The biggest recipient of these emails was Steve Schirmer. Every year we spend countless hours and words breaking down every minor detail about Syracuse Basketball. The biggest piece of this is our annual preseason email barrage where we hash out what we expect from the players and team in the upcoming season.
This year for the first time ever, these emails will be published for public consumption. If everything in this post is completely off-target, then it may "mysteriously" disappear into cyberspace forever and this gimmick may never resurface again. More likely though, Steve and I will just sit, face in hands, in abject humiliation as everyone points and laughs. But readers beware, Schirmer is likely to print out this post and keep a laminated copy on his person at all times so that everytime Baye Moussa Keita provides more than 2 minutes of competent basketball, he can point and scream "I predicted that! King Kong ain't got shit on me!".
Anyways, enjoy our obsessive and excessive breakdown (and don't think less of us for it)...
Jay: Ok Steve, we're officially less than 3 weeks away from the Battle (that almost wasn't) on the Midway. So you know what that means.
That's right, I'm making a call to the bullpen and bringing you into the blogosphere for our annual "over-analyze the upcoming Syracuse season while acting like this is normal behavior and our friends aren't all planning an intervention for us as we speak" preseason email chain.
We can get into expectations for the actual players on this years team in a little bit (hint: we're both irrationally high on Trevor Cooney). Let's start with the team first though. The preseason Coaches Poll was released this week and it has Cuse slotted at #9. Too high? Too low? Just Right? What say you???
Just remember that if you claim this poll would be just as good with Virginia Commonwealth replacing Syracuse, Jim Boeheim will not hesitate to tell the media you are full of shit...
Steve: First and foremost, I would like to thank you Jay for inviting me into the blogosphere and letting me vicariously live my dream as an armchair, opinionated blogger through you, even if only for a guest role. I would be more than happy to be the Joe House to your Bill Simmons, the Robin to your Batman, and the Irrational Confidence to James Southerland's jump shots. And given the mass volume of text messages, e-mails, and late night, drunk bantering that you and I have been engaged in concerning the Orange over the years, this is long, long overdue.
I must disclaim, however, that I regard preseason polls with as much credibility as a Zach Tomaselli e-mail to ESPN (Ed. Note: Too Soon? Nah). After all, the USA Today Coaches Poll is made up of trustworthy and conscientious voters such as Harvard's Tommy Amaker (under NCAA Investigation), St. Mary's Randy Bennett (under NCAA Investigation), and Ex-Fab 5 and current San Diego St. coach Steve Fisher (the reason it's taken nearly 20 years for Michigan basketball to be relevant again). At least Jim Boeheim is on the committee to provide some honest, "shit-free"
When the poll first broke, I was a tad surprised that Syracuse landed as a top 10 team. I tried to temper my expectations for them, given that they just lost about 50% of their offense and the zone just wasn't the same when Fab Melo was suspended. You and I had a couple conversations before the polls and had generally set our expectation that they'd hover between 12-18 throughout the year.
But looking at the world of college basketball from a high level perspective, don't you agree that it's kind of a down year overall? This year's incoming recruiting class is nowhere near the level that it was last year, so that's generally left a void for the untouchable juggernauts previous Kentucky, Ohio St, and UNC squads that we've seen for the past few years.
Taking a quick look at a couple of the teams behind Syracuse: Florida has a lot of talent and has a very nice recruiting class coming in, but they're still awfully thin in the frontcourt. So until they prove that they're something other than a bunch of 3 point bombers who shoot their way out of games, I'm not buying. UNC is in a rebuilding year and is pinning their hopes on a guy who averaged 6 points a game last year (good luck with that). And UCLA is going to be under the NCAA microscope all year, as an APB has been put out for any witnesses who know the whereabouts of Shabazz Muhammad's recruiting violations and Coach Howland's game management.
