What has Benny done to deserve...

[Otto21]

Would have been even dumber. Malachi was our 5th best player that year by most metrics. Roberson and Lydon were clearly better overall. I'm just tired of the rotations and lack of time for guys to play.

Edwards should have been playing a lot sooner last year as well. We probably would have been a lot better had he got in sooner.

And I agree that Benny has struggled on offense, but his main strength is our main weakness. Athleticism. You think JB would use him to at least try to make the zone better. That's how Braswell got time over Griffin at the end of last season.

Defense used to be the main thing ostensibly keeping freshman forwards on the bench. Now we have one who is fairly precocious on the defensive end for a freshman, and he still gets no minutes…on a team where defense and athleticism are its weakest components.

 

[Consigliere]

i'd love to give you a long winded answer with stats to back me up, but he's only registered 19 minutes in the last 4 games so it's hard to say

After playing double digit minutes in 12 of the first 16. JB was clearly force feeding him minutes hoping the light bulb would go on. It never did.

I am not labeling Benny a bust by any means. He was just clearly not ready to transition to this level. I think the off season will be a great chance for him to reflect and work on plugging some holes in his game.

 

[djcon57]

Interested to see how Guerrier's season finishes at Oregon when he was on his way to being an NBA pick here.

lol. What?

quincy wasn’t going to be an nba pick if he played on the moon and I said as such last year.

edit:
actually i said he wouldnt even get a shot in the g league

fwiw, Oregon hasn’t helped either. He should have went overseas

Quincy Guerrier to test the NBA and enter the portal

syracusefan.com

 

[Consigliere]

...more playing time? I like Benny. I think he will grow to be a very good player. But if you had no idea he was a five-star recruit and you evaluated based on what he has shown this year, what about his game says he DESERVES to play more?

Obviously his athleticism stands out, but he looks lost many times on offense. His most common shot is a fade away jumper, and his movement needs a lot of work. Benny's lack of confidence shows. I'd love for him to seal on the mid post and call for the ball. And when he gets it, to attack the rim. Way too many times he is tentative and does not attack the rim! That's where he would be most effective. Besides that, he should be effective attacking the glass, but only five offensive rebounds all year doesn't do it.

Defensively, that athleticism helps in the biggest way as a weakside defender. He had a great block against Clemson or Pittsburgh coming across from the opposite side to protect the rim. He needs to be better positioned overall though.

Honestly, I think it's clear why John Bol Ajak has played over Benny. Ajak has been more active and better positioned on defense. And since Benny hasn't added anything offensively, you don't lose anything on that end with Ajak in over Benny. Not saying I agree with it, but Jim has played guys who have shown him more over the guy that has the bigger potential.

Benny can be a great player. I think if he sticks around, he will have that big jump from freshman to sophomore year that many of our players throughout the years have had.

But besides being a five-star recruit, I just haven't seen anything in games that screams "this guy deserves to play more."

From a development and CONFIDENCE standpoint, I would like to see him get more playing time, and now with this season essentially lost except for a miracle conference tournament run, maybe he will get more time. But I just want to see some improvement in these categories for him to DESERVE that playing time. He just needs more work and more time to develop, and that development will come outside of games, not by getting increased playing time.

I salute you for trying to have a logical, fact based discussion on a board racked with emotion and anger looking to lash out. I fear you are being dragged into a rabbit hole that will lead you, as so many well balanced posters before you, to stop contributing.

This season sucks. The trajectory over the last few years hasn’t been the best overall. Frankly, I don’t think the system that has served JB so well for so many years translates to today’s environment of constant roster turnover and very little continuity. It is not a plug and play system. Hopefully we come out of the transition in a position much more relevant to what Syracuse basketball has been the last 50 yeart.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

There’s only one ball folks…..Buddy and Joe take a ton of shots most nights and then Cole gets his…..worrying that Benny will hurt us on offense is silly. Keep him down low and tell him to rebound the bricks our elite shooters are throwing up

Like a Tyler Roberson if he could have been a more consistent Dennis Rodman. We don't need everyone to be an offensive savant. There is plenty of heavy lifting to do all over the court.

 

[Consigliere]

My answer is if Jimmy never came to Syracuse and Benny was given 35 minutes a night along with all his ISO chances on offense we would be a better team overall. The only thing I think Jimmy might do better than Benny would be shooing the 3. Looking at Benny I don't know if I see a 38% shooter from distance. Other than that there is no doubt in my mind that Benny would be able to produce at minimum the same numbers as Jimmy has done...

If Jimmy's last name wasn't Boeheim he wouldn't be on the team and if he was on the team he wouldn't be playing at all. If Benny's name was Benny Boeheim instead of Benny Williams he would be playing 35 minutes a night.

If Quincy Guerrier hadn’t listened to some pied piper advice Jimmy wouldn’t be here and this board would be up in arms that a PF averaging double digit points, 6+ rebounds and shooting nearly 40% from three fell right through our arms.

