The Dean of Interesting Syracuse Players

One of the things I have greatly enjoyed over the years with researching for the OrangeHoops site is uncovering some of the interesting lives that Syracuse basketball players have lived away from basketball. There are many atop my own personal list of ‘most interesting’, including the well known Jim Brown and Dave Bing, along with Jim Konstanty, Wilbur Crisp, Wilmeth Sidat-Singh, Warren Stevens, and Beal Banks, among others.

However, I think the most interesting life, particularly from the perspective of diversity, has to be that of Rick Dean. Dean was a physical player the Orangemen in the 1960s, teaming with Dave Bing, Jim Boeheim and George Hicker. The Orangemen were a short squad during that era, with Dean leading the way at 6’6”. Coach Fred Lewis had the Orangemen running a fast pace tempo, of which Dean was a part.

Dean’s basketball style alone would seem somewhat a conflict in stereotypes. He was a burly physical center, who often scored on layups, and as a result had a high field goal percentage. But he was also a very good free throw shooter, hitting 81% of his charity shots his junior year. He would be recognized as an Honorable Mention All American his senior year, along with a 2nd Team Academic All-American status.

Dean was drafted by both the NBA (San Francisco Warriors) and ABA (Denver Nuggets) upon graduating in 1967. He had however, been the top ROTC Cadet at Syracuse University, and chose instead to enlist in the Army Infantry and to serve in the Vietnam war.

Dean would be a platoon leader in the 101st Airborne Division, and would earn both a Silver Star and a Bronze Star for his actions in the war. He would remain in the military until 1970, rising to the rank of captain.

Dean then pursued a career in federal law enforcement, working for the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) for three years. He would make a sharp career change from there, entering the education field as an administrator and basketball coach. He would work for the North Carolina public school systems for 20 years in this capacity, along the way earning his masters degree from Appalachian State in 1979.

So what does a gentleman who has been an All-American athlete, Vietnam war hero, Federal Agent, and high school administrator/coach do for an encore?

Upon retiring for the North Carolina school systems, Rick Dean became an ordained Methodist minister, and has been the head pastor at Higgins Memorial United Methodist Church in Burnsville, NC, ever since.

Some day I may come around to naming my top 5 or top 10 all-time favorite interesting Syracuse basketball players. However, I’ll ruin the suspense for #1, for I will have Rick Dean in that position.

Johnson and Rautins Taken in the 2010 NBA Draft

Congratulations to Wes Johnson and Andy Rautins, both who were chosen in the NBA Draft last evening. Johnson was the #4 overall pick, taken by the Minnesota Timberwolves. He will be joining former Syracuse player Jonny Flynn, taken with the sixth overall pick last year. Rautins was taken in the second round with the 38th pick overall. His father Leo was the 17th pick in the 1st round of the 1983 draft, taken by the Philadelphia 76’ers. Johnson and Rautins are the 53rd and 54th Syracuse players ever drafted.

Johnson is the highest Syracuse draft pick since Carmelo Anthony was taken with the 3rd overall pick in the 2003 draft. He joins an elite group of Syracuse players taken with one of the top 4 picks of the draft; the other four were Anthony (3rd, 2003), Dave Bing (2nd, 1966), Derrick Coleman (1st, 1990) and Billy Owens (3rd, 1991).

Rautins and Johnson are the first Syracuse duo drafted in the same year since Etan Thomas (12th pick) and Jason Hart (49th pick) were both taken in 2000. It is the highest two players have been taken out of Syracuse, since 1991 when Owens was taken #3 and LeRon Ellis taken at #22. Syracuse last had three players in a draft was in 1986, when the draft went more than two rounds. Pearl Washington was #13 (1st round), Raf Addison #39 (2nd round) and Wendell Alexis (#59, 3rd round).

Three is top number of players ever drafted out of Syracuse in one year. Besides 1986, it has happened twice before. In 1983 Leo Rautins went in the 1st round, Erich Santifer in the 3rd round and Tony Bruin in the 7th. And in 1981 Danny Schayes went in the 1st round, Eddie Moss in the 4th and Marty Headd in the 9th.

