SWC75
Bored Historian
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Then:
Lindy’s article on the ACC is entitled “Plenty of New Faces, Doing the Exact Same Thing“. They identified five programs that have collectively led the league over the past six years – and we aren’t among them. Their picks are Duke, Florida State, Louisville, North Carolina and Virginia, calling them the
“usual suspects”. But they say that three teams are “the likeliest to crash the house party. Look at Georgia Tech, Miami and Syracuse, three squads with experienced backcourts.” But are Joe Girard and Buddy Boeheim good enough to crash the party – or might they need help from some newcomers?
Now:
The Buddy and Joe Show actually improved over the previous year:
2020:
Buddy Boeheim 35.6m 17.2p 2.1r 2.4a 1.2s 0.2b = +23.1 9.0mfg 0.6mft 1.6to 1.9pf 13.1- =
10.0NP 7.6OE 2.4FG TNP: 288
Joe Girard 33.0m 15.1p 3.7r 4.3a 1.8s 0.1b = +25.0 8.7mfg 0.4mft 2.3to 2.8pf = -13.2 =
11.8NP 6.0OE 5.8FG TNP: 312
2021:
Buddy Boeheim 36.2m 19.6p 2.9r 2.8a 1.5s 0.0b = +26.8 9.3mfg 0.4mft 1.8to 1.8pf = -13.3 =
13.5NP 9.9OE 3.6FG TNP: 308
Joe Girard 27.7m 14.1p 4.2r 5.1a 2.0s 0.1b = +25.5 8.6mfg 0.6mft 3.0to 1.8pf = -14.0 =
11.5NP 4.9OE 6.6FG TNP: 223
Joe’s performance was actually comparable to his freshman year, despite his battle with Covid, but he played less minutes due to the arrival of Kadary Richmond, who obviously strengthened the backcourt even more but who seems to have negatively effected it’s chemistry and has now left. But Buddy and Joe are a good college backcourt in their own right and could be even better next year.
Then:
Buddy Boeheim, a 6-6 195 junior from Fayetteville, N.Y. / Jamesville-DeWitt/Brewster Academy (N.H.)
Buddy is the coach's son. it remains to be seen how much that will mean as he attempts to fight off challenges to his playing time from Alan Griffin, (if JB wants to use him as a guard, which he was at Illinois), Kadary Richmond, (to get him on the court when Joe Girard is running the point), Joe Girard, (to get him on the court when Kadary is running the point) or even Chaz Owens, (who is impressing in practice).
He’s got ‘game’. He can shoot it and has range. Like all shooters, he can be streaky. He scored 25 points in the second half of the Georgetown game but that was his total for the game. He can be taken out of a game if they put a man on him. His foul shooting dropped off a bit. He should be an 80% guy. But I’ve seen him use the dribble to avoid a defender and set up a shot. I’ve seen him drive to the basket to score on an aggressive defender. He doesn’t do those things as often as Alan Griffin does in his tape but he seems to be working on those skills. He’s a decent passer and has a good basketball IQ, (as he should considering his linage).
The issue is his defense. He knows his father’s zone and usually positions himself where he should be. He plays the passing lanes well. But, like Joe Girard, he gave up too many open threes, (we were 120th in the country in 3pt percentage defense and gave up 288 of them – only 10 of 350 D-1 teams gave up more). JB tried to sell the notion that the forwards were as much at fault but it was usually Buddy or Joe who was closing on the shooter late. We also had far too much penetration into the paint, which put our big men at a disadvantage, like a goalie facing too many shots on goal. And in this sport, that means foul trouble. If we are to improve greatly as a team, those deficiencies have to be cleared up. It’s possible it could be done as these still young players, (a sophomore and a freshman) improve – and you can improve on defense just as you can improve on offense. In that UNC game, the Tar Heels missed 14 of 16 three pointers, had 18 turnovers and Bourama Sidibe played for 35 minutes, committing 4 fouls. But we don’t know if that’s a fluke or the way the team was going to continue playing. More likely getting newcomers Kadary Richmond and also Woody Newton into games will have a bigger impact on our defense.
