Things wrong with the basketball program that do not include NIL.

[Dr. Bill]

The coach literally chooses the players, as you highlighted. Does he wish he had more money to pick better players? I’m sure he does. But unless we wake up to 2mil in NIL laying under the Xmas tree not much is changing.

So you need a coach who can find undervalued players that can mesh to a system and DEVELOP them, both of which he has shown zero, and I mean zero, ability to do. We don’t even have a system, or an identity, or anything. I genuinely don’t even know what I’m watching half the time. You are probably right that he’s not in the best position to succeed, but if the situation itself isn’t changing you need to find someone who has the skills to make the most of what we have. We both know that person isn’t Red right now.

I think Coach Autry won 20 games last year. He loses his best player to the NBA draft, then trie to construct a roster this year of transfer portal players. The center he recruited, hasn't played as well for us as anticipated, the point guards we really wanted, didn't select us, we pick a undersized point guard from Hofstra!!! When could a player from Hofstra start on a Syracuse team? Not on any team I have watched since I first went to the Syracuse as a student in 1977. So, in Red's second season, he made some bad player decisions and this team doesn't have the talent or the depth to compete at the expected level.
John Wooden couldn't win with this team as assembled. Coach Red has a really good recruiting class coming in next year. He has a top 10 talent coming in along with Carmello's son, and a 6-5 point guard from Australia. Those 3 along with Moore and Freeman, should provide Red with a nucleus of young talent to develop and grow with. He will need to make better choices in the transfer portal and get some talent to fit his scheme. He stated when he took this job, that he wanted to play a man to man defense, with a fast break transition up tempo offense. In order run that kind of scheme, you need athletic players with ball handling skills and speed, and the make up of this team doesn't allow for that. He needs more than two years before you can tell what kind of coach he will be. We all want instant success.

 

[Dr. Bill]

I think Freeman could be Wallace, but will we get to see it? Wallace was good from the jump but didn't have to carry a team his first couple years because he had a team around him. He had time to develop. Will Freeman stick around long enough for us to benefit from his development or will it be another Jerami Grant where we look at his nice NBA career and wonder what might've been?

I forgot to include Jeremy Grant...He didn't event start at the Cuse, if I recall. Another example of my point. No player on this team equals his talent. Our team doesn't have the talent that we are used to seeing at Syracuse...period!! Yes, retaining Freeman will be difficult. The threats are the NBA...and the Transfer Portal for more NIL money. I think coach Red dneeds more time before we know if he was the right choice or not.

 

[RF2044]

I forgot to include Jeremy Grant...He didn't event start at the Cuse, if I recall. Another example of my point. No player on this team equals his talent. Our team doesn't have the talent that we are used to seeing at Syracuse...period!! Yes, retaining Freeman will be difficult. The threats are the NBA...and the Transfer Portal for more NIL money. I think coach Red dneeds more time before we know if he was the right choice or not.

Grant started his entire sophomore year.

 

[Dr. Bill]

Grant started his entire sophomore year.

I forgot that! Dion Waiters, never started yet, was a first round pick in the NBA. We used to have so much talent at the Cuse...

 

[sufandu]

I forgot to include Jeremy Grant...He didn't event start at the Cuse, if I recall. Another example of my point. No player on this team equals his talent. Our team doesn't have the talent that we are used to seeing at Syracuse...period!! Yes, retaining Freeman will be difficult. The threats are the NBA...and the Transfer Portal for more NIL money. I think coach Red dneeds more time before we know if he was the right choice or not.

Grant started. Freeman has the talent. I think he's more skilled than Grant was at the same stage. He's not DC, Owens, or Carmelo. He may be Wallace. I hope we get to find out.

 

[sufandu]

I forgot that! Dion Waiters, never started yet, was a first round pick in the NBA. We used to have so much talent at the Cuse...

It's true, he didn't. That was an anomaly. Not starting didn't mean he wasn't more talented than the guys in front of him even though we were really talented back then.

I think it's crazier to think we had Billy Owens and DC in the same front court... for two years. Have we ever had a more talented 1-2 punch than that?

 

[Newhouser]

Grant started. Freeman has the talent. I think he's more skilled than Grant was at the same stage. He's not DC, Owens, or Carmelo. He may be Wallace. I hope we get to find out.

Freeman may be more talented but JG had two things Donnie could use. Ability to block shots and help defend. Also JGs greatest strength...he aggressively tried to dunk everything. Donnie could use an ounce of that aggression.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

I think our strategy of acquiring talent and who we play in games is all wrong.

IMO every year we should bring in the following HS recruits:

PF/C
SF/PF
SG/SF
PG

If everyone stays 4 years (never will happen) then you will need to tell one kid to pack his bags. More likely we will lose kids to either the NBA or Portal to where we have something like 4 FR, 3 Soph, 2 JR, 1 SR. You then fill in the holes with kids from the Portal.