And how about the teams in front of them in the polls? Sure Calipari bought, errr, recruited, another loaded freshman class, but unless he's hoping Nerlens Noel's mile-high flat top can also dish to wide open jump shooters, he doesn't have anyone on that team that can run the point. Sure Pitino brought back most of his Final Four team from last year, but lest we forget it's a squad of offensively challenged, turnover machines that makes Ken Pomeroy's head explode? North Carolina St. is a trendy pick., but this is a team that was a hot mess during its conference schedule last year, and I'm not sure if Mark Gottfried has it in him to keep this group focused on college basketball and not their 2013 NBA Draft stock. Michigan is still trying to play up tempo small ball while everyone knows Big 10 basketball is a physical, grind it out, defensive minded conference. And finally, I've seen the first two installments of the Plumlee trilogy at Duke, so I'm fairly confident how the third film is going to turn out.
So am I surprised that, based on a process of elimination, that Syracuse is a top 10 team? No. And based on what I said above, I'm more willing to bet on them than some of the flawed teams ranked ahead of them. Looking at their roster, one can even say that besides Indiana, they're the team in the top 10 with the fewest questions. Brandon Triche, despite our feelings that he sometimes lacks a killer instinct, can provide stability at the point. C.J. Fair sometimes disappeared in games despite our borderline Soccer Mom fanaticism about anything he did, but given the history of Junior year breakouts at the small forward position in Syracuse lore, a rise in production is certainly not out of the question for him. Michael Carter-Williams showed flashes of his capabilities last year, as he can be an absolute pest at the top of the zone, while also showing a decent jump shot and ability to get to the basket. And even though losing Fab's abilities in the middle of the zone will hurt, they have 3 other guys that can be plugged into it, each with their own specialty they can bring down low.
I think with the combination of an overall down year in the Big East (let alone in all of college basketball), I'm fairly confident that by the end of the year we could be looking at yet another top 5 ranking, a #1 NCAA Tournament seed, and five new excuses Doug Gottlieb has come up with explaining why this still is not an elite team.
I certainly agree with your assessment of the state of College Basketball (and Doug Gottlieb) in general. I mean let's take a quick look at the consensus top 3 teams in the nation this year, Kentucky, Indiana, and Louisville.
Indiana brings back pretty much everyone, and has preseason Player of the Year candidate Cody Zeller to lead them, but they were barely above .500 last year in the Big Ten and as far as preseason #1's go, they are about as intimidating as the Bills defense is to Tom Brady.
Kentucky has reloaded with another highly regarded freshman class led by Noel, Calipari's requisite yearly recruit that makes you question if this is the year he finally gets his hat trick of schools with vacated Final Fours. Yet even with all the talented freshmen they are bringing in, this team would probably be a double-digit underdog to last years team (and frankly, next year's team might be favored over this one too).
And Louisville... ohhhh Louisville. Now I will fully admit that I am going to be biased in this evaluation, but hear me out anyways. This is a team that finished 7th in the Big East last season (2 games behind South Florida!!!) and added one recruit who was a fringe top 100 prospect. So now I'm supposed to get excited just because they got hot for a few games at the right time of the year and made a Final Four? I'm not saying they won't be good, but I don't know why everyone is so eager to just hand them the Big East and a #1 seed in the tourney. And don't even get me started on Peyton Siva as Big East Preseason Player of the Year. What a joke. You want a bold prediction? How about this one: Peyton Siva finishes closer to Third Team All-Big East than he does to Player of the Year this season.
So, back to the point, yeah I think college basketball is down this year and this team has already grown on me before I've even seen it play. Maybe I'm just a little fired up that we didn't get a single first-place vote in the preseason Big East poll or maybe it's the three Octoberfest's speaking. Either way, I'm excited to pull the "nobody believed in us" card and ride it like the New York Giants all the way to another Big East regular season championship.
But I digress. I think we've spent about 2,000 more words than necessary on preseason polls, so let's move on to the actual players on this year's team.