 

[sufandu]

Well considering the history of players coming here and improving from one year to the next (Jesse, Quincy, MCW, Jerami Grant, Dion, Fair, etc.), I'd say it happens. This coaching staff has shown the ability to develop guys over time. Sanctions and the transfer portal has hurt that, but this staff knows how to develop talent. But can they adjust to the current times? Maybe not.

Unfortunately, Quincy transferred despite starting and the head coach thinking he would be an All-American here. That's just how things are now.

But if Benny sticks around, I'd be excited to see what this staff can do with him. If he really isn't thinking about transferring like he said (Even though that was before this recent stretch), then my hope is that Benny understands that too.

It doesn't explain how guys that somehow can't get on the floor suddenly and quickly "develop" when they start getting increased playing time due to an injury to someone else. I certainly can't guarantee that would happen with Benny, but I've seen it happen enough to wonder.

 

[Consigliere]

Ah yes, notoriously "watching film" is more beneficial to a player's improvement than actually adjusting to the speed of the game, which happens by, ya know, playing. Yikes.

“Development comes through drills, in practice, watching film, and putting the work in.“

If you’re going to argue a point, at least include the full context. Otherwise it makes you look like just another troll. Just a little tip from your favorite consigliere

 

[djcon57]

I salute you for trying to have a logical, fact based discussion on a board racked with emotion and anger looking to lash out. I fear you are being dragged into a rabbit hole that will lead you, as so many well balanced posters before you, to stop contributing.

yeah we are missing the “well balanced” posters that said we were a possible top 10 team preseason. Agreed with that.

 

[Consigliere]

Well considering the history of players coming here and improving from one year to the next (Jesse, Quincy, MCW, Jerami Grant, Dion, Fair, etc.), I'd say it happens. This coaching staff has shown the ability to develop guys over time. Sanctions and the transfer portal has hurt that, but this staff knows how to develop talent. But can they adjust to the current times? Maybe not.

Unfortunately, Quincy transferred despite starting and the head coach thinking he would be an All-American here. That's just how things are now.

But if Benny sticks around, I'd be excited to see what this staff can do with him. If he really isn't thinking about transferring like he said (Even though that was before this recent stretch), then my hope is that Benny understands that too.

Add Fab Melo, Rony Seikaly, Etan Thomas, Damone Brown, Demetris Nichols and Rakeem Christmas to your list just off the top of my head.

 

[chugg21]

I salute you for trying to have a logical, fact based discussion on a board racked with emotion and anger looking to lash out. I fear you are being dragged into a rabbit hole that will lead you, as so many well balanced posters before you, to stop contributing.

This season sucks. The trajectory over the last few years hasn’t been the best overall. Frankly, I don’t think the system that has served JB so well for so many years translates to today’s environment of constant roster turnover and very little continuity. It is not a plug and play system. Hopefully we come out of the transition in a position much more relevant to what Syracuse basketball has been the last 50 yeart.

It's basically impossible to have this conversation because there are a handful of players getting 35mpg when they haven't done anything deserving of their minutes either. We have three theoretical shooters that get to do anything they want on offense and play horrible defense because they are supposedly great offensively. Girard is leading the way at 41% on 10 shots a game, Cole is at 39% on 11 and Buddy at 39% on a whopping 16 including 32% on 8 3s a game. If these 3 are taking 37 shots a game and making under 40% of them while also being the main culprits for why our defense is a debacle, what positive value are they actually providing that makes it so they have to be on the court for 34-40 minutes per night? So to bring it back to Benny, it more or less boils down to why not? Why not give him 6-8 mins per half and try to build him back up from the hole he's been put in and see if he's able to start showing some of the potential? Why do we have to give ALL of the 80 available minutes to guys that are absolutely mediocre and lose when there is no upside to doing that. The upside exists with 2 guys on the entire roster, Benny and Jesse. We went through this same crap last year with Jesse where he would flash and then get benched for 2 weeks. It's just so stupid and hard to comprehend.

 

[Consigliere]

yeah we are missing the “well balanced” posters that said we were a possible top 10 team preseason. Agreed with that.

Yet another foolish irrelevant rant

 

[CuseFaninVT]

If Quincy Guerrier hadn’t listened to some pied piper advice Jimmy wouldn’t be here and this board would be up in arms that a PF averaging double digit points, 6+ rebounds and shooting nearly 40% from three fell right through our arms.

Do you just close your eyes when Jimmy's playing defense so you don't have to acknowledge what he's doing out there?

 

[chugg21]

Do you just close your eyes when Jimmy's playing defense so you don't have to acknowledge what he's doing out there?

Defense doesn't matter these days. Have to be able to space the floor...and have a minus wingspan and vertical under 25.

 

[Orangezoo]

If Quincy Guerrier hadn’t listened to some pied piper advice Jimmy wouldn’t be here and this board would be up in arms that a PF averaging double digit points, 6+ rebounds and shooting nearly 40% from three fell right through our arms.

That is a tough one and a bit revisionist. We all wanted QG back before the news and his desire being to be a shooter( which his usage at Oregon shows otherwise). QG and Bras returning I doubt would have folks clamoring for Jimmy but that's just my view.

