Which of these 3 things would

[Orangezoo]

I say def 1 as Butler would not have been able to leave the interior unguarded aside from rick. AO's quick and easy points wouldnt have allowed Butler to get out in front. After Butler the comp wasn't scary and that Duke team was not all that great.

 

[omniorange]

1) AO healthy, we definitely win NC
2) Even with Fab, best we do is get to FF and lose to Kentucky
3) This year's TC on last year's team means we are seeded higher so it is hard to say

Cheers,
Neil

 

[pearl31]

Even with Fab, best we do is get to FF and lose to Kentucky

I disagree with this.

 

[orange79]

AO for me

 

[Full_Rebar]

A healthy AO destroys Howard in that Butler game. Duke had no interior presence that year, and no one to check Wes. That SU team had some much going for it- offense, defense, depth and shooting.

 

[Brooky03]

1

We walk to a NC with AO. I don't think any win would have been by less than double digits.

 

[stuckinbig11]

AO

 

[Cuse_1999]

AO, but why is everyone acting like we would have had no chance against UK with Fab? We lost 1 game that year with Fab in the lineup. To Cincy in the BE tourney. We lost 1 game in the regular season in the best conference. We entered the NCAA tourney with 2 losses, same as UK. Difference is UK played in the week SEC while we went through the Big East. I think the SU/UK game with Fab would have been a tossup

 

[omniorange]

AO, but why is everyone acting like we would have had no chance against UK with Fab? We lost 1 game that year with Fab in the lineup. To Cincy in the BE tourney. We lost 1 game in the regular season in the best conference. We entered the NCAA tourney with 2 losses, same as UK. Difference is UK played in the week SEC while we went through the Big East. I think the SU/UK game with Fab would have been a tossup

On its own merits, perhaps. But I take the long view which is to win the NC that year with Fab, we would have had to beat Wisconsin, Ohio State, Kansas, and then Kentucky. That's a lot to ask.

Cheers,
Neil

 

[OttoMets]

AO, but why is everyone acting like we would have had no chance against UK with Fab? We lost 1 game that year with Fab in the lineup. To Cincy in the BE tourney. We lost 1 game in the regular season in the best conference. We entered the NCAA tourney with 2 losses, same as UK. Difference is UK played in the week SEC while we went through the Big East. I think the SU/UK game with Fab would have been a tossup

It's no longer an original line of thinking, but we would have matched up well with Kentucky. I don't think Calipari's a great Xs and Os coach and do think that some of his kids (Terrence Jones, come on down) would have gotten impatient with a rare deficit. Would really have liked our chances with that group; could easily see them hoisting up bad threes, getting into shot clock trouble, and sniping at each other as the game got out of hand.

Kansas is another story; Self is a better coach. With a week to prepare and some past familiarity with Syracuse, he could have come up with a good game plan. Thomas Robinson probably could have done well against us and I wouldn't have had a ton of faith in our ability to score enough to win. Still would like to have had the opportunity.

 

[Quazzum69]

Reverse order of the list; we would have only had to win two more games in 2012-13, three more in 2011-2012 and four more in 09-10. The chances of winning two consecutive is higher than three, which is higher than four.

Having 47% TC would have given Triche and MCW more rest and drawn the defense allowing MCW to drive and make it easier for everyone. If Cooney made one or two threes in the Michigan game, it would have been ours. We had beaten Louisville already that year. I'd take my chances in a close game that easily could have been won and one game vs UL over Ohio State, Kansas, UK or four consecutive games, regardless of who the opponent is.

 

[omniorange]

Reverse order of the list; we would have only had to win two more games in 2012-13, three more in 2011-2012 and four more in 09-10. The chances of winning two consecutive is higher than three, which is higher than four.

Having 47% TC would have given Triche and MCW more rest and drawn the defense allowing MCW to drive and make it easier for everyone. If Cooney made one or two threes in the Michigan game, it would have been ours. We had beaten Louisville already that year. I'd take my chances in a close game that easily could have been won and one game vs UL over Ohio State, Kansas, UK or four consecutive games, regardless of who the opponent is.

Except if TC were playing last year like he is now, we'd have gone into the NCAAs as either a 1 or 2 seed. So it's a whole different ballgame in terms of who we get in both the Sweet 16, Elite 8, and Final Four. Too much unknown to claim it would be #3 imho. Nothing changes in the other two scenarios. Who we would have played remains the same.

Cheers,
Neil

 

[RF2044]

Like many who've responded, I'll go with #1. With a healthy AO, we beat Butler with ease in my mind. AO wouldn't have gotten muscled by their big and knocked off his game as easily as Rick was. Plus, a luxury we had that year was starting both bigs, seeing which one was playing better, and then going small while keeping the top big any given day on the floor. We had no fall back option to Rick, who just had a poor game that day. With AO at his disposal, I don't think we would have stubbed out toe, and the field was wide open.

But I honestly believe that #2 would have given us a shot to win the whole !#$% thing, as well. We were the only team in the country capable of taking out UK in the tournament, IMO. With a healthy Fab, we likely would have gotten our chance to match up with them.

 

[Eric15]

I'm going to say 3. Could you imagine Trevor coming off the bench on last year's team shooting 48% from deep (along with Southerland's ridiculous outside shooting in March?). The mere thought of it is making me giddy.

As I always say in these discussions of the 2010 team, I absolutely adored that team, but I don't share some of your rewriting of history that we would have beat the 1986 Celtics in a 7 game series with a healthy AO (only half-kidding).

 

[two3zone]

1 and 2 are close. I honestly think we win both years. Number 3 is a good question, I don't know, if Cooney explodes like he has this year, we're better, but where do the minutes come from? He wouldn't take a ton of Triche's and MCW even though he gets a lot of flack here did have a couple of really solid games in the tourney and was our only true point guard. Great question though.

 

[Orange2389]

Basically we should have 4 championships by now (5 if you include that 87' title game). Here's to #2!