We have won 6 of our last 8 games

[Day2]

Any season where Syracuse has to win the conference tournament (as was the case last year) in order to get an NCAA bid is a terrible year for our standards and deserves scrutiny.

Sure, as long as you scrutinize what actually happened. Bottom line, nobody made the tournament last year. UVA are still the reigning champs.

 

[Eric15]

Sure, as long as you scrutinize what actually happened. Bottom line, nobody made the tournament last year. UVA are still the reigning champs.

But even if we went on a magical ACCT run and got an NCAA bid last year, it was still a bad year. We lost 14 regular season games and went .500 in conference.

 

[Day2]

But if even if went on a magical ACCT run and got an NCAA bid last year, it was still a bad year. We lost 14 regular season games and went .500 in conference.

Then criticize the losses and the conference record. I don’t want to hear anything about missing the tourney four times out of seven seasons. That’s nonsense.

BTW, by your standards, we had three bad years in a row, from 05-06 to 07-08. That was just before what many consider to be the golden age of the program. So these things can turn around, can’t they?

 

[Cusefan0307]

It’s difficult to discuss anything at the micro level with this team because every thread turns into a macro level discussion.

 

[Eric15]

Then criticize the losses and the conference record. I don’t want to hear anything about missing the tourney four times out of seven seasons. That’s nonsense.

BTW, by your standards, we had three bad years in a row, from 05-06 to 07-08. That was just before what many consider to be the golden age of the program. So these things can turn around, can’t they?

Whatever term you want to use for last year is fine with me. If you want to say last year was a "non-tourney caliber year."

We are in a much bigger hole right now than we were in the mid-2000s in terms of talent. And we have the 71st ranked recruiting class coming in next year.

The 2007 team probably should have been in the field and was the first team out. The 2008 team just couldn't overcome the loss of both Andy and Devo at guard but still was the first team out also I believe.

I will be rooting like hell for us go to from NIT-caliber to 3 seed like we did between 2008 and 2009, but I wouldn't bet on it.

 

[orangecuse]

No one made the tournament last year.

Right. And, JB never won those other 101 games either.

 

[Alsacs]

Whatever term you want to use for last year is fine with me. If you want to say last year was a "non-tourney caliber year."

We are in a much bigger hole right now than we were in the mid-2000s in terms of talent. And we have the 71st ranked recruiting class coming in next year.

The 2007 team probably should have been in the field and was the first team out. The 2008 team just couldn't overcome the loss of both Andy and Devo at guard but still was the first team out also I believe.

I will be rooting like hell for us go to from NIT-caliber to 3 seed like we did between 2008 and 2009, but I wouldn't bet on it.

I don’t even think their was much negativity for last season.
It was a rebuilding year people expected after the Preseason NIT.

The fact remains though that wasn’t an NCAAT caliber team last season.

 

[Day2]

Right. And, JB never won those other 101 games either.

Those games were actually played.

 

[Chip]

And we have the 71st ranked recruiting class coming in next year.

I don't disagree with the other stuff you wrote, but this one is very misleading.

We have a top 25 kid coming in (hopefully, since they don't all seem to make it here).

Add any 3 star kid, and this goes up to the 40s. Add another, probably the 30s.

We'd still like to be Top 15 every year, but 71 is just based on others having more warm bodies in their class, that we don't even want.

 

[orangecuse]

Those games were actually played.

They were? The record book says otherwise, at least 'officially.' Interestingly, and conveniently, you choose not to see the parallel.

 

[Alsacs]

I don't disagree with the other stuff you wrote, but this one is very misleading.

We have a top 25 kid coming in (hopefully, since they don't all seem to make it here).

Add any 3 star kid, and this goes up to the 40s. Add another, probably the 30s.

We'd still like to be Top 15 every year, but 71 is just based on others having more warm bodies in their class, that we don't even want.

Why don’t we have a guard?
We get the ranking we get.
I don’t get how we can expect atleast 3-4 departures and only have 1 commit for next year.

 

[SWC75]

Then criticize the losses and the conference record. I don’t want to hear anything about missing the tourney four times out of seven seasons. That’s nonsense.

BTW, by your standards, we had three bad years in a row, from 05-06 to 07-08. That was just before what many consider to be the golden age of the program. So these things can turn around, can’t they?

Everything I've heard this season was said in 2006-08, except that we weren't 100% zone then. After every loss "That's on the coach...the game ahs passed him by...time to ease him into retirement." I didn't even look at the board for a week after we blew the 24 point lead to UMASS in the 2008 NIT. That's when I did my "following a legend" post in which i charted the winning percentages of the top 25 winningest baseball and football coaches of all time and found that 84% of the the time, the next guy had a worse winning percentage.

 

[Eric15]

I don't disagree with the other stuff you wrote, but this one is very misleading.

We have a top 25 kid coming in (hopefully, since they don't all seem to make it here).

Add any 3 star kid, and this goes up to the 40s. Add another, probably the 30s.

We'd still like to be Top 15 every year, but 71 is just based on others having more warm bodies in their class, that we don't even want.

UConn for instance has the 10th best class coming in, with the 46th, 49th and 70th best prospects. That's the kind of class we desperately need in order to develop some deeper levels of roster talent.

And don't get me wrong, I'm excited about Benny.

 

[MikeSU02]

I don't disagree with the other stuff you wrote, but this one is very misleading.

We have a top 25 kid coming in (hopefully, since they don't all seem to make it here).

Add any 3 star kid, and this goes up to the 40s. Add another, probably the 30s.