My love for C.J. Fair and Trevor Cooney has already been well documented in this space, so let's save them for a little later. I want to start by talking about Michael Carter-Williams. I think he is the single most intriguing player on this year's team. His length makes Jay Bilas salivate and his skills are pretty slick too. If he comes in and is just a good, solid floor general, then we are probably a top 15 to 20 team that should get to the 2nd weekend of March Madness (and if things break right, maybe the Final Four). If he comes in and proves to be a Rajon Rondo-like stat-stuffing freak of nature, then this is a top 5 team that might be able to win it all. I'm working on "5 Bold Predictions" piece that will be up on the blog later tonight, but here's a sneak peek for you... I'm leaning towards Scenario B.
What do you think? What's MCW's ceiling? Is he the key to the season or are you honing in on someone else?
I certainly think Michael Carter Williams is a key cog to the success of the team this year. How can he not be considered one? Here’s a guy that’s going from 11 DNP’s to suddenly being thrust into the starting lineup. I’m not sure if there’s anyone with as much pressure on him, just because of the immense expectations and hype that surrounds him.
What are my expectations out of MCW this year? Offensively, I’m tempering my excitement, for now. From the highlights I’ve seen (mainly from poorly crafted, grainy YouTube videos featuring the sweet melodic versus of some scrub rapper), he’s a slashing guard that is able to get floaters and kick outs to open shooters. I know he’s gained some muscle in the offseason, but he’s still a toothpick. I just don’t know how effective he’s going to be based on the physical nature of the Big East and if he’ll be able to hold up as the season drags on. I think his contributions on the offensive end this year will certainly be in the form of assists and three pointers (he surprisingly shot 39% from beyond the arc in limited action last year). I do see him potentially being a dynamic scorer and assist machine in the mode of, dare I say it, Jason Kidd down the road? But not this year.
It’s his defense, however, that has me giddy. My expectation is that he’s our taller, lankier, slightly less retweeting version of Dion Waiters. As you know, Jay, I love me some Ken Pomeroy Sabremetrics. In the limited action he saw, his steal percentage (calculated as steals as a % of total possessions he’s on the floor) was 4.5%. Now, that doesn’t seem impressive, but keep in mind that Dion’s was 4.6% last year, good for 15th in the nation. So stretch that over 24-30 minutes a game, and this is going to pay big dividends and help set up the easy fast break points that ‘Cuse has lived and died off of for the past few years.
Plus, did I fail to mention, he’s freaking 6’5 with a 7'4 wing span! When’s the last time we’ve had a player that long play at the top of the zone? Josh Pace maybe? So long as he doesn’t attend the “Eric Devendorf Center for Lazy Zone Rotation”, his natural physical attributes should lend itself to disrupting ball rotation, and prevent teams from easily penetrating into the soft portion of the zone. His ability to be a gnat to opposing guards is going to take a lot of pressure off the front court as they adjust to life post Fab Melo.
Which leads me to my next point that I’ll throw to you, because, quite frankly, this has me the most nervous about the team this year. What is life going to be like post-Fab Melo (besides a 50% reduction in turn signal related violence on campus)? The presence of Fab made the area 6 feet from the basket a no fly zone. But without him, teams were able to work the ball down low, force the zone to collapse on itself, and leave guys wide open for uncontested jump shots.
Rakeem is the heir apparent to step into Fab’s gigantic shoes. However, he needs to significantly improve his awareness in the middle of the zone to curb the problems we had against Wisconsin, Ohio St, and Notre Dame last year. DaJuan has promise to improve our rebounding, but he’s more seen as a below the rim guy. And, well, you know I merely consider Baye Mousa Keita as a human shield whose sole purpose is to accumulate 5 fouls a game.
Who out of those three will emerge to pick up Fab’s slack? Can they do just enough to keep the zone an impenetrable fortress like last year? Or are we, collectively as fans, so spoiled by the defense from last year that it’s unrealistic to think it can be repeated?
So I take it you're not all-in on my bold predictions piece about Michael Carter-Williams then? Prepare to be bombarded with gloating texts and voicemails when he flirts with a triple-double against Colgate on November 25th as you lay around in your tryptophan-induced coma.
