How good are Trevor Cooney and Michael Carter-Williams? Will they make up for the losses of Scoop Jardine and Dion Waiters? What can we expect to see from Brandon Triche next year? Let's take a look:

Brandon Triche, Sr

6-4, 205 lbs

Brandon was recruited in the class of 2009. His scouts grade (according to espn) was a 90, and he was the #26 SG in the class. He made an immediate impact on Syracuse in his freshman year, playing 21.3 minutes per game and shooting 57% on 2 pointers and 40% on 3 pointers. His sophomore campaign had its ups and downs. Without Arinze Onuaku, Wesley Johnson and Andy Rautins he received much more attention from the defense and as a result his shooting efficiency went down. However, his effort level stayed high and he improved his rebounding, free throw shooting and turnover rate. His junior year was very solid, posting career highs in offensive rebounding rate, defensive rebounding rate, assist to turnover ratio, and steal rate. He also became more aggressive on offense, with 10.32 field goal attempts per 30 minutes while maintaining the same shooting efficiency as his sophomore year.

Skill set: Very good shooting from mid-range and the 3 point line, good passing and ball handling, excellent rebounding for a guard, effective in transition, solid defense. Not good at creating his own shot in the half court, most effective when his teammates draw a lot of attention from the defense, solid all around player but doesn't really excel at anything.

Michael Carter-Williams

6-5, 184 lbs

Recruited in the class of 2011, MCW was given a scouts grade of 97 and was ranked as the #4 SG in the nation and #21 player overall. Here is his ESPN scouting report:

Strengths:
There is no denying MCW's ability to score in a variety of ways. The extremely thin combo-guard is in attack mode every second he is on the court and showed throughout the spring/summer evaluation period that he is a threat to go for 30 each night. What is most exciting about his game is his development as a point guard. He showed an improved ability of running a team while also carrying the scoring load. Because of his consistent stoke from behind the arc he forces the defense to play close and gets to the rim at will. In end of game situations he is deadly from the free throw line and knows how to put away a game.

Weaknesses:
Because of his fail looking frame, the first thing you think off when you see Carter-Williams is that you would like to feed him a meal. He attacks the basket with reckless abandon and seems to take a pounding that would be hard to get up from. At the collegiate level he will need to bulk up and add strength in order to keep defenders off of him when handling the ball while trying to hold his line to the basket and also finish through contact when colliding with the bigs. He should embrace and benefit greatly from Syracuse's strength program.

Bottom Line:
MCW has evolved into one of the elite players nationally. He plays with energy on both sides of the ball and has shown the ability to impact a game as much defensively as with his scoring. Although he is an outstanding scorer that carries the load at the high school level, he plans to transition into more of a point guard when he arrives on the Syracuse campus.

In his freshman year he only logged 7.3 minutes per game due to the multitude of guards on the Syracuse roster. However, in those few minutes he showed a lot of promise. Perhaps the most important thing is that he is embracing his role as PG. In his time on the court he averaged 6.47 field goal attempts and 6.02 assists per 30 minutes, showing that he is willing to create for his teammates rather than trying to force his own shot. He did this with a turnover rate of 1.78 per 30 minutes, compared to Scoop's 2.73. Also exciting was the defense and rebounding he displayed. His 3.23 defensive boards per 30 minutes was easily the best among guards and was even better than Kris Joseph last year. His steal rate was 2.23 per 30 minutes, second only to Dion Waiters (2.26) on the team. His block rate was the better than all the other guards, Kris Joseph and CJ Fair.

Skill set: Very good shooting from the line, mid-range and 3 point, excellent ball handling and passing, very good driving to the basket and drawing fouls, very good in transition, great defense and rebounding. Must continue to add strength to be able to go inside effectively against tough Big East schedule, this will also help him avoid injury.

Trevor Cooney

6-4, 196 lbs

Recruited in the class of 2011, Cooney received a scout's grade of 94, ranked as the #17 SG and #64 overall. Here is his ESPN scouting report:

Strengths:
Cooney is one of the elite shooters in the country. His shot is crisp with a high release and he gets it off quick. He has a solid frame with deceptive amount of bounce and overall athleticism. He has a high basketball IQ and knows how to move without the ball to get open. He has improved his dribble-drive game and does a solid job of getting to the basket despite not being an explosive athlete. In addition to his shooting prowess, he is a terrific competitor. He is approach to the game is to win and compete and that's a site to see in this day and age.

Weaknesses:
Although he has improved his mid-range game and ability to get to the basket, he doesn't possess the ideal athleticism you look for in a high-major scoring guard. At times Cooney is not as aggressive as he should be given his ability to make shots. He seems to defer. He needs help to get open with screens or dribble penetration and will need to work on his ability to get his own shot when the defense takes away his ability to catch and shoot with a full chest to chest close out.

Bottom line:
Cooney is one of the better sharp shooters in the country. He'll do the necessary things on the court to win games. Finally, with his competitive nature he should have an immediate impact at Syracuse (verbal commit) and eventually an outstanding career.

Cooney took a redshirt in 2011-12 since he would have been the #5 guard in depth chart. According to this article, he has made the most of his red shirt year.

Skill set: Excellent shooter, solid as far as ball handling, driving, and passing, great at getting open, defensive ability unknown but his competitive nature would indicate at the very least a high level of effort.

Conclusions

Although this group may not be as dangerous in transition as we were last year, I believe they are better equipped to run the half court offense. All of them are excellent 3 point shooters. MCW combines the excellent passing of Scoop Jardine with the scoring ability of Dion Waiters, which will open up the entire offense. When a defense has to focus on a great scorer at the point and a scorer down low to boot (DaJuan Coleman) it will lead to lots of open looks for Cooney and Triche. When Triche got open looks like that in his freshman season he shot 40% from behind the arc, and we know Cooney can shoot. As far as defense, MCW is every bit as good as Dion and I think Cooney will be as good or better than Scoop, so our defense up top should be as good or better than last year.

In the next couple days I'll write a post evaluating the forwards (CJ Fair, James Southerland & Jerami Grant).