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Message: [QUOTE="SWC75, post: 2040250, member: 289"] On last night’s Jim Boeheim Show they discusses players leaving early and the impact it had had on SU. It prompted me to engage in a common fantasy: what if everyone had stayed here until they graduated. I fully realize three things: (1) every school has the same problem and could do this, too and (2) if some players have stayed other players might have gone elsewhere. (3) You can only have 13 scholarship players and JB prefers about 10. But it’s still fun to look at. I’ll just do the teams from this decade, beginning with 2009-10 2009-10 CENTERS Rick Jackson Arinze Onuaku Sean Williams FORWARDS Paul Harris Wes Johnson Kris Joseph James Southerland GUARDS Eric Devendorf Johnny Flynn Scoop Jardine Mookie Jones Andy Rautins Brandon Triche Comment: The center spot would have bene the same: Onuaku and Jackson. Paul Harris would have had a reduced role at best Southerland wasn’t ready so it would have been Johnson and Joseph as forwards. Flynn and Devo would have been the backcourt- very good offensively but not so good defensively. Jardine and Triche were very good that year. The guy we really would have missed was Andy Rautins, the best guy we’ve ever had at the front of the zone and deadeye coming off a screen. He would have gotten lost in the shuffle. I think it could be argued that we wouldn’t have bene quite as good as we were because he would have played a lot less. 2010-11 CENTERS Rick Jackson Baye Moussa Keita Fab Melo Da'Shonte Riley Sean Williams FORWARDS C. J. Fair Wes Johnson Kris Joseph James Southerland GUARDS Johnny Flynn Scoop Jardine Mookie Jones Brandon Triche Dion Waiters Comments: Rich Jackson, who also played power forward would have been the center: Johnson and Joseph would have been the forwards. Johnson would have made a huge difference. Flynn would still have been at the point. He was better than Jardine but not by a lot. Waiters had a poor first year and I think Triche would have seen more time at the ‘2’ than anyone. It would have been a better team than the 27-8 unit we had. 2011-12 CENTERS Rakeem Christmas Baye Moussa Keita Fab Melo Da'Shonte Riley FORWARDS C. J. Fair Kris Joseph James Southerland GUARDS Michael Carter- Williams Scoop Jardine Mookie Jones Brandon Triche Dion Waiters Comments: No real changes here and none needed: Melo backed by Christmas and Keita; Fair, Joseph and Southerland at forward would have been the same and we would have had the Jardine/ Triche/ Waiters troika and MCW screaming to get in. Those guys went 34-3, 31-1 with Melo in the line-up. 2012-13 CENTERS Rakeem Christmas DaJuan Coleman Baye Moussa Keita Fab Melo Da'Shonte Riley FORWARDS C. J. Fair Jerami Grant James Southerland GUARDS Michael Carter- Williams Trevor Cooney Mookie Jones Brandon Triche Dion Waiters Comments: Having Melo for a third and fourth year is the height of fantasy but I’ll always wonder what he could have become, at least at this level. Christmas and Keita were rock-ribbed on defense that year. I felt they were the real keys to our Final Four run that year. I also wonder what waiters would have become if he’d played it out here. MCW would have been the point guard. I think Triche’s time might have faded a bit. I would like to have played that Final Four with Melo and Waiters. 2013-14 CENTERS Rakeem Christmas DaJuan Coleman Fab Melo Baye Moussa Keita FORWARDS C. J. Fair Michael Gbinije Jerami Grant B. J. Johnson Tyler Roberson GUARDS Michael Carter- Williams Trevor Cooney Tyler Ennis Ron Patterson Dion Waiters Comments: We started 25-0 without Melo and Waiters. MCW would still have been the point guard with Ennis an apprentice. I think we would have played faster and scored better, which was the problem in the late season slump. 2014-15 CENTERS Rakeem Christmas (DaJuan Coleman sat out due to his injuries) Chinoso Obokoh FORWARDS Michael Gbinije Jerami Grant B. J. Johnson Chris McCullough (injured after 16 games) Tyler Roberson GUARDS Michael Carter- Williams Trevor Cooney Tyler Ennis Kaleb Joseph Ron Patterson Comments: This was the team with the glass ceiling. We could have pecked away at it more than we did with MCW and Jerami Grant. 2015-16 CENTERS DaJuan Coleman Chinoso Obokoh FORWARDS Jerami Grant B. J. Johnson Tyler Lydon Chris McCullough Malachi Richardson Tyler Roberson GUARDS Trevor Cooney Tyler Ennis Michael Gbinije Franklin Howard Kaleb Joseph Ron Patterson Comments: With Grant and McCullough, how much would Tyler Lydon have played? He or McCullough probably would have been the center. We’d have seen less of Richardson. Would Ennis have bene any better as a junior than he was as a freshman? Maybe he didn’t have to be. 2016-17 CENTERS Paschal Chukwu (injured) DaJuan Coleman Chinoso Obokoh FORWARDS B. J. Johnson Tyler Lydon Chris McCullough Matthew Moyer Malachi Richardson Tyler Roberson Taurean Thompson Andrew White GUARDS Tyus Battle Tyler Ennis John Gillon Franklin Howard Kaleb Joseph Ron Patterson Comments: Center would have been McCullough or Lydon. How good would McCullough have been by now? Would Richardson have matured into a star? Ennis would have bene the point guard we need. Gillon and white wouldn’t be here at all. I’d have liked to have taken on North Carolina with this team. St. John’s, too. [/QUOTE]

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