Now:
Buddy Boeheim became a star late in the season. It wasn’t just the two NCAA tournament games we won. It began on February 20th against Notre Dame when his 29 points, including 6 threes, led us back from a 20 point second half deficit to win. Then he had 21 in a loss to Duke, Georgia Tech held him to 12 but then he scored 26 and 17 in the wins over North Carolina and Clemson in the last week that began our last-gasp run for the NCAA bid. In the ACCT he drilled NC State for 27 and scored 31 on Virginia’s excellent defense. You know you’ve made it when you get a nickname and people started calling him “Buddy Buckets”. We got the NCAA bid and crushed San Diego State behind Buddy’s 30 points. The run appeared to have ended in the first half against West Virginia as Bob Huggins aggressive man-to-man held Buddy to 3 points. Then he hit his first two threes of the second half and wound up with 25 points in the win. Houston took our whole offense apart and held Buddy to 12 points on 1 for 9 from three. Buddy was able to get as much as he got because he’s not just a three point artist: he can now drive to the basket and score (2 for 4) or get fouled and go to the line (5 for 7). Here are his numbers, (per 40 minutes) for those last 10 games:
36.5m 27.3p 3.7r 2.0a 1.3s 0.0b = 34.3+ 10.7mfg 0.5mft 1.9to 1.6pf = 14.7- = 19.6NP 16.1OE 3.5FG
He shot 54% from two, 42% from three and 84% from the line. His floor game stats are still weak but acceptable for a shooting guard who is in there to score. And he did this as the focal point of the defense, not as a 3rd or 4th option. His actual per game average for those ten games was 24.9 points. The nation’s leading scores, Max Abmas of Oral Roberts, averaged 24.2ppg. We haven’t had a player contend for that title since Dave Bing but “Buddy Buckets” could do that next year.
Jim Boeheim kept insisting that Buddy and Joe improved defensively and they probably did. But they don’t have the natural abilities on that end that players like Richmond and Newton, who are now gone, have. Both Buddy and Joe as individuals are guys you can tolerate defensively if you are strong on defense at the other backcourt spot or at small forward but as a combination they are sub-par. Still, we played consistently good defense down the stretch of this season even with Buddy and Joe in there. Defense is even more of a team sport than offense and if everybody decides to play it, they can get pretty good at it. It will help if Sym Torrance is a good defender and could be paired with Buddy and Joe. Without Braswell and Newton we are likely to be defensively weak at forward next year and we cannot afford to be weak in the backcourt as well. Of course if Buddy and Joe are hot, they can always outscore the men guarding them. Dolph Schayes, when criticized for his defense, used to say “If I out-score my man and my teammates out-score theirs, how are we going to lose?”
Then:
Joseph Girard III, a 6-1 195 sophomore from Glens Falls, N.Y. / Glens Falls
Joe Girard is the highest scoring player we’ve ever recruited to Syracuse. In fact he may be the highest scoring player anyone’s ever recruited. As a junior at Glens Falls High School he became one of 6 players to average 50 points a game in US history. The next year he ‘dropped’ to 48.6 and led his team to the state Class B championship. For his career, he averaged 39.0 points per game – and it was five-year career since he was allowed to play with the varsity as an 8th grader.
The thing is, he was a volume shooter, practically the team’s whole offense. Could he adjust to being one of several players who could score? And, could he play the point, where he was pressed into service with the failure of Jalen Carey, Brycen Goodine and Howard Washington to take over that position? The answer was “Yes”. Joe is often compared to two players: Jimmer Fredette, who also came from Glens Falls, (but didn’t score the way Joe did) and became national player of the year at BYU and the man coaching him here at Syracuse, Gerry McNamara, another volume high school scorer who was pressed into playing the point at SU.
