Well then, bring it on, hotshot. I did a real quick check, looks like you only lost one senior from last year, is that right? He was a good one though, Rick Jackson brought home 13.1 points and 10.3 rebounds per and averaged .588 from the field. Guys like that don't grow on trees, especially in the rebounding department.
Wha's the plan for filling his shoes? Fab Melo?
Carolina lost a couple of seniors, but are still returning 64.8 ppg, 33.0 rpg and 5.1 bpg.
Plus we have two 5-star freshmen coming in, 6'8" James McAdoo and 6'5" P.J. Hairston. Some of your older fans may remember McAdoo's uncle Bob McAdoo who played for the old Buffalo Braves NBA squad in the early 70s.
Our starting five features 1 senior, 2 juniors and 2 sophomores, so we do have some experience. For my money, I prefer a title-contending team to feature nothing but seniors and juniors, but you can't have it all.
I expect Duke and Carolina to be worthy opponents. I'll be embarrassed should Syracuse finish behind any of the other crap in the ACC (excluding Pitt of course) any time soon. As for comparing teams this year, it's not all that relevant seeing how Cuse has at least one more season of playing in the Big East, but I'll indulge anyway. You'll find a lot of different opinions from different SU fans, however I would liken this year's team to last year's in that there's a lot of nice players but arguably no superstar a la Wes Johnson, Johnny Flynn, Hakim Warrick, Melo, etc. Rick Jackson was the team's top talent last year, an outstanding rebounder and defender, but not a juggernaut on offense, he could vanish in that aspect once in a while.
Kris Joseph (SF, Sr.) led the team in scoring last year and would be the likely candidate to do so again, he's great off the dribble and in the open court, and added a respectable perimeter shot to his game last year...he'd be a great second option on offense but he's got improving to do to be considered an All American caliber player. Fifth year senior
Scoop Jardine is back at the point, fans here have a love hate relationship with him, he's a good distributor who has a creative offensive game but can fall into the trap of taking too many shots, which IMO is due in part to the lack of a real stud on offense.
Brandon Triche (Jr.) returns at the other guard, his uncle was on the 87 national runner up. Triche is another guy who will elicit various opinions here, some would say that, opposite of Jardine, he played a little too tentatively for a while to start the season, his numbers ended up being decent but not eye-popping. Along with being a smart, team-first guy, he's a strong defender at a legit 6-4 and built like a linebacker, you can't miss the biceps on this guy.
That is the core of this year's team, players who will be in a supporting role this year but who could make an impact in the ACC...it starts with the backcourt. Incoming freshman
Michael Carter Williams was a McD AA, 6-5, long arms, great passer and scorer, the fanbase is very excited about him, though he's a lanky 175 (generous) and could stand to add some strength, it remains to be seen if he can make an impact this year as the guard pool is deep. Sophomore combo guard
Dion Waiters was the top scorer off the bench last season, he was just outside McD AA territory as a consensus top 30 recruit...his talent is evident but he found himself in Boeheim's doghouse last year with some attitude/behavior issues. If he can clean up that downside of his freshman year he could have a great career.
Trevor Cooney will be a long shot to play this year but we're hoping he overachieves on his top 100-ish ranking as he enters college (he did get offers from a lot of good programs though), he's a great shooter and has a strong hoops IQ, at 6-3 he should fit nicely into the zone when his turn comes. Onto the frontcourt...sophomore
CJ Fair looks like the favorite to take the vacated starting forward spot this year, SU fans love this guy. More of a SF who has the length to play the 4 in the 2-3, he has a knack for getting good shots and was a mere .2 PPG behind Waiters last year as the 2nd highest scorer off the bench and is probably a better rebounder than Kris Joseph. As a side note he bears an uncanny resemblance to former SU wing Josh Pace, left-handed, small forward, same #5, however Fair is taller and possesses a decent looking jumper which should become a solid part of his game this year or next. The bigs should be solid if not excellent two years from now...
Fab Melo was a disappointment for most of the year, however he was also playing with a torn muscle (calf?) for most of the season and frankly he needed to catch up both in the conditioning and skills department. He did have a pair of 10 point games in early March, hopefully something he can build on, he has great potential if his game can catch up to his body.
Baye Moussa Keita came in last year as an unheralded freshman and won a lot of praise, he rebounded well and played his ass off on D, unfortunately a hand injury hindered his production late in the year but he made a great impression in his first season; if Melo flops Keita will be a fine backup plan, one of them will be the starting center this year. Incoming frosh
Rakeem Christmas was a McD's AA, he's an impressive athlete at the 4 with long arms and an explosive vertical, however his game seems kind of raw, we'll see what kind of contribution he can make this year but his ceiling is high.
James Southerland and
Mookie Jones, both juniors, round out the current roster. Southerland is a legit 6-8 and no stiff athletically out there, but his greatest strength is shooting the three where he has proven deadly in modest opportunities. Jones is probably at the bottom of the depth chart, poor guy could be a decent scorer for a lesser program and has gotten some chances here and there as a strong perimeter shooter, but he tends to jack up a lot of shots when he sees the court and isn't exactly a defensive stalwart. So far the class of 2012 consists of one player,
Jerami Grant, who projects as a combo forward and is currently in borderline top 50 territory. Cuse continues to pursue the highly regarded local product DaJuan Coleman, a 6-8 260 man-child--you may know him as UNC is amongst a number of big time programs chasing him. He should be SU's to lose but his dragging out of the commitment process has some uneasy. Anyway, that's one SU fan's take on the present and future.
