What I'm hearing

[Bulldog04]

After reading this for pages after pages, some who say the asst coaches are mediocre recruiters, I have to disagree completely. It’s really hard to land a kid when the head coach refuses to travel, refuses to text and thinks the program is good enough to lure kids in without his effort.

You don’t commit to an asst coach, you commit to a head coach. Kids don’t want to deal with an asst alllll the time. Yes they help build the relationship, but guess what the Caliparis Of the world are doing? They are the ones letting the kids know from the beginning that they are interested. A couple years ago, Coach Cal took a private jet to see 4 kids in the same day before signing period to get them to come to UK. That’s effort. Say whatever you want about the guy, but he gets great players because of his effort and his draft history.

JB is 77 like Dash said. 7-7! Add in the fact he just learned how to text 2 years ago (true story), what is that appealing about the program right now? If he worked his butt off, they would get better players and the asst coaches are not to blame for the head coaches short comings

 

[dasher]

After reading this for pages after pages, some who say the asst coaches are mediocre recruiters, I have to disagree completely. It’s really hard to land a kid when the head coach refuses to travel, refuses to text and thinks the program is good enough to lure kids in without his effort.

You don’t commit to an asst coach, you commit to a head coach. Kids don’t want to deal with an asst alllll the time. Yes they help build the relationship, but guess what the Caliparis Of the world are doing? They are the ones letting the kids know from the beginning that they are interested. A couple years ago, Coach Cal took a private jet to see 4 kids in the same day before signing period to get them to come to UK. That’s effort. Say whatever you want about the guy, but he gets great players because of his effort and his draft history.

JB is 77 like Dash said. 7-7! Add in the fact he just learned how to text 2 years ago (true story), what is that appealing about the program right now? If he worked his butt off, they would get better players and the asst coaches are not to blame for the head coaches short comings

There is no question that JB hurts our ass'ts in recruiting. His age. The whole deal. I have said this before and I will say it again, as you get older, you just don't work like you did when you were younger. The JB of my college days, got in his car and he was off. He doesn't and most probably can't work like that now. Last year he put in a much better effort. But it still wasn't up to what his fellow coaches do. Let me give you an example. The day before JJ was to come to visit Syracuse, Brey took his entire staff to see JJ. We sent AA. Okay, JB didn't want to go there but he didn't go anywhere. He stayed in Syracuse. Now, how good are our ass'ts? Yes, they are hurt by JB. But even with that, we haven't seen all that much from them. Excuses only get you so far in life.

 

[Briancuse]

Might be that Florida is a lot easier to sell than Syracuse and the cold.

Tallahassee isn't all that great. I mean it's warmer than Syracuse but it's not Miami. Hamilton is out working jb.

 

[Briancuse]

LOL you ever seen a football game at FSU? And one at Syracuse? You see the way woman are dressed at both? If you were an 18 year old basketball player, where would you go after visiting both?

Ya there are a lot of hot girls at fsu. If it was all about girls Miami and USC would be in the final four every year. Fsu has been to one final four.

 

[pfister1]

There is no question that JB hurts our ass'ts in recruiting. His age. The whole deal. I have said this before and I will say it again, as you get older, you just don't work like you did when you were younger. The JB of my college days, got in his car and he was off. He doesn't and most probably can't work like that now. Last year he put in a much better effort. But it still wasn't up to what his fellow coaches do. Let me give you an example. The day before JJ was to come to visit Syracuse, Brey took his entire staff to see JJ. We sent AA. Okay, JB didn't want to go there but he didn't go anywhere. He stayed in Syracuse. Now, how good are our ass'ts? Yes, they are hurt by JB. But even with that, we haven't seen all that much from them. Excuses only get you so far in life.

