This Team is Good

[Orangemen]

Tyler stealing the inbounds pass and making the layup reminded me of Sherm, my personal favorite

That was an MCW special too. Not sure how many he ever stole, but he was always lingering if ended up around the hoop on a made basket.

 

[edowd26]

Btw I went to the bar with my brother after the game last night. We were discussing the game when the hottest girl i've ever seen cane up and tried to talk about Cuse with us. The following happened :



Replace car with Cuse and its near verbatim.

 

[RF2044]

1. Sherm
2. Pearl
3. Autry
4. Flynn
5. MCW

TOP FIVE ASSESSMENT
I think Autry is really underrated by our fanbase. Guy was a tad frustrating through three seasons, but put together one of the best senior years imaginable. Flynn--pound for pound--might have been the best athlete we've ever had play PG here, but I felt like he left just as he was beginning to figure out how to make his teammates better without sacrificing his offense. MCW has tremendous upside--and we saw what happens to the team whn he started to play well--Final Four run. But I feel like his offensive game was a little lacking in consistency to climb higher on the list. Pearl--love the guy. So amazingly talented, but he also dogged it a lot against inferior opponents and would get outplayed by guys half as talented as he was because he'd only go through the motions. But in big games, there was nobody better. Sherman rises to the top of the list due to his competitiveness. We've never had a point guard who made his teammates better every single moment of every single game--which is why he gets the top spot in my rankings.


6-10
6. Hart
7. GMac
8. Jardine
9. Griffin
10. Z Sims

Hart didn't have the natural talent / innate feel for playing the PG position that some on this list have, but he was an athletic greyhound, a defensive terror, and nobody on the list worked harder on or off the court. That work ethic propelled him to a lengthy journeyman NBA career. GMac had stones. He also had athletic limitations that were often exploited by opposing teams. But I feel like if a few things had worked out differently--say, if Carmelo hadn't left after only one year, if Edelin hadn't left school, if we'd had another complimentary shooter to space the floor--he wouldn't have been so easily manhandled by teams looking to simply take his offense away at all costs. He was the ultimate complimentary shooter / scorer. Scoop had a rocky career at times and a penchant for making poor decisions at key times earlier in his career. But he was a clutch ass shooter in key situations, as well, and improved incrementally every year he was in the program--culminating in the record setting 34-3 2012 season. Allen Griffin is one of my all-time favorite Orangemen. Kid really persevered while having to wait his turn to start, and then put the team on his back and quarterbacked them to an improbable NCAA tournament berth. Only a slight notch below Jason Hart on the hardest working scale, I'm not remotely surprised that he's become a coach. I have a sentimental place in my heart for Z -- played against him in high school, and he is just a great all around guy. Often viewed as a non-scorer and a consummate lead guard, Sims hit a lot of big shots en route to leading the team to the '96 title game.

 

[Melancer46]

Strong game last night -- season-high contributions from Ennis & Grant, second best game ever from Cooney, as well as solid play from Fair. When we get all that in the same game, fine -- we can beat top 30 teams. A lot of positives to take away from 6-0 (as expected).

And, I expect JB would say, the defense needs to improve (top of the zone & down low), and the centers need to rebound. A lot of top 20 teams are better than Cal, which is what -- 5th or 6th best in its conference?

A couple things I disagree with:

1. I thought Fair had a pretty poor game personally. Forced things way too much from the opening tip and never really got comfortable.

2. I think Cal will be around the 3rd best in their conference at the end of the year.

Definitely agree in regards to the defense though, and I think the transition game is a concern as well.

 

[TheCusian]

My list: 1. Sherm 2. Pearl 3. Flynn 4. Autry 5. GMac 6. Eddie Moss 7. Jardine 8. MCW 9. Edelin 10. Z Sims I could see Ennis getting as high as #6 if he leaves after a year or two. If he stays longer, he could rise as high as #4, IMO.

Let's be honest - he can pass everyone on the list by being the steady hand that guides us to a couple of Final Fours and a NC.

And while unlikely given that the others haven't done that - it's not out of the question given the program's height and the talent around him.

(In related news - no way Flynn that high. He had a decent team around him and didn't do much in the NCAA tourney. IMO)

 

[br801]

I was with the OP until the hyperbole spun out of control with the Ennis top 3 or 4 pg's to come through here. Let's lay off the one game perspective and see how this plays out first. You can be good and still not be top 3 or 4.

Hey, remember that thread last December where someone declared MCW the best PG in SU history and compared him to Magic Johnson? This isn't close.

 

[Francis03]

I think the early deficit to Cornell, and the tight game with St Francis has distorted some opinions of this team.

Everyone is struggling here and there early in the season. Duke came extremely close to losing to UVM at Cameron Indoor. 5 years ago that type of result was unthinkable. UK came as close to losing to Clev St as we did to losing to St Francis. MSU struggled against Columbia at home. UNC lost at home to Belmont.

We just put up 92 points and won by 11 against a high major likely NCAA tourney team, and there are a number of posts saying we have a terrible offense and that we didn't win by enough. This is crazy. How many points should we have beaten Cal by? OK, so they were down a main player, that doesn't mean the outcome is any different had he played. Cal relied a lot more on Kravish, who likely put up more points than he would have had Soloman played. And yeah, he was out of the game for a significant amount of time, but that was the whole plan going in. Attack him and foul him out.

We've got a really good team on our hands that is going to be much better by March. Ennis is one of the top 3 or 4 PG's to ever come through this place. If he stayed 4 years, the only PG that would be ahead of him is Pearl (who can never be passed- obviously). He's already a very effective and poised guard. 3 months from now, with a season basically under his belt, he will be excellent. He's already pulling off some MCW-esque moves. The 2 steals to seal the Minny game were very reminiscent of MCW icing the game in Louisville. He's already a better FT shooter than MCW ever was. The defense will never be as consistently excellent as MCW was, but he'll be good enough. The passing isn't quite as good as MCW, but Ennis passing ability is at worst only a level or 2 behind him. His shooting percentage may not be better right now, but the shots will drop (like they did last night), and by March, I doubt that shooting ability will be an issue for him.

We're not going 40-0, but we are going to be a team competing for the NC.

This post gets the

 

[Francis03]

1. Sherm
2. Pearl
...
3. Hart
Flynn
GMac
MCW
Hart
DuVal

9. Autry
Jardine
Triche

Agreed, top 3 or 4 is an awfully tall order. A little early to induct him into that group.

No Josh "99 Problems" Wright? I kid I kid

 

[Jake]

My list if were evaluating PG skills alone:

Sherm
Pearl
MCW
Moss
Sims
Edelin
Autry
Flynn
Hart

 

[LennX6]

1. Sherm
2. Pearl
...
3. Hart
Flynn
GMac
MCW
Hart
DuVal

9. Autry
Jardine
Triche

Agreed, top 3 or 4 is an awfully tall order. A little early to induct him into that group.

I'll be a smart ass and ask where does Billy Edelin fit in?