Portal kids IMO should be to fill in the blanks not build a team from. Ideally the portal would be bench guys. Carlos, Taylor, Davis would be nice fits if they were depth.

It seems like we are trying to emphasize the Portal which I think is backwards. Even more so if you lack NIL funds.

I don't get why we only brought in 2 kids this year. IMO we dropped the ball here. At least next year's class makes sense.


Then to my 2nd point, given the current roster we should have been starting and playing Freeman and Moore as many mins as possible from game 1. Now with JJ down it is absolutely insane that this is not happening. They gave us the best chance at a successful season. Now with that out the window we need to play for the future. Instead Red has done the opposite.

 

[Fly Rodder]

It's not just NIL and I don't give Red a lot of high marks for recruiting in this day. Top-100 players are great, but outside of a limited few, most frosh aren't starting and contributing on top-30 programs. We don't have one of those few. Maybe next season, but that's still a maybe. Freeman and Moore are OK this season, but Freeman isn't tipping the balance.

The best teams are those who recruit a few high quality HS kids, develop them, KEEP the good ones, rotate in transfers to patch the holes. Evan Miya shows that so far, it doesn't appear that NIL all-star teams do all that great compared to teams who keep their core. The best player on Auburn is in his third season there. Their best HS recruit was a McD AA PG from NJ who comes off the bench. Only one of their starters is a first year transfer there. Everyone else has been there at least 1 previous season. Same with Alabama. Tennessee is only a little more reliant on transfers* for the bulk of their minutes.

 

[miamicuse]

Come on, stop with the excuses. Talent alone does not explain what we are seeing. Less talent due to less NIL so the coaches' hands are tied therefore this product has nothing to do with the coaches.

Sorry but having Sherm Billy and DC on the same team? Are you in fantasyland? That's never ever to be repeated, not at cuse, not at anywhere in college basketball. Sherm & DC stayed 4 years, Billy 3, oh throw a walk on Rony in there too while we are at it. Today all of them are one and dones if you get them you get them for one year max and have to leverage that one year to the max, that's the kind of "development" we are lacking. We need someone who can take a team of hodge podge players and get them to play together as a team and you develop them from the summer to the start of the conference play, that's it, that's the window you have. Next year is a repeat all over again. There is no more developing a kid for 4 years, because if you do a good job of it that kid gets poached for year 3 or 4 like Jesse.

I don't know what they do in practices because what they did in games showed lack of discipline, effort, motivation, game planning, in game adjustments, pre game opponent scouting, basic fundamentals, on offense on defense, substitutions, X and Os, all of these are part of what a coach do...I just don't see it.

Is it just NIL making all the difference? Red wants pace and space, where does overpaying for a our of shape Lampkin fit into this? Did he panicked when Maliq left or a misuse/misfire of NIL? Is Red stockpiling injury prone players because they are less demanding on NIL payouts?

I stopped complaining about not being able to watch some cuse games because they are being carried on ESPNU or ACCNX or whatever channel #747 because I guess I finally conceded & agreed with the decision makers who decided these games should not be on front and center channels we were used to because well...the product is not deserving. Ten years ago I could not imagine not even tuning into SU vs Georgetown game #100. I went Christmas shopping with the wife instead (which I do not enjoy) and only checked scores once.

 

[BonaCuse]

If any team watches game tape on us, they will see that even a mild press (no traps, not going 100%) will be enough to throw the entire offensive sync off. That has been my biggest takeaway lately. Even a half-hearted at best press off of anything (made basket, made free throw, heck...even misses) takes them into single digits left on the shot clock. Which then forces some type of terrible, off balance or off the dribble shot.

 

[Gotothehole]

The State of the program is directly rated, to lack of recruiting by the previous administration. Also lack of NIL funding is a big issue. Before you blame Red, look at how we got here. When was the last time we appeared in the top 25?

 

[Fly Rodder]

Before you blame Red, look at how we got here.

Red was the associate head coach before given the head coach job ... it ain't like he was at Nowhere Directional U.

 

[sufandu]

Red was the associate head coach before given the head coach job ... it ain't like he was at Nowhere Directional U.

It's pretty well known that was a title more than anything and JB didn't really listen to his assistants. This isn't saying Red is doing a good job, just that everything at the end of the JB era is on JB. This includes his assistants, he chose them.

 

[baggerbob]

Freeman may be more talented but JG had two things Donnie could use. Ability to block shots and help defend. Also JGs greatest strength...he aggressively tried to dunk everything. Donnie could use an ounce of that aggression.

Show Donnie the Syracuse highlight dunk reel
with DC, Stevie, Rony, Billy, Ellis, Johnson, Harried and watch the interior passing for dunks.
Have him watch that for 30 minutes before a
game.