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 1.8 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 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, (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. He didn’t have a lot of assists but 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. But he’s in the same boat as Buddy Boeheim: how do we get Kadary Richmond in the game? What happens if JB wants to use Alan Griffin in the backcourt? Unlike Buddy, Joe can play either guard position so we may see some sets with Richmond at the point and Joe at the ‘2’ or vice versa.
Now:
Joe was hit hard by Covid and pressed hard by Kadary Richmond and often seemed to be trying to do too much to retain his position. I felt strongly that JB should have had a meeting with all three guards and reorganized their roles with a careful explanation of what he wanted. Buddy is purely a shooting guard and Kadary purely as point guard. Joe is the one guy who could play both positions. Shouldn’t he be backing up both of them and getting his, (substantial) minutes doing both? If JB had made it a request, it would have seemed less like a demotion and the new role might have taken the pressure off of Joe.
Despite his situation, Joe had some good games down the stretch of the year and his final numbers were comparable to his freshman year and that was a good year for a freshman point guard. In a healthy junior year when he isn’t looking over his shoulder, he could prosper. And if he doesn’t, we’ve got Sym Torrance, who was actually a higher rated recruit than Richmond and who played with Buddy and Joe in the AAU ranks, so the chemistry could be a lot better.
Then:
Kadary Richmond, 6-5 180 freshman from Brooklyn, N.Y. / South Shore/Brewster Academy (N.H.)
Everybody is talking about Kadary Richmond. (One wag pointed out the irony that Billy Owens’ son will be playing on the same team as a player named ‘Richmond’: it was the Spiders who ended his career here.) We weren’t quite sure what we had when he committed to play here. He’s been listed as a small forward, a shooting guard and a point guard. He seems to be “blowing up”, at least in the SU practices.
The Athletic: ““I love having the ball in my hands, but I know Joe (Girard) will probably stay at the one,” Richmond said. “I’m just trying to be a playmaker. That’s my best attribute. Griff said he can see me playing at the top of the zone, with my length, and being on the bottom because I can rebound and challenge shots.” Richmond’s length should be a bonus to the defense, which struggled last season. He also knows he must remain aggressive in looking for his own offense. Be a threat to score. Attack downhill. This is what distinguishes him. “I think he’s got a big, big upside, even right away,” coach Jim Boeheim said. “He gets to the rim better than anyone we’ve ever had lately... He's one of the best point guards in the country, one of the best young guards in the country."”
Buddy Boeheim called Richmond, “a special talent. He has a tremendous feel for the game, really crafty, can make plays. Him and Joe (Girard) have been battling (in practice)." One of our posters, (‘Ceerqqq’) said “Joe's greatest challenge at this stage in his career is to show how he can perform against taller, talented guards. Well, now he's getting a chance to work on that challenge every day. If he can show that he can score against Kadary, and play respectable defense against him, then Joe's future is truly golden. “
I see an exciting, aggressive, athletic, long-armed and quick player who can hit long and medium jumpers or drive to the basket and score or dish or send it back out to a three point guy. He’s the one guy we have who could break down a defense with his driving ability. He makes steals and runs the court beautifully. He looks like he would be a force at the top of the zone, turning a major weakness last year into a strength this year. We’re going to have a very productive offensive team, maybe unstoppable at times. But to become the defensive team we need to become to get back to where we were a decade ago, we need Kadary in there.
Now:
Kadary got a chance to play when Joe Girard was out with Covid and showed his talents. He’s bigger, stronger and longer than Joe and dramatically improved our defense out in front of the zone. He was the best on the team at driving to the basket: he didn’t need the complicated whirling dervish moves Marek and Buddy were using or the vulnerable behind the back dribble Joe uses. He just had a great first step and was quickly by people. He had big hands that enabled him to make a variety of Dr. J type-layups. And he was a strong and daring passer, both to the baseline and back out to three point shooters. By mid-season he appeared to be our best player and guy who would be an All-American once he got to be a full-time player. Supposedly he didn’t have a jump shot but late in the year, he started hitting those regularly and looked smoother doing it than Joe did. The future was bright – and now it’s bright for Seton Hall, to where Kadary transferred as soon as the season was over.
