Orange Hoops Hall of Fame 2015

In 2007, OrangeHoops inducted its charter class into the OrangeHoops Hall of Fame: Dave Bing, Derrick Coleman, Sherman Douglas, Vic Hanson, and Pearl Washington. The next six years saw the addition of Billy Owens (2008), Billy Gabor (2009), Lawrence Moten (2010), Louis Orr (2011), Roosevelt Bouie (2011)  John Wallace (2012),  Rony Seikaly (2013) and Vinnie Cohen (2014).  So the list now stands at 13. Another year has passed, and now it is time for the 2015 inductee.

I established my rules for the OrangeHoops Hall of Fame back in 2007 and you can catch up on them here. 2015 does have four new eligible candidates (using the fifteen year rule): Jason Hart, Tony Bland, Ryan Blackwell, and Etan Thomas

Jason Hart was a four year starting point guard at Syracuse.  He was an outstanding defensive guard with great quickness.  He was a decent scorer and playmaker though prone to some poor decision making.  He was All Big East First team his senior year, and finished his career as SU's all-time leader in steals and second in assists.

Tony Bland was a shooting guard for Syracuse who played for the Orangemen for two seasons. He was the starter his sophomore year, though he averaged only 20 minutes per game as the Orangemen had a lot of talent at the guard position. He would transfer to San Diego State after his sophomore year where he would then be a two year starter and would lead the Aztecs in scoring his senior year.

Ryan Blackwell was a starting forward for Syracuse for three seasons. He started his career at Illinois but transferred to Syracuse after his freshman year.  He was a good all around player, though stronger on the defensive end of the court than the offensive end.  

Etan Thomas was an outstanding defensive center for Syracuse for four seasons. He played both forward and center his freshman year, and was the starting center his last three years.  Thomas was an outstanding shot blocker and developed into a terrific rebounder.  He was highly efficient on offense, and developed a series of low post moves by his senior year that made him a terrific scorer in Syracuse's slow down offense.  Thomas was the Big East Defensive player two years in a row, and was All Big East First team his senior year.

Two of the candidates from 1999-2000, Hart and Thomas, would make my list of top 10 eligible candidates.

I think this year’s viable top 10 candidates come down to the following, listed chronologically: Lew Castle, Joe Schwarzer, Lew Andreas, Jon Cincebox, Jimmy Lee, Rudy Hackett, Leo Rautins, Stephen Thompson, Jason Hart and Etan Thomas.

Castle was a two time All-American at Syracuse, and was captain and leading scorer of Syracuse’s only undefeated team, the 1913-1914 squad that went 12-0.

Schwarzer was a two time All-American, and was captain and leading scorer of the 1917-1918 squad that went 16-1 and was retroactively named the National Champions by the Helms Foundation.

Andreas coached Syracuse basketball for 27 seasons, including the 19-1 1925-1926 squad that was awarded the Helms Foundation National Championship. He had a career record of 358-134, and he was the Syracuse Athletic Director for 28 years (1937-1964).

Cincebox was on the best rebounders in Syracuse history (in an era when rebounding numbers were admittedly high).  He helped Syracuse to the NCAA Elite Eight in 1956-1957, as the dominant big man for the Orangemen.

Lee was a clutch shooter with terrific perimeter range, and outstanding free throw shooting ability. He was able to use his shooting ability to set himself up as a solid passer. Lee's 18 foot jumper with five seconds remaining led the Orangemen to beat heavily favored North Carolina, as the Orangemen eventually moved on to their first NCAA Final Four. Lee would end up making the All-Tournament team for his outstanding performances.

Hackett was a powerful forward who could run the court well. He was a great rebounder and terrific scorer near the hoop.  He led the Orangemen in scoring his senior year and helped lead Syracuse to its first Final Four in 1975.

Rautins was a terrific ball-handling forward with a nice shooting touch, solid rebounding and scoring skills. He is most well known for his game winning tip in basket to win the Big East Championship in triple overtime against Villanova in 1981.  Rautins also recorded two triple-doubles in Big East action.