It isn’t an excuse if you’re being asked to overcome an immense difference. Maybe you can beat Rutgers and Seton Hall recruiting like that, but our assistants aren’t landing a kid that gets an in-home and is shown the personal love by big name guys at top schools like Bill Self, Mark Few, John Calipari, Tom Izzo, Scott Drew, Tony Bennett, Kelvin Sampson, Hubert Davis etc. and an in-home from a Cuse assistant with an appointment to see JB in his office.

 

[dasher]

It isn’t an excuse if you’re being asked to overcome an immense difference. Maybe you can beat Rutgers and Seton Hall recruiting like that, but our assistants aren’t landing a kid that gets an in-home and is shown the personal love by big name guys at top schools like Bill Self, Mark Few, John Calipari, Tom Izzo, Scott Drew, Tony Bennett, Kelvin Sampson, Hubert Davis etc. and an in-home from a Cuse assistant with an appointment to see JB in his office.

No. It's an excuse. The debate is whether it is a legit excuse. Troy Weaver could overcome that. So could other top ass'ts. Average ones sure can't. We could bring in a outside guy to coach and have him bring in 3 new guys and I wouldn't be bothered in the least. I would root for our current three to land on their feet, of course. But no one has ever said that this is a lifetime job.

 

[pfister1]

No. It's an excuse. The debate is whether it is a legit excuse. Troy Weaver could overcome that. So could other top ass'ts. Average ones sure can't. We could bring in a outside guy to coach and have him bring in 3 new guys and I wouldn't be bothered in the least. I would root for our current three to land on their feet, of course. But no one has ever said that this is a lifetime job.

You have no idea if Troy Weaver could overcome that because the JB of today is not the JB that was on the Hill when Troy Weaver was up there.

To me “excuse” implies a reason without justification. And if JB is as uninvolved as has been suggested than it’s not an “excuse”.

 

[Sherman20]

He doesn't look that old? They like his personality? Players like the system? It's Florida?

But it’s Tallahassee. Florida is trash but the panhandle is a whole other level.

Might be that Florida is a lot easier to sell than Syracuse and the cold.

 

[the villager]

Many previous players came to S U for the basketball in spite of the weather. When the basketball is not as good the weather becomes more of a factor. Winning mitigates a lot of issues.

 

[kcsu]

There is no question that JB hurts our ass'ts in recruiting. His age. The whole deal. I have said this before and I will say it again, as you get older, you just don't work like you did when you were younger. The JB of my college days, got in his car and he was off. He doesn't and most probably can't work like that now. Last year he put in a much better effort. But it still wasn't up to what his fellow coaches do. Let me give you an example. The day before JJ was to come to visit Syracuse, Brey took his entire staff to see JJ. We sent AA. Okay, JB didn't want to go there but he didn't go anywhere. He stayed in Syracuse. Now, how good are our ass'ts? Yes, they are hurt by JB. But even with that, we haven't seen all that much from them. Excuses only get you so far in life.

Jim hasnt worked much in years. Hop did all of the heavy lifting for him and was the one responsible for our recruiting success not Jim. When Hop was pushed out the other guys couldnt fill his void.
Jim is Jim. Nothing will change until hes gone.
When he is the guys will miraculously start to recruit better.

 

[kcsu]

It isn’t an excuse if you’re being asked to overcome an immense difference. Maybe you can beat Rutgers and Seton Hall recruiting like that, but our assistants aren’t landing a kid that gets an in-home and is shown the personal love by big name guys at top schools like Bill Self, Mark Few, John Calipari, Tom Izzo, Scott Drew, Tony Bennett, Kelvin Sampson, Hubert Davis etc. and an in-home from a Cuse assistant with an appointment to see JB in his office.

Dont forget lunch at the Varsity

 

[MSOrange]

Axe: SU basketball is overdue for an NBA draft win

Brent Axe writes that an NBA draft drought has extended too long for Syracuse basketball.

www.syracuse.com

I know it's Brent Axe, but he had some sobering statistics in this article. With all due respect, we're getting too many TBT level players and not enough difference maker NBA level players.

