I think everybody would agree that he did somewhere between a solid to a very good job last season.
This season's roster is screwed up because we blew the portal. Was that Red's fault ? Can anybody point to some other players in the portal that we could have gotten with our available NIL $$$$ that are doing better ?
Carlos and Lampkin are disappointments compared to our expectations. Taylor is a total bust. Only Davis has shown value in terms of our portal grabs.
We didnt pay up for Leffew who we clearly wanted. We let Brown leave. Team would have been entirely different if we had spent competitively. Same happened the year before when we didnt pay up for Jesse. Is that cheapness on Red ? You think Red didnt see that Brown > Lampkin or Leffew > Carlos ???
This season's mess got compounded with the JJ injury.
So what can we lay on Red ?
In terms of player development - maybe a lack of improvement by Bell is on the Coach. On the plus side - very nice progressions from Freeman and JJ (before he was hurt). Moore is coming along nicely - my biggest gripe with Red is I think Moore should be seen more.
On the recruiting front - Red has been a huge upgrade from what we saw of the last ten or so Jimmy years. Five stars in consecutive classes plus 4 stars Kiyan and Moore. I have a good feeling about the Aussie kid, though it is obviously pre-mature to say he will be the PG answer. We are in the mix for others. I think we have clearly had A level recruiting the last two classes. Only issue will be can we keep these kids for more than one season ??
This team cant shoot. A game with zero threes made in this day and age ???? Poor to erratic FT %. Well, that is at least something that just continues our long tradition.
On D - thank goodness we are basically done with the dino-Zone. I see the D gradually improving, but how good can it get with an undersized PG and a slow center ?
Bottom line - you cant win without talent. We lack even mid-ACC pack level talent, especially without JJ.
Now, if somebody thinks they can hang the portal selections on Red, then criticism is fair. If not, give the man a chance to prove or not prove how good a coach he is when we have a level playing field in terms of talent on the Court.
I love the contrarian take here and think there is some merit to your thoughts. It's easy to join the mob and flip out when things aren't going well. Specifically, I believe you are correct in that there are challenges here that are going to make it a different era of syracuse basketball -- if we can't compete on NIL, this is a very challenging job for whoever is sitting in that head coach chair.
Where I disagree is that it's too early to critique what Red is putting on the floor. While I absolutely acknowledge the NIL issues, I'm fairly certain we actively moved off of Maliq Brown and into the Eddie Lampkin business. Lampkin is a fine player and whether he is worth the money or not is not something I want to debate. But a big, physical center who doesn't move well on the perimeter is going to be tough if you see yourself as a team that plays pressure man defense.
Similarly, we made a concerted decision to ride with JJ and Bell. I don't want to knock either kid personally but I'm not sure either are corner-stone players, particularly not on the defensive end of the floor (I give Bell a ton of credit, by the way, because I think he has worked hard to become significantly better on that end the past two years).
I really thought we would have been well-served at bringing in some longer, athletic, defensive-minded players the past two years. Given the NIL budget, this likely means sacrificing offense, but I just don't get how you're going to run a defense that wants to limit how much help you're giving unless you've got versatile, switchable wing defenders. We had one last year (Q). We have zero this year. It just won't work that way.
Lastly, I'm just completely mystified by what we are even trying to accomplish defensively. Obviously if we are not getting the talent we desire (and again, perhaps this is all NIL related, which isn't expressly Red's fault), our defense is going to suffer. But what we are running is extremely simplistic and rudimentary. Further, I would argue that you really show your chops as a coach when you have to adapt and adjust depending on the various challenges you face. We'll see what happens here, but doesn't look great on that front so far.
So, I'm not entirely out on Red, but I'll acknowledge that I agree with the crew that doesn't think it looks good for him. I think 20 wins last year was nice, but that was a very flawed team with some odd personnel decisions (although Jesse returning, would have put us in the tourney discussion, IMO). This year's group doesn't look like it will sniff 20 ... 10 may be difficult.
It is an uphill battle for Red, I'm afraid.
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