Things to consider

[SBU72]

Christmas: The kid came in a McD's AA but you have to realize even then he was more a defensive wiz than a scoring machine. A move to PF from C is a big change, add being a freshman and playing zone, it is a lot to absorb. Then throw in JB has him play center in the zone on occasion and it is even more so. His stats for a little less than 13 mpg aren't bad especially since the team doens't need a big numbers from him.

Fair: Could the secret MVP of this team be CJ? He does just about everything and with the 2nd most minutes played the coach knows his value.

Southerland: Who says a player advances more between his 1st and 2nd year than any other? James has made huge strides in his all arond game. And speaking of big stride in their games, how many teams seen advancement in as many players in one year than SU has. Melo, Dion and James.

3 headed back court: As of today, Scoop, Brandon and Dion have the following total minutes: 345, 346 and 347. Does coach have an assitant tacking playing time?

Fair and Waiters: co-6th man for the BE? Or do they just give it to the entire SU bench?

 

[cpatrocks]

Fair and Waiters: co-6th man for the BE? Or do they just give it to the entire SU bench?

Waiters gets the 6th Man Award...Fair gets the 7th Man Award.

 

[jordoo]

Fair is really a starter and most BE coaches probably now that. He played 38min last night and other than Jo plays more than anyone. That and Dion is more flashy so he will get the 6th man IMO.

Great points about Rak. I know he is a bit lost at the 4 and the 5 on defense right now but his rebounding is getting better he had 5 in about 18min last night. He also has a much better back to the basket game than I expected.

 

[memcorsu]

I see a projection for Rak much like Melo last year. He came in so lost and fouled out nonstop and there were one or two games towards the end of the BE sch. that we can look at last year when we started to see the lights come on for Fab. I think we will see that this year with Rak. The potential is all there it is just slowing the game down in your head.

 

[pfister1]

I see a projection for Rak much like Melo last year. He came in so lost and fouled out nonstop and there were one or two games towards the end of the BE sch. that we can look at last year when we started to see the lights come on for Fab. I think we will see that this year with Rak. The potential is all there it is just slowing the game down in your head.

The big difference is that Rak doesn't have to overcome being physically out of shape as Fab did, so we may actually see some of that improvement by the end of this season such that it helps us in March.

 

[ImperialOrange]

3 headed back court: As of today, Scoop, Brandon and Dion have the following total minutes: 345, 346 and 347. Does coach have an assitant tacking playing time?quote]

Fun part about that is MCW has the potential to be better than all of them.

 

[billsin01]

The big difference is that Rak doesn't have to overcome being physically out of shape as Fab did, so we may actually see some of that improvement by the end of this season such that it helps us in March.

Yeah, just a naked eye/anecdotal observation but I'd suggest that at this point Rak is way ahead of where Melo was for most if not all of last season.

 

[Garbs]

Christmas: The kid came in a McD's AA but you have to realize even then he was more a defensive wiz than a scoring machine. A move to PF from C is a big change, add being a freshman and playing zone, it is a lot to absorb. Then throw in JB has him play center in the zone on occasion and it is even more so. His stats for a little less than 13 mpg aren't bad especially since the team doens't need a big numbers from him.

he played the 4 all year last year and zone, while it is not JB's zone it is better than nothing

 

[MyMeloMyMan]

We just have to hope being JB's whipping boy doesn't completely break down young Christmas.

 

[memcorsu]

We just have to hope being JB's whipping boy doesn't completely break down young Christmas.

His demeanor is an enigma to me. It looks like he does not enjoy the game at all. From reports this was the big knock against him. I think the one glaring difference between Rak and last year Fab, is that Fab had a more polished offensive game IMHO. Recruiting analysts, when break down each player ot of HS, had Fab more O developed and Rak more D developed out of HS. The interesting thing surronding both players is that they are natural athletes, both originally not from the US, and have both played almost no basketball when compared to other players who were born and raised in the states.

We seem to have great chemistry on the team this year. Rak is the one player that worries me. There was a video of him and MCW from AAU summer tourney mouthing of to the UK recruits about how we are better, but it just does not seem that he is happy. Pure enigma.

 

[OrlandoCuse]

His demeanor is an enigma to me. It looks like he does not enjoy the game at all. From reports this was the big knock against him. I think the one glaring difference between Rak and last year Fab, is that Fab had a more polished offensive game IMHO. Recruiting analysts, when break down each player ot of HS, had Fab more O developed and Rak more D developed out of HS. The interesting thing surronding both players is that they are natural athletes, both originally not from the US, and have both played almost no basketball when compared to other players who were born and raised in the states.

We seem to have great chemistry on the team this year. Rak is the one player that worries me. There was a video of him and MCW from AAU summer tourney mouthing of to the UK recruits about how we are better, but it just does not seem that he is happy. Pure enigma.

I had no idea Rak was not from the US. Where did he grow up?

 

[memcorsu]

I had no idea Rak was not from the US. Where did he grow up?

Virgin Islands. Also the home of NBA great Timmie Duncan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rakeem_Christmas

 

[SBU72]

he played the 4 all year last year and zone, while it is not JB's zone it is better than nothing

Did not know that he played mostly/all zone d last year. Interesting tidbit. But like you say not near what JB teaches. Trying to figure out where you are suppose to be on the wing is probably the hardest part of the zone. When do you move up, how long to wait until your guard gets there then when do you move inside. A lot more decision making and moving than either center or guard.

 

[memcorsu]

Did not know that he played mostly/all zone d last year. Interesting tidbit. But like you say not near what JB teaches. Trying to figure out where you are suppose to be on the wing is probably the hardest part of the zone. When do you move up, how long to wait until your guard gets there then when do you move inside. A lot more decision making and moving than either center or guard.

His coach switched over to the zone to help prepare Rak for the SU zone. As you stated; anyone elses zone is not JB's zone. If I am still around 30 years from now I would not be suprised to see JB still be mentioned for what he did to modernize the D. It really does speak of its popularity right now when teams ask him to coach clinics on it.

 

[OttoMets]

he played the 4 all year last year and zone, while it is not JB's zone it is better than nothing

I would say that might be worse than nothing - a high school coach's idea of the 2-3 is drastically different than what Boeheim wants and Rakeem probably has a ton of unlearning to do. If he'd played man and come in a blank slate, he wouldn't have to expend to much energy breaking out of learned bad habits.

 

[armory]

his footwork at the 5 needs a lot of work. he keeps stepping to the side of players instead of getting in front of them. but nobody gets JB's zone their freshman year, nobody. takes at least a year to settle in on D.