We'd still like to be Top 15 every year, but 71 is just based on others having more warm bodies in their class, that we don't even want.

First, Benny is a huge get. Q nor AG are the prototypical JB wings. Benny fits that. So he is a monster get (outside of getting a Melo like guy). Whatever the rankings say, that's a great get.

What I'd say is that I think everyone would acknowledge that we need to find some solution at center (regardless if that is recruit, transfer, development, etc), we need another guard and, pending who sticks around, we may even need another forward.

So, it's sort of like acing half the test, right? Feel great about Benny, but we're in a very tenuous situation with rounding out the rest of the roster.

Whatever ranking that equates to, to me, is whatever. Super excited about Benny but very, very worried about the holes we need to fill.

 

[Day2]

They were? The record book says otherwise, at least 'officially.' Interestingly, and conveniently, you choose not to see the parallel.

There isn’t a parallel. The games were played, literally. You cannot say the same about the NCAA tournament last year.

 

[Cusefan0307]

UConn for instance has the 10th best class coming in, with the 46th, 49th and 70th best prospects. That's the kind of class we desperately need in order to develop some deeper levels of roster talent.

And don't get me wrong, I'm excited about Benny.

We took one player because we have an otherwise full roster. Saying we have the 71st ranked class with one five star guy is a bit of a simpleton argument. I would take another guard for sure, but we already have a gazillion FC guys.

And tbh the recruiting crap gets overblown sometimes when we lose 4-6 of games to teams each year with worse prospects than us.

Fixing the donut in the middle is probably worth 2-4 wins a season itself.

Our offensive philosophy and/or player development has lacked at times in some areas.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

It’s difficult to discuss anything at the micro level with this team because every thread turns into a macro level discussion.

Joe Girard knows how to focus on his macros, amirite?

 

[orangecuse]

There isn’t a parallel. The games were played, literally. You cannot say the same about the NCAA tournament last year.

You know what else I cannot say. Last night when I went to bed, there wasn't any snow on the ground. However, when I woke up this morning, there was snow. So, it's reasonable to conclude that although I cannot say that I actually (literally) saw it snow, it indeed snowed. Same general premise here. The NCAA tournament didn't occur last year, however, had it not been for something so extreme and unprecedented in modern history, the high probability existed for SU not to Dance. Therefore, apprised fans/reasonable folks that follow the program closely can grasp the 4 out of 7 year argument.

 

[djcon57]

We took one player because we have an otherwise full roster. Saying we have the 71st ranked class with one five star guy is a bit of a simpleton argument. I would take another guard for sure, but we already have a gazillion FC guys.

And tbh the recruiting crap gets overblown sometimes when we lose 4-6 of games to teams each year with worse prospects than us.

Fixing the donut in the middle is probably worth 2-4 wins a season itself.

Our offensive philosophy and/or player development has lacked at times in some areas.

We don’t have a center to start or even play this year per the head coach. How is the roster full.

 

[Alsacs]

We took one player because we have an otherwise full roster. Saying we have the 71st ranked class with one five star guy is a bit of a simpleton argument. I would take another guard for sure, but we already have a gazillion FC guys.

And tbh the recruiting crap gets overblown sometimes when we lose 4-6 of games to teams each year with worse prospects than us.

Fixing the donut in the middle is probably worth 2-4 wins a season itself.

Our offensive philosophy and/or player development has lacked at times in some areas.

We had 2 seniors this year.
We lost 3 guards last year in transfers we didn’t try to recruit a guard.

We have no business for being short in the backcourt.
I like Benny but we needed more than one player in this class.

 

[Cusefan0307]

We don’t have a center to start or even play this year per the head coach. How is the roster full.

I'm not sticking up for JB at all, but when someone posts we have the 71st recruiting class like that means something it's a simpleton argument. I don't believe anybody on this board would be happy if we traded our recruiting class with Clemson or NC State(who happens to be top 25) which includes 4 three star players and one player ranked in the top 75.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

We had 2 seniors this year.
We lost 3 guards last year in transfers we didn’t try to recruit a guard.

We have no business for being short in the backcourt.
I like Benny but we needed more than one player in this class.

Counterpoint - in the 2-3 you only play 2 guards, so having a third is an unbelievable luxury #5X40.

 

[pearl31]

We had 2 seniors this year.
We lost 3 guards last year in transfers we didn’t try to recruit a guard.

We have no business for being short in the backcourt.
I like Benny but we needed more than one player in this class.

Not to argue, I generally agree w your take on our recruiting of late, but-
what player of any worth is going to come here to be the 4th guard in a 3 guard rotation? We couldn't even get Goodine or Washington to stay for that role. Yes, JB plays a short bench and yes he should consider expanding his guard rotation - but it is what it is. The reality is, there's just no meaningful pt for a 4th guard here.

 

[Cusefan0307]

We had 2 seniors this year.
We lost 3 guards last year in transfers we didn’t try to recruit a guard.

We have no business for being short in the backcourt.
I like Benny but we needed more than one player in this class.

You're screaming at a brick wall about the guard argument. People act like recruiting is the only reason we are losing games. I happen to think our strategy and in game coaching is a bigger issue.

 

[djcon57]

I'm not sticking up for JB at all, but when someone posts we have the 71st recruiting class like that means something it's a simpleton argument. I don't believe anybody on this board would be happy if we traded our recruiting class with Clemson or NC State(who happens to be top 25) which includes 4 three star players and one player ranked in the top 75.

Agreed...I’m not saying our recruiting isn’t up to par yet because it’s not done. I just hope he doesn’t agree that our roster is full like you said. That’s all I was addressing