Andy Rautins is the fifth Syracuse player drafted by the New York Knicks. Gary Clark was first, as a 3rd round pick in 1957. Marty Headd (9th round), Howard Triche (6th round) and John Wallace (1st round, 18th overall pick) were the other players.

In the Jim Boeheim era (1977-present), there have been 34 players drafted by the NBA. 16 of those were first round picks, 10 were second round picks, and 8 were taken in the now defunct 3rd through 9th rounds.

On the purely trivial side, Wes Johnson is the second Johnson from Syracuse ever drafted in the NBA. Dave Johnson was taken in the 1st round in 1991. Andy Rautins is the also second Rautins taken from Syracuse; his uncle George Rautins was drafted in 1975 by the Buffalo Braves out of Niagara University.

Both Johnson and Rautins have a strong upside to their game. Johnson, who made tremendous improvements after arriving at Syracuse, should be very interesting to follow in the NBA. He’s a rare combination of a great athlete who has an outstanding perimeter shot. If he learns to put the ball on the floor, he could be down right scary for opposing defenders.

Rautins improved significantly each year in college and was an outstanding perimeter shooter last season, despite being targeted by opposing defenses. He is also an outstanding passer who has a great feel for the game. Rautins is not as athletic as other draft picks, and may lack some of the lateral quickness, but you know that he’ll keep working on improving in those areas. And that international experience will continue to help him. This is a kid who came to college highly unnoticed, blew out his knee, and yet still managed to find time to put on 25-30 lbs of muscle, improve his quickness, improve his all around game dramatically, while impressing enough NBA scouts to get drafted.

Academic Fit for the Big Ten

I still believe that Syracuse will have a tough time, long term, competing athletically in the Big Ten (if given the opportunity). However, Syracuse University can hold its own academically with the schools in that conference.

US News and World Report ranks Syracuse as #58 in the country. That puts Syracuse in the middle of the Big Ten, trailing Northwestern, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Penn State and Ohio State, but beating out Minnesota, Purdue, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan State and new addition Nebraska. And really, the difference between #53 and #58 is splitting hairs, so Syracuse would be on par with Ohio State, Minnesota and Purdue.

For a point of reference, here is how other potential Big Ten schools ranked:

• Notre Dame - #20
• Maryland - #53
• Pitt - #56
• Rutgers - #66
• UConn - #66
• Missouri - #102

So any notion that Syracuse does not fit academically with the Big 10 is a false notion. Of course, it is not all about academics. Nebraska is at #96, well below the bottom standard previously set by the Big Ten at 71. However, academics should not be a reason the Big Ten would not invite the Orange.

Texas surprised me by not accepting the offer to go to the Pac-10. That keeps the Big 12 intact for now. However, minus two schools, the Big 12 is going to want to grab two schools from somewhere; those schools are not going to be coming from the Big Ten or Pac-10, nor likely the SEC. That does not leave too many conferences left to raid. The Big East should be keeping an eye on some of its Western members, and working proactively to expand now.

As I mentioned the other day, expansion could occur simply by having some of the existing members step up to Division I with their football. Villanova is almost there (I-AA) anyhow, and that would give the Big East a football team in Philadelphia. I'd be willing to over a position in the Big East to another school with a Div I football program, and jettison Notre Dame (unless the Irish want to bring in their football program, which would never happen).

Big Ten Expansion - Should the Orange Go?

Should Syracuse go to the Big Ten, if invited?

I love the Big East, especially the basketball. There are great traditional rivalries in the league, and most teams are in the same time zone and relatively short travel distances.

I am not, however, a fan of the bloated Big East with its current 16 team configuration. I understand the need to do so in order to keep the football conference alive, but the conference is too big for basketball (and ironically, not big enough for football).

One of the nice things about the original Big East was that most of the schools were private institutions. This put all the schools on relatively equal footing financially. UConn was a state school, but never had its act together in the first decade, so it could not leverage its state funding. Pitt is a quasi-public school; it is not state run, but it is significantly state funded. The rest of the original schools were all Jesuit, with the exception of Syracuse which is now non-sectarian private.