SU fans were appalled and angry that a potentially great player had been lost. That’s a feeling that isn’t going to go away any time soon. Normally we bemoan the loss of a recruit or player until the position is adequately filled but in this case the Joe vs. Kadary comparisons will continue as long as they are both college players and the only advantage Joe is likely to have in that comparison is if he’s still playing for us after Kadary leaves the Hall behind for the NBA.
None of us are sure why this disaster took place: Was it playing time? Was Boeheim too controlling, forbidding Kadary from shooting from outside? Was it some behind the scenes incident we are not aware of? We will likely never know. I recall years ago a coach who had recruited a bunch of good players to add to a solid group of returning players was asked how he planned to keep all these good players happy. His answer: “I’m not. They are going to keep me happy”. In this era where players can come and go on a whim, coaches may not be able to retain that position. They may have to make decisions designed to convince talented players to stay. Any coach’s default position is: “I play the players that give us the best chance to win the game”. But Jim Boeheim also said after Joe came back from Covid that he has a rule that nobody loses their position because of an injury or illness: if they were started before they got hurt or sick, they will start when they come back. That position seems incompatible with the previous statement. Jim resorted to downplaying Kadary’s accomplishments, (and also those of Jesse Edwards) and emphasizing those of Joe to defend his decision. That surely rubbed Kadary the wrong way. But Jim will be 77 years old, then oldest D-1 head coach ever, next year. He’s not likely to change.
Then:
I think we’ll have a deep, exciting team with three top outside shooters, (Girard, Boeheim and Griffin, who may be on the court at the same time), two guys who can score inside, (Sidibe, Guerrier), a guy who can drive and score or dish, (Richmond) and a guy who can plant himself in the midst of the defense and dish to everybody, (Dolezaj). When they are all playing well, we will be not just hard but likely impossible to stop.
But the key to ‘lift off’ will be on defense. Hopefully, the returning players, (Sidibie, Dolezaj, Guerrier, Boeheim and Girard) will improve, at least incrementally and Griffin will surprise us there. But the big improvement, if it comes, could be from freshmen Richmond and Newton if they get the playing time and can adjust to Boeheim’s system.
Then there’s the future, which these players could all be a part of since they can all return without losing a year of eligibility. But then there’s the improved recruiting which involves, (as far as we know right now) will include at least two five star players, Bennie Williams next year and (somebody as good as) Dior Johnson the year after that. Happy Days are Here Again.
Next:
The best laid plans…Sidibe went down and Edwards, Ajak and Anselem were “not ready yet”. Newton looked good early but was then glued to the bench. Richmond played a lot but not enough. Now Ajak, newton, Richmond are transferring. Guerrier wants to go pro and Dolezaj is going back to Europe. Nobody knows what Griffin’s plans are.
But we had a good season anyway, our best winning percentage in 7 years, a sweet 16 and a final ranking of #25. We have Williams, Swider and Torrance coming in next year and we may not be finished acquiring talent. The guys we are bringing in were higher rated than the guys we are losing coming out of high school. We did get that 5 star commit for 2022, (Kamari Lands).
I think next year’s team will have Syracuse-caliber roster and Coach Boeheim and his staff will be able to turn them into a Syracuse-caliber team that will have a Syracuse-caliber season. I think we will continue the streak of winning seasons, which is now 51, (three short of UCLA’s record). I’m not sure we won’t be on the bubble against next year or that we’ll spend the season in the rankings, as we used to. But I’m very concerned about our defense if we wind up with a starting line-up of Buddy and Joe, Cole and Benny as a freshman, as it well might.
