Who Is The Syracuse All-Decade Team?
by Sean Keeley on Apr 16, 2009 4:04 PM EDT
17 comments
I love OrangeHoops. Seriouisly, it's the most underrated SU blog out there. Why? Because every single time I go there, I learn something new or I read some kind of insightful analysis. Ray's does a mighty fine job crunching the numbers and making sense of it all.
And as he reminded me in his most recent post, the 00's are basically over as far as basketball is concerned. Sure, we can squabble over the upcoming season and make sure we include the November and December output in our discussions but we're probably not going to learn too much more about the decade in Syracuse basketball between now and then. So it's completely appropriate to begin the discussion...
Who Is The Syracuse All-Decade Team For The Aughts?
Ray's right, there's some tough choices to be made in this decade. But there's also a couple obvious ones as well.
First, I agree that Carmelo Anthony ('02 - '03) has to be on the team. Yes he was only here for one season but think of this way, 20 years from now when I ask you name five Syracuse basketball players from this decade, Carmelo will be among them. I guarantee it. He's in.
Next up, Gerry McNamara ('02 - '06) Discussion over.
Third, you gotta go with Hakim Warrick ('01 - '05). Hak has the hardware, he has the iconic moment "The Block," and he has the stats (21.4 PPG, 8.6 RPG as a senior). His post-SU career hasn't been memorable but Hakim does have the distinction of spending all four seasons with the Orange in this decade and improving immensely in each one. Still bothers me that he ended his career with the Vermont game.
Now it gets tricky. Who's available?
Demetris Nichols ('03 - '07) - 18.9 PPG and Big East 1st-Team.as a senior.
Preston Shumpert ('98 - '02) - We can only count his junior and senior seasons but even still, those were his money years anyway. #8 all-time scoring and #2 all-time in 3-PT percentage.
Eric Devendorf ('05 - '09) - Averaged double-digit scoring all four years (noted that one of those years was more like half-a-year) and you can't deny he has his share of clutch plays. Leaves as 14th on the all-time scoring list and 3# all-time in 3-PT percentage.
Jonny Flynn ('07 - '09) - Played almost every minute during both seasons at SU, averaged over 15 PPG both seasons and 6.7 assists his senior year. The face of SU basketball the last two years. #7 all-time in assists.
This might be a little crazy but I'm gonna go with Jonny Flynn and Preston Shumpert. Both only played two seasons in the decade but their inclusion bookends it perfectly. Preston was the leader of the pre-Carmelo Orange. a dominant shooter and he really did the bulk of that in his final two seasons. On the other side, Jonny was the face of the "Dynasty." Although they never achieved what they set out to do, this group brought some hope and swagger back to SU under Flyyn and Jonny was the consummate floor general and player you wanted on your team.
Demetris is tough one because he did a lot while he was here but I feel like he's going to end up as a forgotten SU star. He exists somewhere between Carmelo and Jonny and while we remember he was good, no real memories come to mind. He also played second fiddle to Gerry most of his career.
And Devo? If he stayed another year he would have slipped in there ahead of Preston. He would have passed Preston in scoring and 3-PT percentage all-time so it's likely. Then again, maybe it's for the best that we leave him out of it.
So that give us:
- Carmelo Anthony
- Gerry McNamara
- Hakim Warrick
- Jonny Flynn
- Preston Shumpert
We're a little soft in the paint. If you were going on the other way and wanted to make this an actual team position-by-position, like OrangeHoops did, I suppose you can insert Arinze as center. I'd put in Demetris instead just because he's further ahead on that list.
So what do you think? You can rank your own top players here or leave your thoughts in the comments below. And of course, we need to decide who the very best player of the decade is. OrangeHoops chose Warrick. I think I'd go with GMac because his aura and importance to the SU community trumps Warrick's statistical lead. But what do I know?
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This is so tough to answer
If it was “Who will SU fans and alums remember from the decade?” I might say GMac for the reasons you gave. Statiscally speaking you gotta with Warrick. But if you were to go for the player from this decade that everyone (within SU and without) associates with SU, I’d say your answer very well could be Carmelo. And I would make Flynn your dark horse because of the UConn game. That game will probably be remembered second to only the title game and the marquee player in that game was Flynn.
Anyway, my vote is “10 f***ing games” GMac.
I don't begrudge anyone from voting for Carmelo
But since you worded the poll “Syracuse Player of the Decade,” I can’t vote for a guy who was only at SU for 1 year. Best Player of the Decade? Absolutely that’s Carmelo. But for THE Player of the Decade, I have to go with McNamara.
You out to be shot and disbarred forever from talking about Syracuse sports
Man, as a Georgetown fan and a Big East fan from back when they started I have to draw the line. Your giving unfair credit to the whole decade. Be fair.
Carmelo- he gave the Cuse their only championship, he’s their best player of this decade no doubt and one of their best of all time.
