Bubblicious - The Syracuse Basketball Thread

BaseballJones

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Yesterday, Dick Vitale said that Syracuse was one player away from being really good. Unfortunately, that player is Derrick Coleman. I think he's exactly right. If Cuse had one of the three best players in program history, they would be really good. It's just the kind of insightful commentary I've come to expect from Dicky V.

I'm a little higher on the program than I was at the beginning of the year, but it's become clear that Girard and Guerrier can really play and Sidibe has looked more stable as the year has gone on. That said, next year's team could be rough. Maybe there's some Ewing Theory upside in subtracting Hughes, but it's hard to see who on next year's team can get their own shot consistently the way that he can.
Long-term, Boeheim and Girard are going to be a terrific pair of college-level guards. They're already pretty solid as just a sophomore and freshman. But they really can't get by people, which can be a problem. Hughes can, but if he is a "normal" Syracuse guy, he'll declare for, and enter, the NBA draft after this year. Which is a mistake, like most of them are for these guys, but whatever.
 

BaseballJones

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Was at the SU-BC game the other night. Seemed like SU fans outnumbered BC fans by a considerable margin. At the end, a big "Let's go Orange!" chant rang out, which couldn't have been fun for the BC players. Oh well.

Crappy season, but that was a fun game anyway.
 

BaseballJones

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I know UNC was a 14 seed (really a 15 if not for Georgia Tech bowing out of the ACC tourney). And I know that there are WAY bigger things to worry about in the world right now.

But last night's total ass-kicking of North Carolina was simply....glorious. They've owned SU for a while now and they were actually on a roll, getting healthy, and a legit threat to do some serious damage in the ACC tournament. SU was reeling. But then they came out, threw a haymaker at UNC right away, withstood Carolina's initial comeback, and then just laid a tremendous beatdown on the Heels.

That was probably the last gasp for SU hoops for this season - I'm not even convinced there will be an NCAA tournament, so even if SU pulls of a miraculous run to win the ACC tourney, I don't think the NCAA tournament is happening - but what a totally awesome win last night.

Filled me with all kinds of happiness.
 

The Filthy One

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I know UNC was a 14 seed (really a 15 if not for Georgia Tech bowing out of the ACC tourney). And I know that there are WAY bigger things to worry about in the world right now.

But last night's total ass-kicking of North Carolina was simply....glorious. They've owned SU for a while now and they were actually on a roll, getting healthy, and a legit threat to do some serious damage in the ACC tournament. SU was reeling. But then they came out, threw a haymaker at UNC right away, withstood Carolina's initial comeback, and then just laid a tremendous beatdown on the Heels.

That was probably the last gasp for SU hoops for this season - I'm not even convinced there will be an NCAA tournament, so even if SU pulls of a miraculous run to win the ACC tourney, I don't think the NCAA tournament is happening - but what a totally awesome win last night.

Filled me with all kinds of happiness.
It was a good way to end the season (or as good as can be, given the circumstances). I hope that gives them confidence going into next year. Should be an interesting group, even if they lack a playmaker to really put them over the top.
 

The Filthy One

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Syracuse loses Brycen Goodine, Howard Washington, and Jalen Carey to transfer. That’s...all of their backup guards. Kadary Richmond, come on down!
 

BaseballJones

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Syracuse loses Brycen Goodine, Howard Washington, and Jalen Carey to transfer. That’s...all of their backup guards. Kadary Richmond, come on down!
Boeheim needs to go. When one guy transfers, maybe the problem is him. When THREE guys transfer, the problem is with the program.

Not that it matters. We're never having sports again.
 

Humphrey

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It's sad when it's abundantly clear that a great coach has stayed a year or two more than he should have.

Just like Bobby Bowden at Florida State. And most of the time, the next guy has a big hole to dig out of that he shouldn't have had.
 

Rossox

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Syracuse porn now on Facebook Live following the ‘03 National Championship game on CBS channel.
 

bsj

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Syracuse porn now on Facebook Live following the ‘03 National Championship game on CBS channel.
This was awesome. Melo, Boeheim, Warrick, Tirico, Craig Forth. I think 7 or 8 from that team were on cam, plus another half dozen former players from other teams in the chat room.
 

BaseballJones

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Anyone watching TBT? Boeheim's Army looks good this year. Nice roster. Good first round win yesterday.
 

bsj

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What Malachi could have been with one more year to develop....

Note- I'm not a stay in school robot...many (most) cases make sense to leave early. Elijah Hughes is absolutely a case in point. Richardson...I get why he left, but man he could have been a long term NBA talent. He just wasnt ready
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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What Malachi could have been with one more year to develop....