Economics got in the way, the conference had to grow to keep football alive, and in the process added several state schools (West Virginia, Rutgers, Cincinnati, and South Florida) along with some additional Jesuit schools (Marquette, DePaul and Notre Dame).

The only reason I can see for Syracuse going to the Big Ten is revenue. That is a very big reason, and possibly the only reason that matters. More on that later.

I think going to the Big Ten would be a bad move for Syracuse for several reasons. It of course would ruin the regional rivalries, and schools like Georgetown, St. John’s and Villanova would definitely be left behind.

Recruiting Midwest athletes to play in Syracuse would be very tough. It is not impossible; Syracuse does recruit Ohio football players right now with some success, and recently has done well in Michigan with basketball players. But obviously, those are exceptions. It is much easier to convince a Philadelphia or New York kid to come to Syracuse, when he knows he’ll play a few games a year at home, than it is to convince a kid to come out of Indiana to the cold snowy Syracuse campus.

Ten out of the eleven Big Ten schools are state schools. The lone exception is Northwestern, which is historically the worst athletic program (for football and basketball in the Big Ten) and is last in revenue for the Big Ten. That is not a coincidence. State schools have access to tax dollars and have much deeper financial pockets to dig into to build the facilities and infrastructures to compete in the NCAA, not to mention the ability to pay coaches and staff.

With the exception of Northwestern, Big Ten schools have between 20,000 to 40,000 (Ohio State) undergraduate students. Syracuse has approximately 14,000. That leads to not only a larger on campus presence at games, but also a larger booster / alumni base. For every one alumni Syracuse would have, OSU would have three.

I think over the long haul, it would be very difficult for Syracuse to remain competitive in the Big Ten. Eventually the size differences of the institutions and revenue differences would come into play, along with the geographic anomalies, and Syracuse would be a mediocre program.

However, I think that if given the chance, Syracuse would jump to the Big Ten immediately. And, it would probably be the right decision. The only reason to make the move would be because of the money, but it’s a huge reason. And the discrepancy is significant. Per an article by ESPN’s Outside the Lines, the average Big Ten team makes $22 million per school in television revenue. The entire Big East television contract is around $35 million, and the schools that play football and basketball in the Big East make only $2.8 million annually from the conference television contract.

UConn is the top revenue school in the Big East with $54.7 million in 2007-2008 (per an article in the Orlando Sentinel). That would rank it only #10 in the Big Ten. The next three in line in the Big East are West Virginia, Louisville and Rutgers (note that they are all state schools). Syracuse made $44.7 million in 2007-2008. Even if they were at the bottom of the Big Ten, then would make a 25%-30% increase in revenue.

The Big East, despite the revenue disparity, appears to be quite content to leave things as they currently are. There is no talk of expansion, nor of shaking things up. And I believe that any team in the Big East would be foolish not to jump to the Big Ten (I would think UConn and Rutgers would be the top two candidates based on the geographic markets they can bring in and being state schools). If the Big East is raided, its football conference is going to die. So status quo does not work.

The ACC would have been a much better fit for Syracuse, I believe, in terms of geography (Syracuse does recruit the northern area of the ACC conferences and Florida), and its basketball prominence would be a better fit for Syracuse. But that is water under the bridge.

Unfortunately, moving to the Big Ten does start a trend of downward competitiveness for Syracuse. The administration would never admit to it, but if you could guarantee an additional 30% revenue from athletics despite being a perennial loser, they would jump at it. From a business perspective, the only reason to win is to generate more revenue; if you can generate more revenue in a losing situation than business dictates you do it.

I think in 15 years you will look back and say it was a bad move for Syracuse to move to the Big Ten (if it happened). But you cannot worry about fifteen years from now.

I hope the Big East stays alive for football, and the Orange remain put, but I think if given the chance, they will go.

By the way, if ESPN’s sources have it right, Nebraska has accepted a big to join the Big Ten. This could start a domino affect of a group of Big 12 teams joining the Pac-10, the Big 12 falling apart, and teams scrambling everywhere. We’ll see.

