IthacaMatt
Old Timer / Unofficial Contributor for 25+ years
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- Aug 26, 2011
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No halfway objective reasonable thinking person actually believes that Boeheim had to be talked into the idea that Buddy was good enough to play at Syracuse, right? It is a cute story and a useful tool to ward off charges of nepotism for the naive. Buddy is a volume shooter who shoots under 40% overall and about a third of his 3's. He can't handle the ball, can't get to the rim, doesn't create for others and doesn't rebound despite being 6'6". He is painfully bad on defense. He has great shooting form, and in a limited role where he could be a catch and shoot 3 point shooters keeping defenses honest, he'd be a nice 7th man for a top 40ish team.
Instead he plays 35 minutes a night putting up volume stats and hasn't been recruited over because he is the coach's son. But sure, Syracuse couldn't pass up such a talent Good thing the assistants saw the diamond in the rough and convinced the head coach.
While I agree with much of this, I think that Buddy has shown that he can use his height advantage and back-down dribble to get into the lane and shoot over shorter guards. He does that several times every game. So I don't think it's accurate to say he can't handle or get to the rim.