Where does Rak rank amongst all-time SU players?

[Eric15]

Based on his body of work over the course of 4 years, would you grade Rak's career above or below each of the following players?

Demetris Nichols
Todd Burgan
Etan Thomas
Rick Jackson
Arinze Onuaku
Dave Johnson
Damone Brown
Otis Hill

 

[OttoMets]

Dave Johnson
Otis Hill
Christmas
Etan Thomas
Arinze Onuaku
Todd Burgan
Demetris Nichols
Rick Jackson
Damone Brown

 

[cuseguy]

Checked out the stats on each player.

Every one of them had better sophomore and junior years than Rak, in some cases much better years, but Rak's senior year was as good or better than all of them.

Overall, though, I'd have to put Rak near the bottom.

His junior to senior jump was amazing.

 

[Alsacs]

1. Thomas
2. Onuaku
3. Christmas
4. Nichols
5. Hill
6. Johnson
7. Jackson
8. Burgan
9. Brown

 

[Consigliere]

Based on body of work he doesn't crack that list. Based on this season alone he tops it. Made a comment to some friends that it's tough to say Rak is one of my favorite players in the 40+ years I've been following Cuse hoops, but it's easy to say this is one of my favorite seasons by an individual player. Proud of what he has accomplished on and off the court and look for him to be another wonderful ambassador for the program going forward.

 

[Trueblue25]

Onuaku and Jackson aren't in the same conversation as Rak in my opinion.

Rak was thrown into the fire from day 1, still proud of freshman Rak vs Sully and OSU.

Ray's free throw shooting and defense is what puts him far ahead imo.

 

[Forza Azzurri]

Based on his body of work over the course of 4 years, would you grade Rak's career above or below each of the following players?

Demetris Nichols
Todd Burgan
Etan Thomas
Rick Jackson
Arinze Onuaku
Dave Johnson
Damone Brown
Otis Hill

I think ranking a player is some combination of individual stats, quality of team, role on the team, team post-season success & nostalgia (Bouie is my favorite SU player simply because he was the dominant force on the SU team when I first really became a fan).

In my mind, the player whose career equates most closely to that of Xmas is Z. They both had a forgetful 3 seasons and then really broke out as seniors.

Yet, I don't think people would rank them equivalently because Z was one of the two main catalysts who took us to the title game while Rak won't even play in the post-season.

In fact, I would bet that, for most people, Z would finish at the top of the above list.

I would rank them as follows:

Thomas
Onuaku
Johnson
Jackson
Rak
Brown
Nichols
Hill
Burgan

I did not look at their stats. I wonder if the stats will bear this ranking out...

 

[RF2044]

Checked out the stats on each player.

Every one of them had better sophomore and junior years than Rak, in some cases much better years, but Rak's senior year was as good or better than all of them.

Overall, though, I'd have to put Rak near the bottom.

His junior to senior jump was amazing.

Agreed. There are two different ways to interpret this question. If evaluating total careers at SU, then Rak ranks low on the list.

But if it is some subjective measurement of "best" player, then after the play we've seen this year, he'd rate very high.

 

[Eric15]

Agreed. There are two different ways to interpret this question. If evaluating total careers at SU, then Rak ranks low on the list.

But if it is some subjective measurement of "best" player, then after the play we've seen this year, he'd rate very high.

My question is specifically a career evaluation.

 

[tbonezone]

coming into this year christmas only avg'd 4 and 4. that's gotta be way below a lot of those guys.

 

[cuseguy]

FWIW, Rak was the only Mickey D AA among that group.

 

[Jake]

Based on his body of work over the course of 4 years, would you grade Rak's career above or below each of the following players? Demetris Nichols Todd Burgan Etan Thomas Rick Jackson Arinze Onuaku Dave Johnson Damone Brown Otis Hill

Career eval:
Thomas
Dave Johnson
(Gap)
D Nichols
T Burgan
Arinze
OHill
RJack
Xmas
Damone

 

[RF2044]

My question is specifically a career evaluation.