Syracuse University has had its share of great players, though the Orangemen are probably more noted for the great point guards and forwards they have had. The Orangemen have had a few great centers along the way. Arinze Onuaku, who finished his career this past season, is clearly one of the top Syracuse centers ever. But how good was he in comparison? Who was the best?

That is a tough question, for a variety of reasons. The center position has changed more than any other position over the history of the game. In the early 1900s the center was the primary focal point of the offense. He did a majority of the ball handling and playmaking, along with often being the primary scorer. Centers in this era were often the best athlete on the court, and were about 5’11 to 6’2”.

In the late 1920s the game was evolving so that ‘big men’, players at 6’3”, were in the center position. This was a necessity as there was a jump ball after every made basket in the game. By the early 1930s there were teams who had centers whose primary purpose was to win the jump ball. Syracuse’s coach Lew Andreas, was a leading proponent of eliminating the jump ball after each basket, exactly for that reason, and by 1936 they had successfully eliminate that rule.

Height was still becoming a factor for centers, but the arrival of George Mikan in the 1940s, showed the dominance of a truly talented big man, and then the emergence of giants Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell in the 1950s, changed the center position forever. Russell introduced the concept of an absolute dominating defensive force, while Chamberlain brought the unstoppable offensive machine.

The center position probably has more players than any other position that has young men with very raw, if limited skills as freshman, who develop into outstanding players by their senior year. This is due to a combination of the tall centers having to wait for their bodies to catch up to their height, as well as finding it significantly different to be a giant among teens in high school, to being a giant among peers in college. So when you evaluate the greatness of a center at college, are you evaluating how he performed over his entire career, or how he performed his last year?

I am going to evaluate centers in the context of today’s center, with all due apologies to the disservice to Joe Schwarzer and Lew Castle, two outstanding All-Americans, who were clearly the best all around basketball players on their teams. Today they would have been great guards; and their style of play even in their era would have been more similar to today’s guard than center.

I am going to ignore forwards such as Derrick Coleman, Marty Byrnes and Chuck Richards, who each played center for a season out of necessity, but are far more remembered for their outstanding forward play.

So who is in my top 10? My apologies to the following fine centers who did not make that list: Andre Hawkins, Mookie Watkins, Conrad McRae, Royce Newell, and LeRon Ellis. Ed Sonderman was the first true athletic big center at Syracuse. He was 6’6”, weighed about 210 lbs, and played from 1935-1937. He was a strong offensive force, and is considered the top Syracuse big man of the first half century. But Sonderman did not make the top 10.

At #10 is Ed Miller (1950-1952). Miller came to Syracuse as a very awkward moving 6’8” teen, and he improved steadily over his three years on varsity. Miller would be second in scoring on the team his first two years, and lead the team in scoring his senior year. He helped Syracuse get to the NIT tournament in 1950 (very prestigious at the time), and win the National College Championship Tournament in 1951. Miller would be the first Syracuse player ever to score 40 points in a game.

#9 is Jon Cincebox (1957-1959). Cincebox was an outstanding rebounder in his era, averaging 14.6 rebounds a game, and setting the school record for total rebounds, that would not be broken for 30 years until Coleman came along. Cincebox sported a crew cut, was a master of the hook shot, and helped Syracuse to the Elite Eight his sophomore season.

At #8 is Otis Hill (1994-1997). Hill was a burly center who played a rugged inside game and was foul prone his entire career. As a freshman his offensive repertoire consisted of a dunk shot. His junior season, his strong play in the middle was helpful in Syracuse reaching the Final Four, and he was second in the team in scoring behind John Wallace, even though he played only 24 minutes a game. By his senior year he had developed a nice 10 foot jump shot, and was one of the primary offensive weapons on the team.

#7 is one Dave Bing’s teammates, Rick Dean (1965-1967). Otis Hill’s style was considered reminiscent of Dean, who has played 30 years earlier. Dean was 6’6”, 230 lbs, but could still run the court in Syracuse’s up style offense of the 1960s. Dean had a nice 10 foot jumper, was a very good free throw shooter (he shot 81% his junior season, and 76% his senior). Dean would average 18 ppg and 9 rebounds his senior year.