I do agree with you that he'll be a pest on the defensive end though. That length is going to bother a lot people and I think it'll lead to a lot of run outs on offense when some mediocre point guard like Peyton Siva (get used to it Peyton, you're going to be a frequent target of this blog) half-heartedly skips a pass across the zone while underestimating the length of MCW.
And that is part of why I'm not too worried about losing Melo. Did you know that from last season to this season, Triche (at 6'4") went from being the biggest guard in our rotation, to the smallest guard in our rotation? That is the kind of size we have across the zone this season, and it will make it much harder for teams to even get into the paint in the first place.
On the occasions they do manage to get down there, I think our big men can still protect the paint enough to keep our defense respectable. Christmas may be no Fab Melo, but he did average almost a block per game in only 11 minutes last year. He could easily average 2 to 2.5 blocks per game this season with extended minutes, and that wouldn't be that far off the pace from what Melo did last year. The real thing that Melo provided that won't be easily replaced is his flopping, er, I mean good positional defense and the resultant charges. Maybe Christmas watched a lot of the Brazilian Men's Soccer Team last year with Fab and picked up some pointers?
You know what we won't miss from Fab? 5 rebounds per game from the center position. What he did provide on defense last year was great, but when you are always either in the air or on your ass, it's pretty hard to grab rebounds. I think the defense could improve this season solely from cutting down on the number of second chance opportunities. Think about how crazy that drove us last season, time and again seeing our defense make a stand only to let the other team get a cheap put-back. Christmas can't be any worse than Melo, and Coleman will almost certainly be significantly better in that respect. Keita is still Keita, but he brought back the full name so maybe he will experience some sort of revival.
Add more time for long, rangy players like Southerland and Grant on the wings, and I think we may be able to force a lot of contested jumpers and one-and-done possessions this season.
Going back to Coleman for a minute. By now, you've seen my 5 bold predictions piece. Although not directly stated, it was certainly implied by predictions 2 and 3 that I think Coleman and Cooney will contribute this season, which means I'm taking Jerami Grant as my dog in the "Which freshman will spend most of the season getting splinters while sitting next to Jimmy" race. Am I too high on Coleman? Too low on Grant? What do you expect from our freshman class this year? (and don't you dare besmirch Trevor Cooney's name, I will invoke my editing powers if need be...)
Listen, I fully am aware that there are three things that you just don't besmirch to Jay Schwartz: Denzel Washington, The Cupid Shuffle, and now your new sweetie lovey dubby pumpkin pie, Trevor Cooney. And as a guest on your fine blog, I surely won't spoil my welcome.
Let's start with your new boyfriend, though. I can't help myself from thinking that he's going to be the most impactful Freshman. On first glance, it's the easy answer because he's the one who's most ensured of significant minutes since the team only carries 3 guards. But thinking about the team the past few years (and I'll admit, it's very tough to nitpick a team that's held a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament 2 of the past 3 years), they were so prone to go cold on the offensive end because they relied so much on fast break points. And when they ran into a team that slowed the game down and took care of the basketball, getting baskets was just too tough for them. We saw it against Butler in 2010, Marquette in 2011, and Ohio St. in 2012. Three games in which they couldn't force turnovers and suffered because they just couldn't create baskets.
Starting in Big East play last year, the team shot only 32% from 3 point land, generated only 23% of their points from beyond the arc, and attempted only 30% of their shots from beyond the arc. Now, I'm not saying that they should all just turn into Mookie Jones in the final 8 minutes vs. Colgate or Donte Greene in any Syracuse situation. But the three point play has such an impact on momentum and providing a spark to the offense to get them out of a funk, or deter a prolonged cold streak when the fast break points aren't happening. Sure we've been spoiled by the Gerry McNamaras and Andy Rautins of the worlds. But now we add a guy who shot 37% his senior season in high school from beyond the arc and can give them a hot shooter off the bench to get them out of a rut. Sorry James Southerland, your usurpation from Dion Waiters as our bench energy guy is going to be short lived.