Then:
Lindy’s article on the ACC is entitled “Plenty of New Faces, Doing the Exact Same Thing“. They identified five programs that have collectively led the league over the past six years – and we aren’t among them. Their picks are Duke, Florida State, Louisville, North Carolina and Virginia, calling them the
“usual suspects”. But they say that three teams are “the likeliest to crash the house party. Look at Georgia Tech, Miami and Syracuse, three squads with experienced backcourts.” But are Joe Girard and Buddy Boeheim good enough to crash the party – or might they need help from some newcomers?
Now:
The Buddy and Joe Show actually improved over the previous year:
2020:
Buddy Boeheim 35.6m 17.2p 2.1r 2.4a 1.2s 0.2b = +23.1 9.0mfg 0.6mft 1.6to 1.9pf 13.1- =
10.0NP 7.6OE 2.4FG TNP: 288
Joe Girard 33.0m 15.1p 3.7r 4.3a 1.8s 0.1b = +25.0 8.7mfg 0.4mft 2.3to 2.8pf = -13.2 =
11.8NP 6.0OE 5.8FG TNP: 312
2021:
Buddy Boeheim 36.2m 19.6p 2.9r 2.8a 1.5s 0.0b = +26.8 9.3mfg 0.4mft 1.8to 1.8pf = -13.3 =
13.5NP 9.9OE 3.6FG TNP: 308
Joe Girard 27.7m 14.1p 4.2r 5.1a 2.0s 0.1b = +25.5 8.6mfg 0.6mft 3.0to 1.8pf = -14.0 =
11.5NP 4.9OE 6.6FG TNP: 223
Joe’s performance was actually comparable to his freshman year, despite his battle with Covid, but he played less minutes due to the arrival of Kadary Richmond, who obviously strengthened the backcourt even more but who seems to have negatively effected it’s chemistry and has now left. But Buddy and Joe are a good college backcourt in their own right and could be even better next year.
Then:
Buddy Boeheim, a 6-6 195 junior from Fayetteville, N.Y. / Jamesville-DeWitt/Brewster Academy (N.H.)
Buddy is the coach's son. it remains to be seen how much that will mean as he attempts to fight off challenges to his playing time from Alan Griffin, (if JB wants to use him as a guard, which he was at Illinois), Kadary Richmond, (to get him on the court when Joe Girard is running the point), Joe Girard, (to get him on the court when Kadary is running the point) or even Chaz Owens, (who is impressing in practice).
He’s got ‘game’. He can shoot it and has range. Like all shooters, he can be streaky. He scored 25 points in the second half of the Georgetown game but that was his total for the game. He can be taken out of a game if they put a man on him. His foul shooting dropped off a bit. He should be an 80% guy. But I’ve seen him use the dribble to avoid a defender and set up a shot. I’ve seen him drive to the basket to score on an aggressive defender. He doesn’t do those things as often as Alan Griffin does in his tape but he seems to be working on those skills. He’s a decent passer and has a good basketball IQ, (as he should considering his linage).
The issue is his defense. He knows his father’s zone and usually positions himself where he should be. He plays the passing lanes well. But, like Joe Girard, he gave up too many open threes, (we were 120th in the country in 3pt percentage defense and gave up 288 of them – only 10 of 350 D-1 teams gave up more). JB tried to sell the notion that the forwards were as much at fault but it was usually Buddy or Joe who was closing on the shooter late. We also had far too much penetration into the paint, which put our big men at a disadvantage, like a goalie facing too many shots on goal. And in this sport, that means foul trouble. If we are to improve greatly as a team, those deficiencies have to be cleared up. It’s possible it could be done as these still young players, (a sophomore and a freshman) improve – and you can improve on defense just as you can improve on offense. In that UNC game, the Tar Heels missed 14 of 16 three pointers, had 18 turnovers and Bourama Sidibe played for 35 minutes, committing 4 fouls. But we don’t know if that’s a fluke or the way the team was going to continue playing. More likely getting newcomers Kadary Richmond and also Woody Newton into games will have a bigger impact on our defense.