 

[CuseCPT]

I forgot that! Dion Waiters, never started yet, was a first round pick in the NBA. We used to have so much talent at the Cuse...

Do you believe that Brandon Triche was more talented than Dion Waiters?

 

[rrlbees]

The State of the program is directly rated, to lack of recruiting by the previous administration. Also lack of NIL funding is a big issue. Before you blame Red, look at how we got here. When was the last time we appeared in the top 25?

The collectives met the NIL goal.

 

[Zelda Zonk]

All player issues...my point exactly. We can't make shots...we lose to teams that you claim have "less talent"...but they are scoring points and making shots... We can debate coaching or lack there of...all day, having coached High School girls's basketball, I will go to my grave saying players win game! Good coaching can make a difference for sure...but the best of coaches will struggle against teams where there is a significant talent disparity.

Not sure how you twisted what i wrote to 'agree' with your opinion. Your point is not my point. I'll make it simpler:

A significant portion of the reason why our players are not getting the results they should... comes down to coaching.

The things they are not doing—it's not because they are not able to.

Teams we have played—let's take Colgate, Youngstown State, Cornell, Albany—do not have the 'talent' we have, yet they played the right way, executed simple fundamentals, didn't blow assignments, didn't look confused, didn't blame teammates, etc.

These are coaching matters. Not talent matters. Yes, if we had great talent, we would have blown those teams out, just on athleticism. We don't have that. That's the only thing we agree on. Yes, "talent wins" (a lot of the time). The bottom line i'm suggesting is that if the coaches of those four teams had our players, they would have (much) better results.

We have neither top talent nor coaching.

 

[Sdot]

The collectives met the NIL goal.

Seems like this is the problem that not as many has addressed…yes Red has not done a good job with coaching and transfer portal recruiting, but if the goal for wildhack and chancellor and red or whoever set it is $2-$2.5 million which would be middle of the ACC or less then they are basically saying we are ok with average. It seems like nobody in administration and coaching is on same page and there all getting in each others way about this new era of college sports.

 

[kingtidge]

Not sure how you twisted what i wrote to 'agree' with your opinion. Your point is not my point. I'll make it simpler:

A significant portion of the reason why our players are not getting the results they should... comes down to coaching.

The things they are not doing—it's not because they are not able to.

Teams we have played—let's take Colgate, Youngstown State, Cornell, Albany—do not have the 'talent' we have, yet they played the right way, executed simple fundamentals, didn't blow assignments, didn't look confused, didn't blame teammates, etc.

These are coaching matters. Not talent matters. Yes, if we had great talent, we would have blown those teams out, just on athleticism. We don't have that. That's the only thing we agree on. Yes, "talent wins" (a lot of the time). The bottom line i'm suggesting is that if the coaches of those four teams had our players, they would have (much) better results.

We have neither top talent nor coaching.

This.

Athletically, this team has A LOT of deficiencies.

That said, there is no discernable offense or identity. When we're not turning the ball over, possession after possession, the looks and shots are often random with no effort on the offensive glass for rebounds...

The defense is abysmal and opposing teams run on us like wildfire because we won't put in the effort on transition D.

Is the team simply coasting and not doing what they are being coached (lockeroom lost?) or is what's being coached simply not working and the players do not understand their responsibilities?

Plus the drop in effort when the shots aren't falling is remedial and the substitutions (or lack there of for certain players) has been baffling.

This team is never going to be world beaters, but it also should not be this dysfunctional and and lacking effort so consistently... and that is on coaching.

Also, if the lockeroom is lost, we can't run it back. There will likely be a portal exodus and who knows what that will mean for the incoming class??

 

[rrlbees]

Seems like this is the problem that not as many has addressed…yes Red has not done a good job with coaching and transfer portal recruiting, but if the goal for wildhack and chancellor and red or whoever set it is $2-$2.5 million which would be middle of the ACC or less then they are basically saying we are ok with average. It seems like nobody in administration and coaching is on same page and there all getting in each others way about this new era of college sports.

I really really doubt the chancellor plays a role in setting an NIL collective budget and I doubt the AD has much input.

I also think a lot of people need to put in their memory caps and remember where NIL comes from.

 

[Sdot]

I really really doubt the chancellor plays a role in setting an NIL collective budget and I doubt the AD has much input.

I also think a lot of people need to put in their memory caps and remember where NIL comes from.

I know John has a big impact on it and is trying and I understand us fans need to step up but there’s schools similar or smaller in size that are outspending us and that shouldn’t happen.

 

[rrlbees]

I know John has a big impact on it and is trying and I understand us fans need to step up but there’s schools similar or smaller in size that are outspending us and that shouldn’t happen.

I know John is a proponent of NIL and advocates for it. I’m not sure how much input he would have on how much it would take for Red to get player A, player B, keep player C, etc.