Etan Thomas
Dave Johnson
Arinze Onuaku
Todd Burgan
Otis Hill
Demetris Nichols
Rick Jackson
Damone Brown
Rakeem Christmas

 

[rrlbees]

Body of work meaning career? He's below most if not all of them.

 

[rrlbees]

Career eval: Thomas Dave Johnson (Gap) D Nichols T Burgan Arinze OHill RJack Xmas Damone

Surprised you ranked your all time favorite player, Burgan, that low.

 

[Jake]

Surprised you ranked your all time favorite player, Burgan, that low.

To be honest, he belongs between Arinze and otis

 

[Madbiker]

It's more difficult to rate Rak because for his first 3 years he contributed almost entirely as a defensive player...so he doesn't have impressive offensive stats. But he was a major contributor on defense to a FF team and that gets rewarded IMO.

Etan Thomas
Dave Johnson
Rakeem Christmas
Todd Burgan (also major player on a FF team and major offensive cog thereafter)
Otis Hill
Nichols
Rick Jackson (great senior year)
Arinze
Brown

 

[cuse2013]

Roc was also a starter on a Final4 team

 

[jekelish]

Etan Thomas
Dave Johnson
Arinze Onuaku
Todd Burgan
Otis Hill
Demetris Nichols
Rick Jackson
Damone Brown
Rakeem Christmas

I might flip Nichols and Jackson, but otherwise this would be my list.

 

[CusefanATL]

Dave Johnson
Otis Hill
Christmas
Etan Thomas
Arinze Onuaku
Todd Burgan
Demetris Nichols
Rick Jackson
Damone Brown

Rick and Arinze were huge parts to their teams who were much better than this years team.

Etan was big too.

Christmas and Nichols are similar. Good players who had great seasons on bad teams.

 

[bpo57]

To be honest, he belongs between Arinze and otis

I thought you might put him below Papadakos. j/k

 

[RF2044]

Rick and Arinze were huge parts to their teams who were much better than this years team.

Etan was big too.

Christmas and Nichols are similar. Good players who had great seasons on bad teams.

I don't think that's a good comparison. Nichols was a double figure scorer his junior year, too, whereas Rak was far from that. Both had similarly fantastic senior years, though [the good part of the comparison].

 

[bpo57]

I've never been a big RC fan to be honest. He is just not active enough, particularly on defense. He can be a very effective shot blocker (on occasion) off the ball but when opposing centers take it right to him they have alarming success. He picks up a lot of cheap fouls cuz he struggles to establish position and hold his ground. Often tends to be backing up. That said, he made amazing progress on the offensive end this year and he is especially to be lauded for his academic accomplishments as well.

 

[dasher]

Onuaku and Jackson aren't in the same conversation as Rak in my opinion.

Rak was thrown into the fire from day 1, still proud of freshman Rak vs Sully and OSU.

Ray's free throw shooting and defense is what puts him far ahead imo.

You are too tough on Onuaku. If Rak played on the team that A.O. did, his stats wouldn't have been near what they were on this limited team. I'm not saying A.O. was better than Rak but they are in the discussion with each other.

 

[OrangeDW]

Based on his body of work over the course of 4 years, would you grade Rak's career above or below each of the following players?

Demetris Nichols
Todd Burgan
Etan Thomas
Rick Jackson
Arinze Onuaku
Dave Johnson
Damone Brown
Otis Hill

Body of work:
Etan Thomas
Dave Johnson
Otis Hill
Arinze Onuaku
Damone Brown
Todd Burgan
Rakeem Christmas
Rick Jackson
Demetris Nichols

Etan and Johnson were both better at their peaks and had multiple good years. Christmas is overall better this year than Hill ever was, but Hill's freshman and Junior years were much better than Christmas's, and his soph. year was probably a little better too.

AO, Burgan, and Brown...similar reason. They were better players as sophomores and Juniors than Christmas by a bigger gap than the gap between Christmas and them this season.