As far as DaJuan Coleman, I think you're juuuuuust a bit high on him. I still have concerns on where he's going to fit into the zone on the defensive end. Whether he'll be quick enough to handle one of the baseline wing spots or if he finds himself in the middle of the zone that he picks up on that learning curve you mentioned and is aware of his rotations. We've certainly seen Jim Boeheim give the quick yank to freshman because of deficiencies in the zone, and if we see him struggle early on, he'll join the Fab and Rakeem 5 Minute Club. However, if he can prove to pick up the nuances of being an active member of the zone, then he should provide enough on the offensive and rebounding end to be a major contributor. Even if he's just average, however, your call of being Big East ROY isn't so far fetched. The only real other threat to him would be Steven Adams from Pitt, and Omar Calhoun on a down UConn team, so getting the award in a relatively down recruiting year for the Big East (other than Syracuse) is certainly not out of the question.
I think you're dead set on Jerami Grant being the token freshman to suddenly disappear once Big East play begins. Did I buy into the hype that he grew 14 inches this summer, climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro and defeated Bill Braskey in a whiskey drinking contest? Sure. Did I get excited when Jon Rothstein raved about him on Twitter and compared him to the likes of a 7.7 ppg, 4.4 rpg Florida St. role player? Absolutely! But truth be told, there just isn't a role for him in the rotation, and quite frankly, he's just not ready. His performance in the FIBA U18 Americas tournament is the proof in the pudding. Despite starting all 5 games, he shot just 28% from the floor. Billy Donavan complimented him on being something special, but he's raw and will probably make "the leap" next year.
So, it seems we've covered most of the roster and all the major questions heading into the season. Now, let's have some fun with some superlatives! We'll set the following categories:
Most Valuable Player (obvious qualifications):
Most Improved (obvious qualifications):
Most Outgoing (player with the most irrational confidence on the court):
Team Workaholic (scrappiest player that Boeheim lauds in the postgame presser):
Most Likely To Become a Millionaire (player most likely to emerge as a lottery pick this year):
Class Clown (player most likely to drive us berserk):
Best Couple (best on court duo and/or duo most likely to star in a YouTube comedy series):
Who you got?
Good Call. Nothing gets the creative juices flowing like a little yearbook-style superlative action...
Most Valuable Player: My answer may surprise you a little bit (or it may not, since I did already post my other prediction piece), but I'm going with MCW. I think he is going to do it all for us this year. Facilitate the offense, contribute double-digit points, and make the zone treacherous with his length at the top. He was really impressive in the limited time he had to prove himself last season, and as you mentioned, our guards are going to have to play a lot. That makes MCW or Triche the obvious answer for this question, and I've just been burned by Triche's Katie Perry impersonation (hot and then cold) a few too many times to make him the MVP.
Most Improved: Technically, this could be MCW too. But I don't want to double-dip so I'll go to my next choice, Rakeem Christmas. The natural (read: lazy) comparison is for people to say he could be in for a "Fab Melo-like jump in his sophomore season". The truth is, Boeheim's big men almost always make a huge jump in their sophomore seasons and its been going on since long before Fab Melo and his fauxhawk ever set foot in a Syracuse barber shop. Go back and check out the statistical jumps for Rick Jackson, Arinze Onuaku, or Hakim Warrick. Their production all jumped two to three times from their Freshmen to their Sophomore campaigns (sometimes even more). The extra playing time in the middle of the zone alone should be enough to give him the statistical bump needed to justify this award.
Most Outgoing (most irrational confidence on the court): In the only unanimous choice in the polls, James Southerland slams this one home. The only person who could've even come close to competing with James in this category is Mookie "I've never seen a shot this side of half-court that I didn't like" Jones. But alas, Mookie is no longer. Whether it's 3-point jumpers or the Dougie in pregame warm-ups, James Southerland's confidence knows no bounds.
Team Workaholic: Clearly Trevor Cooney. I mean he just spent an entire year doing nothing but working hard in practice and sacrificing for the good of the team. Plus, added bonus, there is at least a 78% chance that at some point during the season during a Trevor Cooney hot streak Boeheim has a 'Nam like flashback, confuses Cooney for Gmac, and gives a post-game press conference on par with this.