 

[Orangezoo]

After playing double digit minutes in 12 of the first 16. JB was clearly force feeding him minutes hoping the light bulb would go on. It never did.

I am not labeling Benny a bust by any means. He was just clearly not ready to transition to this level. I think the off season will be a great chance for him to reflect and work on plugging some holes in his game.

Maybe not everyone but I think there is consensus agreement here to an extent. Where it deviates is that the results have been negative with or without those minutes. At this juncture moving to give him every opportunity to develop and grow or not just makes more sense than draining every ounce of energy out of a tiring starting 5. It's never good to have to look at a roster of experienced guys and watch things turn out ages from what they deserve.

It's very hard to make any sense of not looking at Benny for the long haul and see if there is definitely something to work with or if he is a long term project that maybe does fit better somewhere else.

 

[Melancer46]

It's basically impossible to have this conversation because there are a handful of players getting 35mpg when they haven't done anything deserving of their minutes either. We have three theoretical shooters that get to do anything they want on offense and play horrible defense because they are supposedly great offensively. Girard is leading the way at 41% on 10 shots a game, Cole is at 39% on 11 and Buddy at 39% on a whopping 16 including 32% on 8 3s a game. If these 3 are taking 37 shots a game and making under 40% of them while also being the main culprits for why our defense is a debacle, what positive value are they actually providing that makes it so they have to be on the court for 34-40 minutes per night? So to bring it back to Benny, it more or less boils down to why not? Why not give him 6-8 mins per half and try to build him back up from the hole he's been put in and see if he's able to start showing some of the potential? Why do we have to give ALL of the 80 available minutes to guys that are absolutely mediocre and lose when there is no upside to doing that. The upside exists with 2 guys on the entire roster, Benny and Jesse. We went through this same crap last year with Jesse where he would flash and then get benched for 2 weeks. It's just so stupid and hard to comprehend.

At least with Girard, his TS% of 59% is legitimately good. The other two aren’t good but are better than the non center bench guys by a mile.

 

[NineOneSeven]

I’ll say it again… we only have 3 forwards! That alone justifies someone getting at least 5’ of non-garbage time.

 

[chugg21]

At least with Girard, his TS% of 59% is legitimately good. The other two aren’t good but are better than the non center bench guys by a mile.

They'd probably shoot better if they weren't gassed in the 2nd half of every game where we constantly get throttled even by garbage teams.

Rather have them missing shots and giving up a bunch of wide open looks then maybe give them a few mins rest and maybe also somewhat slow down the opponent.

 

[Consigliere]

Maybe not everyone but I think there is consensus agreement here to an extent. Where it deviates is that the results have been negative with or without those minutes. At this juncture moving to give him every opportunity to develop and grow or not just makes more sense than draining every ounce of energy out of a tiring starting 5. It's never good to have to look at a roster of experienced guys and watch things turn out ages from what they deserve.

It's very hard to make any sense of not looking at Benny for the long haul and see if there is definitely something to work with or if he is a long term project that maybe does fit better somewhere else.

Kudos for a well thought out and rational response.

But I think you must have missed the memo that tells us we must use the word "sucks" in every post on the hoops board.

 

[Cuse#1]

Ive had it with JB! Once again he bashes his best player and most important player IMO jesse edwards last night. Who in their right mind would wanna play for a guy like that. Things are unraveling fast!

Jimmy boeheim, starting to see why he was an ivy league player for his whole career besides now. Buddy is better obviously but shoots 40% from the field his whole career, not good enough to play pro ball anywhere.

When it comes to benny williams, from what we've seen, its been disapointing but lets be honest he has not recieved a real shot to do anything and at this point What do u have to lose!! GIVE THE KID A LEGITIMATE SHOT.

 

[NineOneSeven]

Ive had it with JB! Once again he bashes his best player and most important player IMO jesse edwards last night. Who in their right mind would wanna play for a guy like that. Things are unraveling fast!

Jimmy boeheim, starting to see why he was an ivy league player for his whole career besides now. Buddy is better obviously but shoots 40% from the field his whole career, not good enough to play pro ball anywhere.

When it comes to benny williams, from what we've seen, its been disapointing but lets be honest he has not recieved a real shot to do anything and at this point What do u have to lose!! GIVE THE KID A LEGITIMATE SHOT.

I mean…the part after the comma is wrong.

 

[Cuse#1]

This is 1 of the worst performances ive ever seen to this point! I mean who in their right mind plays a isolation
offense with this lineup???? This is easily the most unathletic team he's ever had & still doesn't change a thing!

Also the zone lol what a joke. Its over! It doesn't work here, it doesnt work in seattle! Constant bashing his

players! I cant remember once him taking responsibility for anything! Do us a favor & retire!!

 

[Cuse#1]

I mean…the part after the comma is wrong.

wanna be a lil more specific

 

[NineOneSeven]

wanna be a lil more specific

It's impossible to be more specific.

" ... not good enough to play pro ball anywhere".