You want the fear of God put into you? What if I told you this was Syracuse's starting line-up next year:
Scoop Jardine, Andy Rautins, Arinze Onuaku, Wes Johnson & Rick Jackson
If you're hiding under your desk right now fearing the end of days, come back! Then again, if you're hiding under your desk right now fearing the end of days, you can't read this...and you've probably already clawed out your eyes and painted THE END IS NIGH in ocular-blood on the carpet. So...
ANYWAY...we know Kristof! is leaving us after this season. That's a fact. And we've already discussed the chance that Jonny Flynn could be, gulp, leaving us as well. But what if...and this is a big what if...Devo and Harris left SU early as well? It's not probable...but it's possible. So says Ryan Miller...
Both guys have similar situations: Each has a kid (or kids) and was highly touted out of high school (one was a McDonald's All-American and the other one should have been), with no plans to stay in school for four years and families that aren't in the best financial situations. Harris maybe even a lottery pick minus the draft rule. But their path on the road to the NBA took a few wrong turns.
Could you imagine if someone told you in 2005 that Devendorf and Harris would be seniors on the 2009-2010 SU squad? You'd think maybe they were trying to match UCLA's four consecutive championships from 1970-1973.
True, if we were going off of potential, pretty much every SU fan would have predicted that we'd be talking about back-to-back Final Fours for these guys. (It's true and you know it.)
Call it the Taj Smith Effect. On paper, Taj had no reason to leave SU when he did but to him it made sense because he was "done" with school. Devo could very much feel the same way. And yes, neither guy looks very draftable at this point but keep in mind one very important thing that affects both of these guys. They are both fathers:
Harris has two children and is probably not going to be a first round pick as once predicted, meaning he won't get guaranteed money if he leaves this year or next. A second round selection is a possibility for each Orange man, with a chance to make an NBA roster.
In a perfect world, all three of Flynn, Devo and Harris come back for another year. You have to prepare yourself for the chance that only two of them come back. And in the back of your mind you have to wonder if more will leave. We've still got a lot of basketball left to play so let's try not to get too worked up about it yet. But it's worth noting...