Year to Year "Succession Planning"

[Consigliere]

To keep up a certain consistency in the program - and no losing seasons in 40 years is the most consistent team out there - Boeheim typically has 3 returnees that he can use to build with. Typically 2 front court players and a guard, or a guard, swingman and a big.

Next year, our 3 building blocks would have been Mali, Lydon and Roberson, and you see a nice balance there, a slasher, a shooter, and some physical presence. Now Battle is thrust into Mali's spot because Frank and Coleman are not going to be statistical leaders for this team next year, in all likelihood. Not that they won't be important contributors, but they are not "building blocks" for an elite team.

And that's what we aspire to be - elite - especially with JB reaching the end. We don't have years to waste. That's why this is another shot to the nuts. We've been a player or two away from elite for a few years now. We've made it back to the Final Four, indicating to me, anyway, that our defense has gotten so much better than it used to be in the last 10 years or so.

But we've had no dependable offense for almost as long. We've been short a shooter, or a post player, or a true point guard ever since about 2010, if you ask me, or certainly since 2012, although Scoop and Brandon were not elite offensive guards. They both certainly fit our system, but neither guy was an elite scorer.

Battle's very good, but he will be a freshman, and we are only adding two guys so far in this recruiting class, not counting our rent-a-senior. That baffles me, how we don't have ANYBODY for these spots. It seems to me you should not be giving up on players and showing them the door because they're not "good enough" when you have literally NO ONE to replace them. I mean, What, coach. Isn't that what COACHING is for, to make players better?

I think the ideal situation would be to be able to look two years down the road (2017 - 2018) and project 3 guards (with 1 being a combo), 3 forwards (with 1 being a swing) and 2 centers who, based on anticipated development could play integral roles. If one of the guards has the size to slide into the 3 and one of the forwards has the size to slide to the 5 you have a bit more flexibility. You then can fill the roster with high potential kids who may take a while longer to develop physically but who also give your roster some stability. Though B.J. fit that slot perfectly. Unfortunately when 5 "fill out the roster" slots are reduced to 2 (now 3) you lose the flexibility to take on not ready for prime time players. Compound that with unexpected early entries and things can become more critical. Can you afford to leave roster spots open for more than one potential early entrant who decides to return?

So based solely on remaining eligibility we have 2 guards who are both potential combos (Battle and Howard), 2 forwards (Moyer and Lydon) and 1 Center (Chukwu). Need to get that group to the required 8 quickly. Thompson would fill that stretch 4 role nicely (/C). I firmly believe the staff expected to have him in the fold by now. Kaleb seemed like a safe bet to be the third guard. Despite his issues it seemed like he was going to stick it out as late as midseason and at least provide an option for emergency bench minutes the next two seasons. Now we need a G, and C commit for 2017 (Green, Tucker, Thompson) fairly quickly so the staff can plan succession for possible (probable?) early exits by Lydon and Battle. And anytime you have a 7'2" shot blocking machine you always have a risk that one good season (or one good half on National tv against Virginia) will take him out of the mix. Good news is we're more than half way through the sanctions from a recruiting perspective and following next year's class we'll get one ship restored in 2018 and have a full complement in 2019.

How's that for a succession plan!

 

[NineOneSeven]

I think the ideal situation would be to be able to look two years down the road (2017 - 2018) and project 3 guards (with 1 being a combo), 3 forwards (with 1 being a swing) and 2 centers who, based on anticipated development could play integral roles. If one of the guards has the size to slide into the 3 and one of the forwards has the size to slide to the 5 you have a bit more flexibility. You then can fill the roster with high potential kids who may take a while longer to develop physically but who also give your roster some stability. Though B.J. fit that slot perfectly. Unfortunately when 5 "fill out the roster" slots are reduced to 2 (now 3) you lose the flexibility to take on not ready for prime time players. Compound that with unexpected early entries and things can become more critical. Can you afford to leave roster spots open for more than one potential early entrant who decides to return?

So based solely on remaining eligibility we have 2 guards who are both potential combos (Battle and Howard), 2 forwards (Moyer and Lydon) and 1 Center (Chukwu). Need to get that group to the required 8 quickly. Thompson would fill that stretch 4 role nicely (/C). I firmly believe the staff expected to have him in the fold by now. Kaleb seemed like a safe bet to be the third guard. Despite his issues it seemed like he was going to stick it out as late as midseason and at least provide an option for emergency bench minutes the next two seasons. Now we need a G, and C commit for 2017 (Green, Tucker, Thompson) fairly quickly so the staff can plan succession for possible (probable?) early exits by Lydon and Battle. And anytime you have a 7'2" shot blocking machine you always have a risk that one good season (or one good half on National tv against Virginia) will take him out of the mix. Good news is we're more than half way through the sanctions from a recruiting perspective and following next year's class we'll get one ship restored in 2018 and have a full complement in 2019.

How's that for a succession plan!

Drops mic

 

[dollarbill44]

I think the "unexpected" departures are all the more reason to have concerns about the roster being so short right now why preparing for departures is so important. This next class is going to have to be amazing, and SU isn't the only school gunning after all these top-30 kids. Duke just brought in a hammer of a class this season and will probably have to replace plenty of those guy next year. K has totally bought into the 1 & dones. I don't think SU isn't going to beat out UK, Duke, KU and Zona for six top-30 players just because they have a bunch of open roster spots.

Not sure if you realize we are still down scholarships? When you're down 2 schollies a year, it cuts back on the depth factor.
year

 

[tbonezone]

we got on a roll in the middle with flab, raxmas ,moose and dc3. you need to snag a quality big man AT LEAST every other class.

 

[two3zone]

Not sure if you realize we are still down scholarships? When you're down 2 schollies a year, it cuts back on the depth factor.
year

We're down scholarships and still can't fill the open ones we have.

 

[tbonezone]

on the subject of centers the dukies just landed 5* middleman marques bolden. the rich in the acc get richer.