#6 is Arinze Onuaku (2006-2010). Onuaku was huge man in the middle at 6’9”, 255 lbs, and he sported a very muscular body. Onuaku played the middle of the zone defense extremely effectively; he was not a shot blocker, but was outstanding at maintaining his position, and keeping offensive players away from the hoop. He had a severe knee injury his sophomore season, and while he would rehabilitate the knee, he would continue to have leg issues in his career that limited his playing time. Offensively, Onuaku knew his limits, and stayed within his range, never more than 5 feet from the hoop. He was extremely effective in that short range, particularly with his hook shot, and is the most accurate shooter in Syracuse history at 64.8%. The two big knocks on Onuaku was that he was the worst free throw shooter in Syracuse history (by far), and he did not always hustle back down the court defensively.

#5 is Bill Smith (1969-1971). Smith was a tempormental giant at 6’11”, who was an outstanding rebounder and scorer (12.9 rpg, 20.7 ppg). He possessed a nice 10 foot jump shot, and was extremely effective near the hoop (59.6%). He holds the Syracuse single game scoring record with 47 points, against Lafayette. I’d rate Smith higher except that the level of competition for Syracuse in his era was less than today’s, and Syracuse was 9-16 and 12-12 his first two seasons.

#4 is Danny Schayes (1978-1981). Schayes was a very good college center who had the unfortunate situation of being a year behind Roosevelt Bouie. Coach Jim Boeheim tried Schayes at forward, in an effort to get him playing time earlier in his career, but it was not a position well suited for Schayes. He was probably the most fundamentally sound big man in Syracuse history. A decent ball handler, with excellent passing skills, outstanding free throw shooting (80.6% for his career), and solid from the floor (55.4%).

#3 is Etan Thomas (1997-2000). Thomas was probably the best defensive center in Syracuse history. He was a great shot blocker, and was named the Big East Defensive player of the year twice. He developed into a solid inside scorer, making 60% of his shots. He was a solid, but not great rebounder. Thomas was also a solid ball handler, not prone to turnovers, and finished his career as Syracuse’s all time shot blocker with 424 blocked shots.

The #1 and #2 picks are very tough. The candidates are Roosevelt Bouie and Rony Seikaly, and this gets back to how do you want to evaluate them. Bouie was much better over four years, Seikaly much better his senior year.

Ultimately, I go with Bouie as #2. If Etan Thomas was not the best defensive center at Syracuse, Roosevelt Bouie surely was. Part of the famous Louie N’ Bouie show, Bouie was a star his freshman year. He was a tremendous shot blocker, and could run the court well, which made him well suited for Syracuse’s fast break offense. Bouie made a high percentage of his field goal shots (he held the record until Onuaku broke it this year), and he was a very good rebounder. When he graduated from Syracuse he was the #2 all time scorer for Syracuse (long since surpassed). Bouie and Louis Orr brought the Syracuse basketball program to National attention and to initial prominence in the Big East.

#1 goes to Rony Seikaly. Seikaly came to Syracuse as a novice to basketball, having only recently learned the game after playing years of soccer in Greece. He would redshirt one year, and even in his freshman year he was overweight, and had only one shot, a tomahawk dunk, that he did not always make. He was extremely foul prone, fouling out of 1/3 of his games. But he improved over the years. He worked himself into great shape, learned to run up and down the court on both offensive and defense, and became a terrific shot blocker. His junior season, he started to play consistently with intensity and passion, and led Syracuse to the National Championship game against Indiana. Seikaly would develop a nice 10-15 foot jump shot his senior year, and would be a dominating offense force most of the season, despite sharing the ball with Stephen Thompson, Coleman and Sherman Douglas.

I’m not going to argue with anyone if they choose Bouie as #1. Perhaps tomorrow I will too.

Coleman Declares Bankruptcy

I am sorry to hear that former Syracuse Basketball great Derrick Coleman has declared bankruptcy. Coleman was one of the best basketball players in Syracuse history, despite his lackadaisical work habits. I had always thought he would be an NBA All Time, but despite being productive in the NBA, he never reached stardom.