Most Likely To Become a Millionaire: Not to beat a dead horse, but by this point in time it should be pretty clear, I am all-in on Michael Carter-Williams having a huge season this year. If I'm correct, then MCW is a shoo-in for the lottery next season. I mean, have you seen the point guard crop for next year? I just pulled up a mock draft and here are your point guards currently going in the first round: Lorenzo Brown, C.J. McCollum, Deonte Burton, Ian Miller, Ryan Harrow, Myck Kabongo, and Ray McCallum. Without looking, can you even name what school half those guys play for? Chris Paul and D-Rose they are not.
Class Clown: You defined this as player most likely to drive us berserk. The name Baye Moussa Keita jumps to mind faster than the ball can slip out of his hands on the way up for a dunk. Keita seems nice enough, but I wind up spending most of the time he is on the court sad, depressed, and confused about how a 6'10" player can have so much difficulty with a seemingly innocent lay-up.
The surprising dark horse for this award would have to be Brandon Triche. He is going to have stretches that make me believe it has finally clicked for him, and then he is going to have stretches when I ask myself is this really the guy who has started 107 consecutive games for us? When I start to get to high on him after a 27 point game against Colgate (I guess Colgate is my go-to cupcake to beat up on, huh?), remind me to pull this paragraph out and throw a bucket of cold water on me.
Best Couple: MCW and Rakeem. Best I can tell, MCW took a crash course in "Great, Good, and Ill-Advised Alley-Oops" under Professor Jardine during his freshman year. Also best I can tell, Rakeem Christmas's go-to offensive move is dunking really hard. Backboards of the Big East, you have been put on notice.
As editor of this blog, I'm throwing in an extra superlative as well (because it just doesn't feel right to exclude CJOJ and I couldn't quite peg him in above).
Hollywood (most likely to land on Sportscenter Top 10): It may have been C.J.'s Offseason Jumper that garnered my attention last season, but it was his poster-making abilities that caught the eye of the folks over there at Sportscenter. Good luck finding another player in the Big East with a highlight reel that includes dunks like this, and this, and this. Get your dunk nasty face ready Steve, C.J. is coming to a Top 10 near you.
As far as an actual predictions for the season, I'm going to go with the following:
26 - 5 record (14-4 in the Big East)
Big East Regular Season Champs
Big East Tourney Semis
.. and a National Championship
What the hell right? Why not?
What about you? Who have you got for the superlatives and team expectations?
P.S. - This seems like an appropriate time to finally share a store with you. In a legitimate conversation about two weeks ago, my Mom deemed the game against San Diego State to start the season a "piece of cake", said we have an easy schedule this season, and matter-of-factly stated that we should be able to start 25-0, no problem. I am mildly perplexed by the fact that this seems to indicate she thinks our first loss of the season will be at home to Providence? I have to believe my Mom is either part of an elaborate hoax to troll me (likely orchestrated by Ron Morris) or was attempting to make ridiculous claims to get a shout-out on the blog. Either way it worked. Anyway, no real question there, just thought I'd share.
I mean, dude. Have you seen his hair lately? He looks like he has a man-o-lantern on his dome. It clearly is going to throw off our jump shooting and ability to play the zone. Never doubt a woman's intuition on this one.
Most Valuable Player: I'm know I'm taking the bait for the fourth straight year. It's like every year in fantasy football I'm baited by Jay Cutler, only to see him single handedly murder my season. But I'm going back into the fox hole with Brandon Triche one more time. Hear me out: who was our token whipping boy last year? Scoop Jardine. Whether he dribbled the ball off his foot, bricked a free throw, or felt like performing a triple lutz on the baseline and throwing the ball into the back of Fab Melo's head, there were plenty of times that we killed him.
But then there were those times when Dion struggled to get to the basket. Kris Joseph couldn't buy a shot. And CJOJ's were more like CJAB's. Scoop put the team on his shoulder with veteran leadership and came through when it mattered. Whether it was keeping them up on Florida and Wisconsin every time they threatened, or bailing them out against Pittsburgh, Rutgers, and even UNC-Ashville. He rose to the occasion when it mattered.