Now:
Buddy Boeheim became a star late in the season. It wasn’t just the two NCAA tournament games we won. It began on February 20th against Notre Dame when his 29 points, including 6 threes, led us back from a 20 point second half deficit to win. Then he had 21 in a loss to Duke, Georgia Tech held him to 12 but then he scored 26 and 17 in the wins over North Carolina and Clemson in the last week that began our last-gasp run for the NCAA bid. In the ACCT he drilled NC State for 27 and scored 31 on Virginia’s excellent defense. You know you’ve made it when you get a nickname and people started calling him “Buddy Buckets”. We got the NCAA bid and crushed San Diego State behind Buddy’s 30 points. The run appeared to have ended in the first half against West Virginia as Bob Huggins aggressive man-to-man held Buddy to 3 points. Then he hit his first two threes of the second half and wound up with 25 points in the win. Houston took our whole offense apart and held Buddy to 12 points on 1 for 9 from three. Buddy was able to get as much as he got because he’s not just a three point artist: he can now drive to the basket and score (2 for 4) or get fouled and go to the line (5 for 7). Here are his numbers, (per 40 minutes) for those last 10 games:
36.5m 27.3p 3.7r 2.0a 1.3s 0.0b = 34.3+ 10.7mfg 0.5mft 1.9to 1.6pf = 14.7- = 19.6NP 16.1OE 3.5FG
He shot 54% from two, 42% from three and 84% from the line. His floor game stats are still weak but acceptable for a shooting guard who is in there to score. And he did this as the focal point of the defense, not as a 3rd or 4th option. His actual per game average for those ten games was 24.9 points. The nation’s leading scores, Max Abmas of Oral Roberts, averaged 24.2ppg. We haven’t had a player contend for that title since Dave Bing but “Buddy Buckets” could do that next year.
Jim Boeheim kept insisting that Buddy and Joe improved defensively and they probably did. But they don’t have the natural abilities on that end that players like Richmond and Newton, who are now gone, have. Both Buddy and Joe as individuals are guys you can tolerate defensively if you are strong on defense at the other backcourt spot or at small forward but as a combination they are sub-par. Still, we played consistently good defense down the stretch of this season even with Buddy and Joe in there. Defense is even more of a team sport than offense and if everybody decides to play it, they can get pretty good at it. It will help if Sym Torrance is a good defender and could be paired with Buddy and Joe. Without Braswell and Newton we are likely to be defensively weak at forward next year and we cannot afford to be weak in the backcourt as well. Of course if Buddy and Joe are hot, they can always outscore the men guarding them. Dolph Schayes, when criticized for his defense, used to say “If I out-score my man and my teammates out-score theirs, how are we going to lose?”
Then:
Joseph Girard III, a 6-1 195 sophomore from Glens Falls, N.Y. / Glens Falls
Joe Girard is the highest scoring player we’ve ever recruited to Syracuse. In fact he may be the highest scoring player anyone’s ever recruited. As a junior at Glens Falls High School he became one of 6 players to average 50 points a game in US history. The next year he ‘dropped’ to 48.6 and led his team to the state Class B championship. For his career, he averaged 39.0 points per game – and it was five-year career since he was allowed to play with the varsity as an 8th grader.
The thing is, he was a volume shooter, practically the team’s whole offense. Could he adjust to being one of several players who could score? And, could he play the point, where he was pressed into service with the failure of Jalen Carey, Brycen Goodine and Howard Washington to take over that position? The answer was “Yes”. Joe is often compared to two players: Jimmer Fredette, who also came from Glens Falls, (but didn’t score the way Joe did) and became national player of the year at BYU and the man coaching him here at Syracuse, Gerry McNamara, another volume high school scorer who was pressed into playing the point at SU.