1. If the projections hold and Buddy and Cole go undrafted, that would extend a drought of first-round picks for Syracuse to five years and counting.
2. It would also add up to a total of just two Syracuse players selected in the draft overall in the last five years.
3. That represents a significant drop-off from a 10-year period from 2008 to 2017 when Syracuse had a first-round pick in nine of 10 drafts, including two in the first round in 2012 (Dion Waiters, Fab Melo).
4. Syracuse had a total of five second-round picks in those 10 years.

 

[DoctorBombay]

After reading this for pages after pages, some who say the asst coaches are mediocre recruiters, I have to disagree completely. It’s really hard to land a kid when the head coach refuses to travel, refuses to text and thinks the program is good enough to lure kids in without his effort.

You don’t commit to an asst coach, you commit to a head coach. Kids don’t want to deal with an asst alllll the time. Yes they help build the relationship, but guess what the Caliparis Of the world are doing? They are the ones letting the kids know from the beginning that they are interested. A couple years ago, Coach Cal took a private jet to see 4 kids in the same day before signing period to get them to come to UK. That’s effort. Say whatever you want about the guy, but he gets great players because of his effort and his draft history.

JB is 77 like Dash said. 7-7! Add in the fact he just learned how to text 2 years ago (true story), what is that appealing about the program right now? If he worked his butt off, they would get better players and the asst coaches are not to blame for the head coaches short comings

Melo tells the story of coming back from bball practice and JB waiting for him on his stoop, talking to his mom and just being there in a very rough Baltimore neighborhood.
That’s what impresses a kid, that an already legendary HC was willing to come to them. That’s bragging rights on another level. If other coaches do it, and ours no longer does…or no longer can- then yes, it explains the recruiting drop-off over these last few years. Simply put- it’s time.

 

[cusefan88]

I hope they go outside the JB tree for the next coach. To follow a HOF is hard enough but to be a protege or long-time assistant will heap unrealistic expectations on that person.

 

[RF2044]

After reading this for pages after pages, some who say the asst coaches are mediocre recruiters, I have to disagree completely. It’s really hard to land a kid when the head coach refuses to travel, refuses to text and thinks the program is good enough to lure kids in without his effort.

You don’t commit to an asst coach, you commit to a head coach. Kids don’t want to deal with an asst alllll the time. Yes they help build the relationship, but guess what the Caliparis Of the world are doing? They are the ones letting the kids know from the beginning that they are interested. A couple years ago, Coach Cal took a private jet to see 4 kids in the same day before signing period to get them to come to UK. That’s effort. Say whatever you want about the guy, but he gets great players because of his effort and his draft history.

JB is 77 like Dash said. 7-7! Add in the fact he just learned how to text 2 years ago (true story), what is that appealing about the program right now? If he worked his butt off, they would get better players and the asst coaches are not to blame for the head coaches short comings

I see both sides of it. No question, JB isn't doing what's required to recruit at the high major level anymore. He's been abdicating responsibility for a LONG time, dating back to when Hop was in the middle of his tenure here. And Hop [like Troy Weaver] was an above average recruiter. So no doubt, having JB not willing to do the legwork and pound the pavement like other top programs do is detrimental. Not sure that this can be debated.

But where I diverge is with your first paragraph. I don't think there's very much empirical evidence to back up your claim that the current group of assistants are anything more than mediocre recruiters. I mean -- I get that JB isn't helping matters. But it's not like those guys are landing or have landed top flight players. They've landed solid players. But I don't think there's much evidence that they are anything more than "mediocre," or that things would change appreciably if they had more latitude -- beyond hoping that this would be the case. But asserting it as fact -- don't think that's supportable.

 

[Orangezoo]

I hope they go outside the JB tree for the next coach. To follow a HOF is hard enough but to be a protege or long-time assistant will heap unrealistic expectations on that person.

Yeah- time will tell on Duke and Scheyer but he is bringing in top 3 classes and that itself can win you games. Much tougher if say Red is the guy but bringing good not great classes and having to be both a good strategist and teacher as a first time HC.