I think Triche assumes that role this year. For the first time, this is his team. And now he goes back to doing what he was originally recruited to do: be the floor general. He might not be the most talented player on the roster, but he sure is going to be the most important in a lot of situations this year.
Most Improved: For purely argumentative sake for your readers (I think this blog needs some sort of villain), I'm going to go with The Keita for most improved! If only because there really isn't a whole lot lower for him to go. My rationale is actually based on a moment, of all places, at the Rochester Public Market a few weekends ago. We were walking around, and lo and behold, next to the produce stand was, I kid you not, Baye Mousa Keita, checking out some pepper plants! Much like that moment at the Syracuse-Villanova game as Jay Wright waltzed out of a Syracuse elevator, hit on my sister, and called us assholes (True Story!), I clammed up. The one thing I noticed, however, was that he did get a little bit stronger in the offseason. It gave me a bit of hope that maybe with his beefed up frame, combined with the reports that he's worked hard with Mike Hopkins on improving his positioning in the zone, he can give Cuse a solid 10 minutes a game, providing a couple highlight reel blocks and keeping DaJuan on the wing to maximize his rebounding.
What won't improve: his hands. Right after this fleeting moment, someone in his entourage handed him a bell pepper, which he immediately preceded to fumble away. Some things never change.
Most Outgoing: That was a layup to entice you to spring for Southerland. But I'm going to go with someone who has to fill in the massive void that Mookie Wilson (Ed. Note: After realizing he referred to Mookie Jones as Mookie Wilson, Steve was giving a chance to comment. His response? I'm too old for this...) leaves during the final 8 minutes of the December Schedule. Let's go with Matt Lyde-Cajuste for this one. He was not shy at all heaving up contested three's at Midnight Madness, plus he was a marginal recruit a couple years ago, so at least he has some talent to get about 5 minutes in garbage time.
Once the new year starts, the throne will be usurped once again by Sir Southerland.
Team Workaholic: I'm going to go with MCW on this one. Whether he makes a great hustle play stepping in front of a passing lane, finishing at the basket on a drive, or diving for the loose ball, I think he's going to be our scrappiest player, especially on the defensive end. This is more wishful thinking, as the worst case scenario is he lets the NBA hype get to his head, and stops throwing his body around so he looks nice and pretty for David Stern on draft night.
Most Likely To Be a Millionaire: DaJuan Coleman. No question. If only for the fact that I think his post game is going to translate very well to the NBA. Think Big Baby Davis or Jared Sullinger with a bionic back. MCW is the easy answer, but then again, Syracuse guards generally don't do so hot translating to the NBA.
Then again, neither do most Syracuse alumni. I die a little bit on the inside knowing Hakim Warrick is only the second best 'Cuse alum currently on an NBA roster.
Class Clown: James Southerland is going to be the overwhelming leader in most "YESSSSSSSS" and "NOOOOOOOOOOO" moments for me this year. Whether it's hitting four consecutive three pointers, followed by four consecutive bricks with 30 seconds left on the shot clock, I made sure to purchase a military graded iPhone case for every time I whip it in anger across my apartment. He'll be my favorite whipping boy throughout the year.
Best Couple: Piggybacking what I said in my last response, I think the best couple is going to be Jerami Grant and Mike Hopkins, if only because there'll be a lot of camera time with those two next to each other. Next year's your year, Jerami. Until then, enjoy the groupies.
Finally, here's my season predictions:
Regular Season Record: 25-6 (13-5 regular season record)
Runner up in the Big East Regular Season
Big East Tournament Champions (how can they not win it in their swan song to the BET?)
Final Four...and then who knows.
So it sounds like we're both fairly high on Syracuse this season (and we're not at all biased, I swear!). Only time will tell how our assessments and predictions shake out, but one thing I feel fairly certain saying is that we're in for another fun season and I expect this won't be the last time we see you on the blog.