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 1.8 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 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, (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. He didn’t have a lot of assists but 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. But he’s in the same boat as Buddy Boeheim: how do we get Kadary Richmond in the game? What happens if JB wants to use Alan Griffin in the backcourt? Unlike Buddy, Joe can play either guard position so we may see some sets with Richmond at the point and Joe at the ‘2’ or vice versa.
Now:
Joe was hit hard by Covid and pressed hard by Kadary Richmond and often seemed to be trying to do too much to retain his position. I felt strongly that JB should have had a meeting with all three guards and reorganized their roles with a careful explanation of what he wanted. Buddy is purely a shooting guard and Kadary purely as point guard. Joe is the one guy who could play both positions. Shouldn’t he be backing up both of them and getting his, (substantial) minutes doing both? If JB had made it a request, it would have seemed less like a demotion and the new role might have taken the pressure off of Joe.
Despite his situation, Joe had some good games down the stretch of the year and his final numbers were comparable to his freshman year and that was a good year for a freshman point guard. In a healthy junior year when he isn’t looking over his shoulder, he could prosper. And if he doesn’t, we’ve got Sym Torrance, who was actually a higher rated recruit than Richmond and who played with Buddy and Joe in the AAU ranks, so the chemistry could be a lot better.
Then:
Kadary Richmond, 6-5 180 freshman from Brooklyn, N.Y. / South Shore/Brewster Academy (N.H.)
Everybody is talking about Kadary Richmond. (One wag pointed out the irony that Billy Owens’ son will be playing on the same team as a player named ‘Richmond’: it was the Spiders who ended his career here.) We weren’t quite sure what we had when he committed to play here. He’s been listed as a small forward, a shooting guard and a point guard. He seems to be “blowing up”, at least in the SU practices.
The Athletic: ““I love having the ball in my hands, but I know Joe (Girard) will probably stay at the one,” Richmond said. “I’m just trying to be a playmaker. That’s my best attribute. Griff said he can see me playing at the top of the zone, with my length, and being on the bottom because I can rebound and challenge shots.” Richmond’s length should be a bonus to the defense, which struggled last season. He also knows he must remain aggressive in looking for his own offense. Be a threat to score. Attack downhill. This is what distinguishes him. “I think he’s got a big, big upside, even right away,” coach Jim Boeheim said. “He gets to the rim better than anyone we’ve ever had lately... He's one of the best point guards in the country, one of the best young guards in the country."”
Buddy Boeheim called Richmond, “a special talent. He has a tremendous feel for the game, really crafty, can make plays. Him and Joe (Girard) have been battling (in practice)." One of our posters, (‘Ceerqqq’) said “Joe's greatest challenge at this stage in his career is to show how he can perform against taller, talented guards. Well, now he's getting a chance to work on that challenge every day. If he can show that he can score against Kadary, and play respectable defense against him, then Joe's future is truly golden. “
I see an exciting, aggressive, athletic, long-armed and quick player who can hit long and medium jumpers or drive to the basket and score or dish or send it back out to a three point guy. He’s the one guy we have who could break down a defense with his driving ability. He makes steals and runs the court beautifully. He looks like he would be a force at the top of the zone, turning a major weakness last year into a strength this year. We’re going to have a very productive offensive team, maybe unstoppable at times. But to become the defensive team we need to become to get back to where we were a decade ago, we need Kadary in there.
Now:
Kadary got a chance to play when Joe Girard was out with Covid and showed his talents. He’s bigger, stronger and longer than Joe and dramatically improved our defense out in front of the zone. He was the best on the team at driving to the basket: he didn’t need the complicated whirling dervish moves Marek and Buddy were using or the vulnerable behind the back dribble Joe uses. He just had a great first step and was quickly by people. He had big hands that enabled him to make a variety of Dr. J type-layups. And he was a strong and daring passer, both to the baseline and back out to three point shooters. By mid-season he appeared to be our best player and guy who would be an All-American once he got to be a full-time player. Supposedly he didn’t have a jump shot but late in the year, he started hitting those regularly and looked smoother doing it than Joe did. The future was bright – and now it’s bright for Seton Hall, to where Kadary transferred as soon as the season was over.
