the reserves of the better teams. He kept saying that Jesse “just isn’t ready”. Physically, he certainly needs to build himself up more. It’s hard to see any muscles on his spaghetti-like arms. But he sure looks like he could be a key player in the future.
JOHN BOL AJAK Freshman 6-0 205-222
Then:
Bol Ajak, (I’ve heard it pronounced as one word: Bowl-ah-jaque but I’ve also heard JB call him ‘John Bol’, suggesting that that is his first name), is the other new center Jim Boeheim has brought in… JBA is so far “under the radar” that he not only didn’t make the top 100 lists but he didn’t even make some top 200 lists. Part of that may be due to an Achilles injury that limited his play on the AAU circuit. He couldn’t play in Italy because the US has some problems with visas issued by the Sudan and he might not have been able to get back into the US if he left the country.
“His junior year, Ajak battled an Achilles injury. The competition he faced at Church Farm, rarely facing players taller than 6-foot-3, led to double and triple teams. He wasn’t improving. Ajak wanted to transfer to Westtown, which has produced Duke’s Cam Reddish and top NBA draft pick Mohamed Bamba. This past spring, Ajak was allowed into a program that rarely accepts one-year players. The first day of practice, Ajak got the ball in the high post and made a lay-up. Westtown head coach Seth Berger immediately noticed a problem with his footwork. Berger said: “Bol took about 12 pitty-pat steps to the rim. I said, ‘What the hell was that?’” Berger showed Ajak how to move to the hoop. He showed Ajak how to take two steps to turn, two to gather and finish at the rim. The next play, Ajak did exactly as he was taught.”
I love this interview with John. It shows how quickly he picks things up: the language, the culture, the history and the game itself. He also provides a breakdown of his own game and progress:
Now:
JBA redshirted. In warm-ups he was hard to distinguish, (at least from the third deck), from Sidibe as their size, coloring and hairdo were similar. But John Bol looked a bit thicker. People were saying that he was making a lot of shots in practice but JB doesn’t really look to his centers for jump shooting and neither do I. I think they may reverse the red-shirts next year and give John Bol a chance to show what he can do while Jesse continues to build his frame. That would give both of them a year’s experience and three years of eligibility after next year. With Sidibie, Dolezaj and, if he comes, Tape all being seniors next year, Edwards and Ajak are the future of the positon for Syracuse.
CENTERS
BOURAMA SIDIBIE
Then:
When Bourama came here it seemed like only a matter of time before he would beat out Paschal Chukwu for the starting positon at center. He was a smaller player by 4 inches and 20 pounds but clearly a more talented one, as evidenced by the highlight film below from his high school years. It shows an aggressive, mobile defender who tries to turn his blocked shots into passes. It shows a big man who can hit jump shots, drive past people and run the break and has the beginnings of a post-up game. Basically everything you’d want in a college center.
But he could never beat Chukwu out because of his painful knees, which were weakened by tendonitis, causing debilitating pain which would come and go. In some games the pain relented, including a memorable, (and frankly amazing) 18 point, 16 rebound performance in only 20 minutes at our old nemesis, Pitt. But the good games were rare and not nearly as productive as that.
Now:
Bourama showed little sign of his knee problems and moved well all season. However he was almost continually in foul trouble, limiting him to 24 minutes a game. For much of the season, he continued to fail to show his early promise, although his production was better than some fans realized because of his foul trouble, which not only limited his playing time but caused him to play tentatively when facing benching or expulsion.
Jim Boeheim was a frequent public critic, especially of the big games opposing big men kept having against us. Or Ariel of Oklahoma State had 19 points and 8 rebounds compared to Bourama’s 6 and 9. Mike Watkins of Penn State was 15/16 to B’s 2/1 in 17 minutes of play. Iowa’s All-American Luka Garza has 23/9 to B’s 8/8. Georgetown’s Omer Yurtseven had 19/9 to B’s 2/5. Notre Dame’s John Mooney had 28/14 to B’s 2/6. Tevin Mack of Clemson had 32/10 to B’s 2/4, Duke’s Vernon Carey was 26/17 to B’s 8/7. Malik Williams of Louisville was 14/13 vs. B’s 2/5. North Carolina’s Garrison Brooks was 26/14 but this was when Bourama was really getting going and he answered with 17/15 and 6 blocks. All these games were losses. What the last of those games proved was that even when Bourama was playing well, we were too vulnerable inside. That suggests that he was not the entire problem. Even when blocking 6 shots he was like a goalie whose defense is allowing too many shots on goal. This also could at least partially explain the foul trouble: if Bourama was consistently being challenged by players with the ball in the paint, he’s going to commit more fouls that if the defense out front was better. Bourama is said to be the team’s best student. He’s smart enough to be able to avoid fouls if the ball isn’t constantly coming at him.
Bourama finally responded to JB’s constant criticism late in the season with a succession of productive games: 6 points, 10 rebounds 1 block and 3 steals against Georgia tech; 13/10/4/5 vs. Pittsburgh; 17/15/6/1 vs. UNC, 9/12/1/2 vs. Boston College; 2/10/2/0 vs. Miami and 12/13/2/3 vs. UNC again, a game were we played excellent defense and Brooks got 18/4 while Bourama played 35 minutes with 4 fouls. That stretch comes to an average of 10 points, 12 rebounds, 3 blocks and 2 steals a game. If he can average that in his senior season, we’ll all be delighted.