Gerry McNamara – Yes for what he did his senior year in the Big East tournament. No doubt. He cemented his legend.
Everyone else with the exception of Jonny Flynn hasn’t done crap. Eric Devendorf..he’s dumb to even go into the draft. and before you say it I agree, so is Dajuan Summers. They along with Paul Harris won’t get drafted. You skipped over Etan Thomas, easily the best Cuse big man of this decade and Donte Greene whjo lit up the league better than everyone you mentioned as possible withthe exception of Shumpert. Look Flynn earned my respect with the game against Uconn and Preston Shumpert was a baller but everyone else is garbage and you need to redo your list or I’ll make a list that will bust your list.
One
by sportseditorpowell on Apr 16, 2009 4:55 PM EDT reply actions
Etan Thomas
was indeed a solid player. In 1999. He played a grand total of four months in the 00’s, so…
And just so I’m clear, Donte Greene’s one NIT season > Hakim Warrick’s entire career? Got it.
Donte Greene whjo lit up the league better than everyone you mentioned as possible withthe exception of Shumpert
He was only the 3rd best 3pt shooter on the team and had the worst FG%…so much for lighting up the court.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/teams/stats?teamId=183&year=2008
DNic
Gotta go with DNic. For now he’s the one in the NBA, first team Big East, leading scorer for the Big East his senior season, and a 2 time Big East tournament champion.
If you are going to base Flynn’s argument on the 6OT game, you can make the same argument for DNic with the 2006 tournament(even though GMac’s face is all over it). They actually won that year also. If anything, I would say Devo’s face was all over this years BET run with his near UConn buzzer beater, Seton Hall fight, and half court shot. Plus he had numerous articles about him all week before the NCAA’s began.
Devendorf
Gotta follow up with Devo. He’s had more seasons here, has a BET win, very good stats, and of course, been the face of SU for a good portion of the time he’s played here. He’s always the target of the fans taunts.
He, like Dnic, has the 2006 BET run. He has the GTown walk off layup, and the WTF ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME UConn layup miss. He also has the previously mentioned 2009 BET run.
The 2005 blemish brings them down, as does the 2007 snubbing. Without 2007’s snub they would have virtually 100% NCAA tournament’s(if you throw out Devo’s injury season.)
but.........
player of the decade might just be devo………the most hated player in college basketball, you have to be some kind of special to recieve those accolades
There is no discussion
The only discussion here should be over who is the second best player of the 00’s. The indisputable best? Melo. Melo. Melo. The hardware is the only thing that matters, and I’m not talking about All Big East First Team honors, or Big East Player of the Year awards, or even Big East Championships. I’m talking about the NCAA Championship, and without Melo, Syracuse would not have one. He made that happen. There might not even be any question about who is Syracuse’s greatest of all time.
On a side note, the rules of this decade discussion are silly. A player should just be assigned to a specific decade, even if his career is split by a decade change. If not, players whose careers fall early or late in decades are automatically (and arbitrarily) handicapped in discussions of quote-unquote all decade teams. If a player’s career is split exactly in half by a decade change, he should count for the decade in which he had his 2 better years (which would almost always work out to the later decade). I think that this is just common sense and makes for better discussion.
With out haks block
we may not have won either. All was an All American type player AND played all 4 years.
Who was the best Center?
If we were going position by position…
AO is the best scorer, but not as good on D as Mookie. Mookie got good a FT’s too. Craig was awesome at the P&R and Gerry would not have gotten as many good looks with out the big guys great screens. Who plays the 5 spot?
no contest
by the end of 2010 rick jackson will be reguarded as the best center of the decade by far
Josh Pace
Can’t really argue with your top 5. But I’d take Josh Pace over Eric Devendorf if we’re talking about coming the guys who just missed out. You have to take into consideration team success, all around play, and intangibles. Pace’s teams had tremendous success his whole career, and he was a key component of all of them. Devo’s stats crush Pace in one category, but Pace far outstrips Devo’s one-dimensional scoring in his overall contributions. Pace brought a lot of glory to Cuse, where Devo’s teams had limited success in big moments until his final season. (If Devo changes his mind and comes back for one more year, then he would cement himself in the top 5.)
One other guy who hasn’t been mentioned: we get to count the final two seasons of Damone Brown’s career. I’d take him over Arinze if you need another big man (though he’s half Arinze’s size, he did play a lot of PF and C his senior year).
seriously, preston shupert. didnt his girlfriend sleep with desean williams causing the whole 01-02 rift that sank the season cause preston was a cry baby.
this should be a by position thing comparring:
pg: gmac flynn, edalin
sg: devo, rautins, shumpert
sf: melo, harris, josh pace, kueth
pf: hak, rick jackson
c: ao, forth, mcneil, mookie
hindsight is 20-13 just like Ted William actual vision- ken tremendous
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