 

[Wrinkle]

I see both sides of it. No question, JB isn't doing what's required to recruit at the high major level anymore. He's been abdicating responsibility for a LONG time, dating back to when Hop was in the middle of his tenure here. And Hop [like Troy Weaver] was an above average recruiter. So no doubt, having JB not willing to do the legwork and pound the pavement like other top programs do is detrimental. Not sure that this can be debated.

But where I diverge is with your first paragraph. I don't think there's very much empirical evidence to back up your claim that the current group of assistants are anything more than mediocre recruiters. I mean -- I get that JB isn't helping matters. But it's not like those guys are landing or have landed top flight players. They've landed solid players. But I don't think there's much evidence that they are anything more than "mediocre," or that things would change appreciably if they had more latitude -- beyond hoping that this would be the case. But asserting it as fact -- don't think that's supportable.

And if we find ourselves in territory where we aren't pulling in talent AND we no longer have a legendary tactician at the helm, it will spell dark days for this program, indeed.

 

[MikeSU02]

Yeah- time will tell on Duke and Scheyer but he is bringing in top 3 classes and that itself can win you games. Much tougher if say Red is the guy but bringing good not great classes and having to be both a good strategist and teacher as a first time HC.

Yeah, Duke's 2022 and 2023 classes are ridiculous. I mean, Proctor reclassified to 2022 to give them an absurd class coming up. You could argue its the best ever in terms of rankings.

2023 has 4 five star guys already.

Scheyer should win if he let a kid that plays NBA 2K22 call the plays with that talent.

 

[orangecuse]

There is no question that JB hurts our ass'ts in recruiting. His age. The whole deal. I have said this before and I will say it again, as you get older, you just don't work like you did when you were younger. The JB of my college days, got in his car and he was off. He doesn't and most probably can't work like that now. Last year he put in a much better effort. But it still wasn't up to what his fellow coaches do. Let me give you an example. The day before JJ was to come to visit Syracuse, Brey took his entire staff to see JJ. We sent AA. Okay, JB didn't want to go there but he didn't go anywhere. He stayed in Syracuse. Now, how good are our ass'ts? Yes, they are hurt by JB. But even with that, we haven't seen all that much from them. Excuses only get you so far in life.

As long as JB believes he can draw a direct parallel between Warren Buffet's abilities & investing prowess at age 91, and equating that comparison as anything different having success as a 77 year old head coach nowadays at a high level P5 college hoops program, well, that clearly speaks for itself in regards to him being so grossly out of touch with the relative reality.

 

[Gotothehole]

Curious to me I haven't heard Jason Hart mentioned more.

Wants the NBA . He would peek if the money was right

 

[Gotothehole]

I hope they go outside the JB tree for the next coach. To follow a HOF is hard enough but to be a protege or long-time assistant will heap unrealistic expectations on that person.

Red can do the Job. The CEO just needs to step aside

 

[DaveT]

As long as JB believes he can draw a direct parallel between Warren Buffet's abilities & investing prowess at age 91, and equating that comparison as anything different having success as a 77 year old head coach nowadays at a high level P5 college hoops program, well, that clearly speaks for itself in regards to him being so grossly out of touch with the relative reality.

I think JB needs to go. But it is interesting that all the recruits talk about him in such a positive way. Are they blowing smoke or sincere? I repeat that the new HC should not be anyone on the bench.

 

[chugg21]

I think JB needs to go. But it is interesting that all the recruits talk about him in such a positive way. Are they blowing smoke or sincere? I repeat that the new HC should not be anyone on the bench.

Try to find any recruit saying they think any coach stinks or is too old or anything negative.

 

[Orangefizz]

Listening to this interview you can envision Red as our next coach leading a future orange team to the final four.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

Listening to this interview you can envision Red as our next coach leading a future orange team to the final four.

Great memories and a great interview.