'Cuse Hoops Worse Off Than We All Feared
by Nicks2Cents on Apr 21, 2009 2:04 AM EDT
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Is anyone else afraid that Syracuse is even worse off than we all initially feared?!
The loss of Jonny Flynn may be settling in for some, but not me.
Do you guys realize how big of a loss this is? Flynn - maybe even more so than 'Melo, Billy Owens and Pearl - is irreplacable.
He's that ultimate commodity in college basketball. A living, breathing floor general who has the ball in his hands almost 75% of the time his team has possession.
Syracuse almost won it all the year that Pearl left early... Syracuse went 0-2 in the postseason in Owens' last year on The Hill... Heck, Melo gave us a title - what else did he have to accomplish?
But Flynn leaves the cupboard bare with no legit replacement on the horizon, just when the sky was the limit.
This will sting me for years - maybe until Syracuse sniffs the Final Four again.
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are you kidding me???????
we will be fine, look for a minute if you will at bodies coming back not just the names ao and ricky jackson with the addition of 6-9 some times small foward wes johnson……who even people outside the program say could have been the best player on the court this past year,… now add in dashonte 6-11 off the bench, mixed with mookie and joseph the front courst is stacked. our inisde game will flourish next year giving triche and scoop time to mesh, not to mention think of the length that was just added to the zone. we havent been this long, since 03, and this team may have more talent on it than that one, it will be defiinately deeper
Last night
I fell asleep watching sportscenter and had a dream they did an SU highlight and Rick Jackson scored 34. I know it was a dream, but Im hoping it ends up being deja vu. I think what my dream means is that we have a VERY good front court, lots of depth inside and some 6’ 7" guys who can shoot the 3. Hopefully one of them ends up being the next CDR.
95% of the teams in the country dont have PGs with Johnnys skill level. We are lucky to have a guy who played most his freshman year and did a good job with a broken shin, a 6’3" incoming recruit who can score, that was also sought after by UConn as the replacement for AJ Price and by Georgetown to run their complicated O AND the PG for team Canada.
Its going to be ok.
Look at any college team that “underachieves”… Their rosters are full of talent on paper but the point guard position isn’t filled by a capable leader.
Look at Georgetown this past season… I mentioned Davidson… I think back to Wake Forest when Chris Paul left and they tried Justin Gray there…
Rick Jackson improved a lot this year and I think he’s solid, but he we can’t expect him to take close games vs good teams over.
Look at it this way, there’s NO WAY Syracuse beats a team like UConn in MSG without Jonny Flynn. And they could have done it without any other single player who played that night,
We’re looking at another NIT season, I’m afraid.
Remove hand from panic button
Memphis last year was a 2 seed and had a natural 2 guard running the point. When UConn won their last title, Taliek Brown was running the point – he was not a scorer or a great passer. What did he do? He played good D and didnt turn it over. Thats all we need Scoop to do.
Triche is a very good scorer and watching video of him, the kid can dish too. Andy played point against Team USA.
My point is just as much as we have questions, we have options. Its college basketball, there is always turnover, every team comes in with questions. Its part of the fun.
Step off the ledge
Dude, Jonny’s gone. He’s not coming back. Get over it.
You’re right, we don’t beat UConn without Jonny. But if UConn doesn’t have Thabeet, or Price, or Adrien, maybe we don’t need Jonny to beat them. You have to look at this both ways; we lose our best players, but so do almost every other team in the Big East. Circle of life, buddy.
To say we’re going to the NIT next year, already, just shows two things: 1) You’re freaking out, and you need to calm the F down right now, and 2) You’re not looking big picture, because if you did know anything about the Big East next year, you’d see that it’s not going to be nearly as strong as it was this year. Are we a national championship caliber team yet? No. Should we be competiting for a Big East title? I think absolutely.
I think Nick is right.....
I work for a Meth lab and when we switched out the Coleman Camping fuel to Brunton fuel, our Meth was never the same.
Easy,,
I understand Nick’s point of view. I’m not going to sit here and say we are NIT bound that is a bit overkill. But for me, it is hard to settle for being just “good.” I don’t want to get to the NCAA Tourney and be out in the 2nd round. I want to go further than this year. It’s tough to picture that with out some people. Am I saying it can’t happen and we suck? Absolutely not.
This is a good team. But the question we have to ask ourselves is are we all ok with just being “good”
And I guess that's my point...
With the roster as currently constructed, Syracuse’s ceiling is just “good”.. with a high probability of “middling”…
And easier schedule nonwithstanding, “middling” in the Big East means 9-9 or 10-8 and life on the bubble in February and a 7-8-9-10 seed in the Big Dance.
That’s not what I want this program to be about.
To ryanwk628’s Memphis example – I have seen Andy Ruatins… I have watched Andy Rautins play… Andy Rautins is no Tyreke Evans.
Your right
Andy Rautins is BETTER than Tyreke Evans. At the college level at least.
Umm not really
Love Andy Rautins – he is no Tyreke Evans and if he is playing the majority of minutes at the point, next season has all the makings of an NIT year. I sort of agree with Nick – they are not a top 25 team unless Triche is the real deal. A 8 or 9 seed in the Tournament probably, but not a 3, 4, or 5.
Did I say Point Guard?
They are both shooting guards, who said anything about point guards? Anyone with common sense would say Andy Rautins is a better college player than Tyreke Evans. Evans just has way more potential and is more athletic, which is why he entered the NBA draft after his freshman year.
For real, Orange52350?
Listen, I love Andy… Maybe the most improved player on Cuse as year went on.
But if you trade Evans for Rautins this past season – no way Memphis gets a 2 seed and 30+ wins… Evans can just do things that Rautins can’t – physically dominate an opponent – that’s fact.
And that fact just hammers home the point that Syracuse doesn’t have enough GAME-CHANGING players now to be great… just a nice team that can win some games and MAYBE win a game in the NCAAs…
My point about Evans
was that you dont need a true PG to do well. Not that Andy was a better ball player.
Yeah, but....
if you have a non-PG playing point, you are going to have deficiences you are going to have to make up somehow… Memphis made up for it with statistically the best defense, and physically the biggest point guard in the country. Syracuse is not going to have those advantages next year.
I’d love to be wrong though!
by Nicks2Cents on Apr 22, 2009 10:15 AM EDT up reply actions
Correction
Memphis made up for it by playing in Conference-USA.
Make fun of C-USA all you want...
Make fun of C-USA all you want...
…. but there were at least 6-to-8 better guards in that conference than Andy Rautins last year.
Jimmy B was quoted on ESPN.com today as saying next year’s team is going to be really good … hey I love his optimism – that’s what matters.. I hope he’s right!
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