SU fans were appalled and angry that a potentially great player had been lost. That’s a feeling that isn’t going to go away any time soon. Normally we bemoan the loss of a recruit or player until the position is adequately filled but in this case the Joe vs. Kadary comparisons will continue as long as they are both college players and the only advantage Joe is likely to have in that comparison is if he’s still playing for us after Kadary leaves the Hall behind for the NBA.
None of us are sure why this disaster took place: Was it playing time? Was Boeheim too controlling, forbidding Kadary from shooting from outside? Was it some behind the scenes incident we are not aware of? We will likely never know. I recall years ago a coach who had recruited a bunch of good players to add to a solid group of returning players was asked how he planned to keep all these good players happy. His answer: “I’m not. They are going to keep me happy”. In this era where players can come and go on a whim, coaches may not be able to retain that position. They may have to make decisions designed to convince talented players to stay. Any coach’s default position is: “I play the players that give us the best chance to win the game”. But Jim Boeheim also said after Joe came back from Covid that he has a rule that nobody loses their position because of an injury or illness: if they were started before they got hurt or sick, they will start when they come back. That position seems incompatible with the previous statement. Jim resorted to downplaying Kadary’s accomplishments, (and also those of Jesse Edwards) and emphasizing those of Joe to defend his decision. That surely rubbed Kadary the wrong way. But Jim will be 77 years old, then oldest D-1 head coach ever, next year. He’s not likely to change.
Then:
I think we’ll have a deep, exciting team with three top outside shooters, (Girard, Boeheim and Griffin, who may be on the court at the same time), two guys who can score inside, (Sidibe, Guerrier), a guy who can drive and score or dish, (Richmond) and a guy who can plant himself in the midst of the defense and dish to everybody, (Dolezaj). When they are all playing well, we will be not just hard but likely impossible to stop.
But the key to ‘lift off’ will be on defense. Hopefully, the returning players, (Sidibie, Dolezaj, Guerrier, Boeheim and Girard) will improve, at least incrementally and Griffin will surprise us there. But the big improvement, if it comes, could be from freshmen Richmond and Newton if they get the playing time and can adjust to Boeheim’s system.
Then there’s the future, which these players could all be a part of since they can all return without losing a year of eligibility. But then there’s the improved recruiting which involves, (as far as we know right now) will include at least two five star players, Bennie Williams next year and (somebody as good as) Dior Johnson the year after that. Happy Days are Here Again.
Next:
The best laid plans…Sidibe went down and Edwards, Ajak and Anselem were “not ready yet”. Newton looked good early but was then glued to the bench. Richmond played a lot but not enough. Now Ajak, newton, Richmond are transferring. Guerrier wants to go pro and Dolezaj is going back to Europe. Nobody knows what Griffin’s plans are.
But we had a good season anyway, our best winning percentage in 7 years, a sweet 16 and a final ranking of #25. We have Williams, Swider and Torrance coming in next year and we may not be finished acquiring talent. The guys we are bringing in were higher rated than the guys we are losing coming out of high school. We did get that 5 star commit for 2022, (Kamari Lands).
I think next year’s team will have Syracuse-caliber roster and Coach Boeheim and his staff will be able to turn them into a Syracuse-caliber team that will have a Syracuse-caliber season. I think we will continue the streak of winning seasons, which is now 51, (three short of UCLA’s record). I’m not sure we won’t be on the bubble against next year or that we’ll spend the season in the rankings, as we used to. But I’m very concerned about our defense if we wind up with a starting line-up of Buddy and Joe, Cole and Benny as a freshman, as it well might.