Note- I'm not a stay in school robot...many (most) cases make sense to leave early. Elijah Hughes is absolutely a case in point. Richardson...I get why he left, but man he could have been a long term NBA talent. He just wasnt ready
Yep. Lydon too. It's unbelievable that these guys think they're ready to go.
 

bsj

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Yep. Lydon too. It's unbelievable that these guys think they're ready to go.
Agreed. That said, I dont think Lydon's ceiling was nearly as high as Richardson. He's the one player in the last 10 years who 100% believe could have been a 6th man level talent in the NBA if not more had he stayed longer.
 

BaseballJones

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Agreed. That said, I dont think Lydon's ceiling was nearly as high as Richardson. He's the one player in the last 10 years who 100% believe could have been a 6th man level talent in the NBA if not more had he stayed longer.
Yep. He rode that great NCAA tourney run to the draft, which probably submarined his career.
 

The Filthy One

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So, after narrowly avoiding an at-home upset to Bryant (!), SU lost starting center Bourame Sidibe for at least a month to a torn meniscus. This essentially forces Dolejaz to play the 5, which is less than ideal. Of course, Syracuse has three other scholarship players on the roster who play center, but none of them will really see the court, since Boeheim basically requires a two year apprenticeship at the center position in which new centers study under the upperclassmen to learn the zone. Works out fine if you have an upperclassmen center, but here we are.
 

BaseballJones

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SU is in terrible shape. I know this season may not even finish and it's all completely crazy in the world and in the sports world. But yeah, SU is pretty bad, unfortunately.
 

The Filthy One

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SU is in terrible shape. I know this season may not even finish and it's all completely crazy in the world and in the sports world. But yeah, SU is pretty bad, unfortunately.
A combination of issues this year:
  • Boeheim (Buddy) and Girard are not good defensively at the top of the zone. Teams can drive by them and they are not good at closing on shooters. Sadly, some of that is just a lack of athleticism that probably can't be coached.
  • The Sidibe injury makes the defense even worse, since it makes the team shorter and the bench thinner. Dolejaz is pretty effective offensively in the middle as a kind of Jokic-esque facilitator but he's not going to be effective for 40 minutes per game on defense.
I would say that they should be better next year, but the truth is, who knows? The program is in rough shape at the moment.
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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I'm ready for Boeheim to retire and the program to move on. I want us back in the top 15 on an annual basis, with frequent trips to the elite-eight and occasional trips to the Final Four. I know it's likely a step down from peak JB to the next coach but let's face it - we don't have peak JB anymore.
 

Humphrey

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Still a half to go, but right now, nothing wrong with Syracuse that a good dose of BC couldn't cure.
 

bsj

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This is as good as they have looked all year.

Honestly...if Girard can get his shit together, and shoot like he did today, this can be a very dangerous team when healthy.
 

BaseballJones

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By “done” you mean “sucks”? Because he doesn’t appear to actually be going anywhere. He’s about five years too late in stepping down at this point.

I love what he’s done for SU over the course of a hall of fame career but I’ve been saying for years that he needs to go.
 

bsj

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By “done” you mean “sucks”? Because he doesn’t appear to actually be going anywhere. He’s about five years too late in stepping down at this point.

I love what he’s done for SU over the course of a hall of fame career but I’ve been saying for years that he needs to go.
Done in the sense that he is playing out the string and incapable and unwilling to build and coach for the game that is being played in 2021.

Syracuse lets all of its legacy athletic programs die on the vine, and this is the latest.
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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Done in the sense that he is playing out the string and incapable and unwilling to build and coach for the game that is being played in 2021.

Syracuse lets all of its legacy athletic programs die on the vine, and this is the latest.
It's so depressing. When I was a student, SU was routinely a top-10 basketball team, football was going to New Year's bowls (and winning them), and LAX was the single most dominant program in the country.

Now basketball is the epitome of mediocre, football is a colossal disaster, and even LAX is pretty meh.
 

RedOctober3829

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It's so depressing. When I was a student, SU was routinely a top-10 basketball team, football was going to New Year's bowls (and winning them), and LAX was the single most dominant program in the country.

Now basketball is the epitome of mediocre, football is a colossal disaster, and even LAX is pretty meh.
In terms of lacrosse, the development of the sport around the country is a primary reason why the traditional blue blood programs don't dominate the sport anymore. Syracuse is still a very good lacrosse program on both the men's and women's side.
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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It's so painful watching this abomination of a Syracuse team play. Uninspired, untalented, poorly-coached, and undisciplined. Just a travesty.
 

bsj

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Is SU gonna claw its way back into this? They likely need at least 1 pref 2 ACCT wins, but they had a good night, picking up a high quad 2 vs Clemson, and having NC State win and likely moving that win back to Quad 1.

But JB berating a reporter will be the story tomorrow.
 

BaseballJones

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Definitely need to win a minimum of one, and most likely two, ACC tourney games. But I think they've put themselves in the NIT conversation, which this year means more than it usually does with just a 16 team field.
 