JESSE EDWARDS
Then:
Two things come to mind that Jim Boeheim has said many times: that big men take longer to develop and that foreign players take longer to develop. Big men have to “grow into their bodies” and learn new skills as they progress from guard to forward to center. One SU assistant coach, discussing Marek Dolezaj, said that players don’t’ really begin to get stronger until they stop growing and fill out. Dolezaj was 6-8 when he was recruited, reached 6-9 as a freshman and 6-10 last year. He’s now begun to gain a little weight and develop a few muscles. That’s been an issue with all of our foreign big men. Foreign players usually have not been playing basketball since childhood and are behind in fundamental skills. They probably haven’t been eating high protein diets, either. Yet we keep recruiting foreign big men and then becoming impatient when they don’t seem to be developing the way we’d like.
It helps if the foreign player is from Europe where basketball has become a big-time sport and the players may have been playing it for a longer period of time. Marek Dolezaj arrived here with an advanced, versatile game and “high basketball IQ”. Jesse Edwards started playing basketball at age 13. He’d already finished second in a national high jumping completion and had grown to 6-1. His older brother was watching LeBron James videos on the internet and Jesse became interested in the sport. That was a good thing as he grew another 10 inches. “I’m quite new at the game. There’s a lot of things I can still work on. There’s a lot of room to get better.’’ His British father, despite being 6-7, was a cricket player. Syracuse.com: “Edwards’ lack of basketball experience puts him in stark contrast with most American-born players. He has both size and athleticism plus a smooth shooting stroke shot that allows him to step away from the basket and loft feathery jump shots….Edwards decided he needed a year in prep school in the states to prepare for college and went to IMG Academy in Florida, a place with college-level training facilities that specializes in preparing not only students but athletes for college stardom. When Syracuse first recruited him, he was listed as 6-11 185. He’s now listed as much as 215, although even that is rather skinny for a 6-11 guy.
“Most players in Europe grow up playing out of position. In America, if you are big, you are a center, where you just stand under the basket and grab rebounds,” he said. “So I grew up doing a whole lot of different stuff, you know? I’m used to playing a lot of different positions, doing more than just grabbing rebounds. I think that’s what the coaches liked about me. I don’t have really one thing – I’m mostly just an all-around player.” His coach at IMG, Brian Nash: ““He has some things you can’t teach. He’s got some moves in the post. He’s got a spin move, he can face up, he can put the ball on the floor and he shoots the three. He’s really talented.’’
Now:
Jesse definitely showed flashes, (to borrow a G-Rob term) of the player he could be someday. He’s the tallest of our centers and clearly has the greatest reach, (he’s ‘longer’). He moved gracefully and showed the ability to score and rebound and also pass very well, although I didn‘t see any ‘feathery jump shots’. He had 10 points, 5 rebounds and 2 blocks against Bucknell, 7/3/1 vs. Georgia Tech, 7/3/2 vs. Louisville and 5/3/1 vs. North Carolina in the finale. Per 40 minutes of play, he averaged 13.7 points, 9.6 rebounds and 2.7 blocks. To the fans, he was the “back-up quarterback” who should have been playing when Bourama was ineffective. JB had to keep reminding people that he was doing this against the lesser teams or the reserves of the better teams. He kept saying that Jesse “just isn’t ready”. Physically, he certainly needs to build himself up more. It’s hard to see any muscles on his spaghetti-like arms. But he sure looks like he could be a key player in the future.
JOHN BOL AJAK Freshman 6-0 205-222
Then:
Bol Ajak, (I’ve heard it pronounced as one word: Bowl-ah-jaque but I’ve also heard JB call him ‘John Bol’, suggesting that that is his first name), is the other new center Jim Boeheim has brought in… JBA is so far “under the radar” that he not only didn’t make the top 100 lists but he didn’t even make some top 200 lists. Part of that may be due to an Achilles injury that limited his play on the AAU circuit. He couldn’t play in Italy because the US has some problems with visas issued by the Sudan and he might not have been able to get back into the US if he left the country.
“His junior year, Ajak battled an Achilles injury. The competition he faced at Church Farm, rarely facing players taller than 6-foot-3, led to double and triple teams. He wasn’t improving. Ajak wanted to transfer to Westtown, which has produced Duke’s Cam Reddish and top NBA draft pick Mohamed Bamba. This past spring, Ajak was allowed into a program that rarely accepts one-year players. The first day of practice, Ajak got the ball in the high post and made a lay-up. Westtown head coach Seth Berger immediately noticed a problem with his footwork. Berger said: “Bol took about 12 pitty-pat steps to the rim. I said, ‘What the hell was that?’” Berger showed Ajak how to move to the hoop. He showed Ajak how to take two steps to turn, two to gather and finish at the rim. The next play, Ajak did exactly as he was taught.”
I love this interview with John. It shows how quickly he picks things up: the language, the culture, the history and the game itself. He also provides a breakdown of his own game and progress:
Now:
JBA redshirted. In warm-ups he was hard to distinguish, (at least from the third deck), from Sidibe as their size, coloring and hairdo were similar. But John Bol looked a bit thicker. People were saying that he was making a lot of shots in practice but JB doesn’t really look to his centers for jump shooting and neither do I. I think they may reverse the red-shirts next year and give John Bol a chance to show what he can do while Jesse continues to build his frame. That would give both of them a year’s experience and three years of eligibility after next year. With Sidibie, Dolezaj and, if he comes, Tape all being seniors next year, Edwards and Ajak are the future of the positon for Syracuse.