From all accounts, it does not appear that Coleman blew all his money on living “the high life”, though I am sure Coleman spent his share. It appears that Coleman put a lot of money into investment opportunities tied to redevelopment of the Detroit inner city area (see Kurt Helin’s story on NBCSports.com). Detroit is his home time, and it is nice to have seen him try to target efforts in that area.

I am not stating that this was a purely altruistic action by Coleman. I am sure he planned to make a nice profit out of his efforts. But the fact is that it is his hometown, other investors are not eager to revitalize the area, and he did make the effort.

I know there is going to be a ton of Coleman-bashers who insinuate that he is just another dumb jock who blew his money because of his ignorance. Just remember that there are a lot of Harvard and Yale MBA’s who also go bankrupt on their business deals. I am not claiming Coleman is an MBA caliber businessman; but he did graduate from Syracuse with a four year degree (despite the fact that he could have gone pro a year earlier), so I think there was some commitment to education from him. I think this was more a case of a guy looking at his home town with rose tinted glasses, and having his heart interfere with his decisions. It is also possible he was being duped by those who knew of this bias in his judgement.

Regardless, D.C., I wish you best of luck.

Duke Wins It

Congratulations to the Duke Blue Devils and coach Mike Krzyzewski on winning the 2010 Men’s NCAA Basketball championship. Duke has been a class program under Coach K, and continues to be one. Their 61-59 win over Butler earned Krzyzewski his 4th National Championship.

And congratulations to the Butler Bulldogs, who nearly pulled off the upset, when Gordon Hayward’s half court shot bounced off the rim as time expired. It would have been the ‘Cinderella story’ that the national media had been touting for weeks. Though Butler was not quite the true Cinderella story. Butler was the 5th seed in their region, but as I mentioned prior to the Syracuse game, Butler was not properly seeded in the tournament. They finished the regular season ranked 11th in the AP polls and 8th in the ESPN/USA Today poll, thus indicating they were likely a 2 or 3 seed.

In 2003 Syracuse was ranked 11th in the country entering the NCAA tournament with a 24-5 record. Butler finished the regular season 28-4, ranked the same as those 2003 Orangemen. Was Syracuse the Cinderella story in 2003?

Butler has only 3897 undergraduate students. Georgetown has 7092 undergraduate students. Duke University has only 6400 undergraduate students. Seton Hall, 5245 undergrads. Providence College, 3938 undergrads. Notre Dame has 8371 undergrads. Villanova, 6335 undergrads. Wake Forest, 4476 undergrads. Butler is a small school, but it is not that small of a school. This was not a tiny Milan High School (enrollment 161) versus massive Muncie (enrollment 1600).

Butler was a great story in this tournament, and they were a very good team. They were also expected to be a very good team. Butler was ranked highly in both preseason polls, #11 in the AP and #10 in the ESPN/USA Today poll. This was not a team that came out of no where; they were a team that determined to be a team to be reckoned with before the year even began. Syracuse was the team that came out of no where… they would’ve been the true Cinderella story (but of course, Syracuse is a name program, from a major conference).

Now Butler is a Mid Major team, and they did play in the Horizon League. They are ‘small’ because the BCS conferences do not want to recognize them. They were the outsiders, trying to turn over the proverbial apple cart, and show the Mid Majors could play (something we already knew, if we had been paying attention the past few years). 33 year old Butler head coach Brad Stevens is a great story.

As a Syracuse fan, it was upsetting to see Butler advance so far and come so close. Syracuse, despite its sloppy play, and missing its best interior defensive player, came very close to beating the Bulldogs, despite spotting them an 11 point lead. Clearly the Orange could have won it all. But unfortunately they did not.

You know what makes college basketball great? That a school like Butler, had the opportunity to go out onto the court, and over three weekends, had a legitimate chance to win the National Championship. It did not matter what conference they were from, what the national media thought of them. It did not matter that the NCAA committee gave them a raw deal with a lower seed than they should have had. They went out there, and came within a bounce of the ball, winning the national championship. That is something the Boise State’s of the world will never have the opportunity to do in college football. And that is a shame.