Swedgin

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Is SU gonna claw its way back into this? They likely need at least 1 pref 2 ACCT wins, but they had a good night, picking up a high quad 2 vs Clemson, and having NC State win and likely moving that win back to Quad 1.

But JB berating a reporter will be the story tomorrow.
And it is, front page of ESPN.
 

BaseballJones

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I'm trying to decide if that little bit by Boeheim is being a real ass, or is really funny. Probably some of both because I cringed and laughed at the same time.
 

JimD

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He's being an ass, as usual. That 'how dare anyone who's never played question my basketball brilliance' shtick is beyond tired, but everyone at SU walks on eggshells around him.
 

BaseballJones

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I think a legit series of questions to JB should be:

Q: Why do you think SU has struggled so much the past handful of years after being a routine top-15 program?
A: (something like...) The ACC is a really really difficult league. It's hard to get a win.

Q: Is the ACC, in your opinion, a harder league than the old Big East was?
A: It's just a really difficult league. Hard to get a win.

Q: Ok, then since apparently it's a lot harder to win in the ACC than the old Big East, do you personally think that the move to the ACC was good or bad for Syracuse basketball?

See how he handles that.
 

Bleedred

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My son is a freshman at Syracuse and just a huge hoop fan (was a good HS player, captain of his team Sr. year, no chance of playing in college at the D1 level). He applied to be basketball manager but because of COVID, they didn't take any freshmen this year but asked 12 of the applicants (of 30) to reapply next Fall, and I'm grateful that he was one of the 12. It's funny, because even before he decided on SU, he thought the game had pretty much passed Boeheim by and thought he should have been fired or retired long ago. He now has to genuflect to JB if he stands any chance of landing the gig.
 

BaseballJones

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I know it's weird because of Covid, but how's he liking SU? I really loved my time there back in the days when SU was great in football, basketball, and LAX. (late 80s, early 90s). I visit once a year (except this year...thanks Covid) and have such great great memories of the school.

Good luck to him!
 

BaseballJones

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Yep. Some subtle changes. Edwards shoring up the middle. Buddy shooting lights out. Doing a better job on the boards.

Honestly, they should be a tourney team right now. Winning tomorrow would clinch it I think.
 

bsj

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My operating theory ...

My 2 cents? And I am probably very wrong.

They are in the play in 12 seed as we speak. I think a competitive loss to UVA keeps them there.

A blowout loss to UVA will knock them BACK out.

A win overt UVA moves them to the 10 seed.

Two more wins I think gets them to an 8/9 game.

I think the ceiling with tourney march and tourney win would be a 7 or so. I dont think we could get any higher than that due to some of the negatives on the resume that won't go away even with 3 more wins.
 

Bleedred

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My son is a freshman at Syracuse and just a huge hoop fan (was a good HS player, captain of his team Sr. year, no chance of playing in college at the D1 level). He applied to be basketball manager but because of COVID, they didn't take any freshmen this year but asked 12 of the applicants (of 30) to reapply next Fall, and I'm grateful that he was one of the 12. It's funny, because even before he decided on SU, he thought the game had pretty much passed Boeheim by and thought he should have been fired or retired long ago. He now has to genuflect to JB if he stands any chance of landing the gig.
To my pleasant surprise he's really enjoying his year. The university, to its credit, has been very strict on testing and other protocols (much better than Northwestern, where my older boy graduates this Spring) and has communicated extremely well with both parents and students about what they can and cannot do. I think it's a relative depredation thing. His first year away from home has given him a ton of liberty that he never had, so he's really enjoying that. The covid challenges are real, and the socializing has been quite limited, but he has found a good group of friends and is mostly enjoying it. He's pledging fraternity now (not sure which one, they had to go underground for a semester so he cannot say) and enjoying that process too. He's in the Faulk school.
 

Humphrey

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My operating theory ...

My 2 cents? And I am probably very wrong.

They are in the play in 12 seed as we speak. I think a competitive loss to UVA keeps them there.

A blowout loss to UVA will knock them BACK out.

A win overt UVA moves them to the 10 seed.

Two more wins I think gets them to an 8/9 game.

I think the ceiling with tourney march and tourney win would be a 7 or so. I dont think we could get any higher than that due to some of the negatives on the resume that won't go away even with 3 more wins.
Duke getting knocked out of the box can't help but boost SU's chances.
 

Rossox

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Curious how the positive COVID test within UVA will impact them and Cuse moving forward. As we know, SU shut down their program for 18 days after Buffalo tested positive shortly after they played Cuse in December.

Ugh, what a F'd up season (captain obvious!).
 

BaseballJones

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This will be a very bad thing for Syracuse if Georgetown hangs on in the second half and wins this game tonight. We do NOT want Georgetown to win. Ever. Especially tonight. But it's gonna happen, isn't it?