Thompson was an explosive swingman, with incredible quickness and vertical leap, and excellent defensive skills. He was extremely adept at playing above the basket though he was only about 6'2". He teamed with Sherman Douglas to perfect the alley-oop basket.  Thompson was an extremely proficient scorer, despite the fact he was a terrible perimeter shooter.  

All are worthy players, and tough selections to make.  I designed my selection rules to make it tough; the Hall of Fame should be the 'best of the best', and I would rather have a line of worthy players outside the Hall of Fame, than cheapen it by having lessor players included.

This may be the toughest pick for me in all the years so far.  Ten very good candidates, and a couple of those players are among my all-time personal favorites.  My 2015 inductee is Etan Thomas.  

Thomas is perhaps the best defensive center in Syracuse history, which would give him a nod over Rony Seikaly and Roosevelt Bouie.  He was the anchor on an outstanding defensive Syracuse team for four seasons, and helped them rise to #4 in the polls during the mid season of his senior year.  

Thomas was the 12th overall pick in the 2000 NBA Draft by the Dallas Mavericks.  He would be traded to the Washington Wizards and spend most of his career there. Thomas was a solid reserve player for most his career, and missed the 2007-2008 season due to open heart surgery.

Thomas would also become an author and a poet.

Congratulations to Etan Thomas, the 2015 Inductee into the Orange Hoops Hall of Fame.

Syracuse Offensive Rebounding 2002-2015

Maybe Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim does know a thing or two about coaching.  Ken Pomeroy did an analysis of which NCAA coaches have the best offensive rebounding teams. Pomeroy looked  the 177 head coaches with 10+ years of coaching experience since 2002, and these were the results:

 1 Jim Calhoun   40.0%
 2 Jamie Dixon   39.4%
 3 Roy Williams  39.3%
 4 Rick Barnes   38.3%
 5 John Calipari 38.6%
 6 Blaine Taylor 38.1%
 7 Bob Huggins   37.7%
 8 Jim Boeheim   37.3%
 9 Mick Cronin   37.3%
10 Tubby Smith   37.1%

Boeheim's teams are the 8th best in the country (out of 177) at offensive rebounding.  Clearly there is a correlation between winning basketball games and offensive rebounding as there are several notable coaches on that top 10 list.

During that time span, these are the notable offensive rebounders for the Orange:

Player	Season	Off. Reb
Rakeem Christmas	2014-2015	97
C.J. Fair	2012-2013	84
Fab Melo	2011-2012	80
Rick Jackson	2010-2011	120
Rick Jackson	2009-2010	94
Arinze Onuaku	2008-2009	108
Paul Harris	2008-2009	89
Arinze Onuaku	2007-2008	114
Paul Harris	2007-2008	99
Darryl Watkins	2006-2007	96
Terrence Roberts	2006-2007	95
Terrence Roberts	2005-2006	104
Darryl Watkins	2005-2006	97
Hakim Warrick	2004-2005	106
Hakim Warrick	2003-2004	98
Hakim Warrick	2002-2003	112
Carmelo Anthony	2002-2003	101

I knew Rick Jackson and Arinze Onuaku were outstanding offensive rebounders, and I've always thought Paul Harris, despite all his other faults, was an outstanding offensive rebounder.  I did not really realize how good Hakim Warrick was.

OrangeHoops Team Profiles Completed

I am happy to say that I now have completed all the team profiles OrangeHoops.org.  The last four completed were 1971-1972, 1990-1991, 1991-1992, and 1993-1994, in case you have been followig along over the years.  Each profile contains the individual player statistics for that year, along with a recap of the season including the highlights and low points.

I am continuing to update the existing profiles as I find new information, and of course, as the years progress new seasons and players get added.  As I had previously posted, I completed all the player profiles on May 2, 2015.

The 1986-1987 Orangemen versus the 2002-2003 Orangemen

It is difficult to compare teams from different eras, as the game of basketball changes in terms of style, rules and size of the players. And yet, it can be an interesting exercise to go through.

The 1986-1987 Orangemen and the 2002-2003 Orangemen both played their National Championship games in New Orleans, with the final results differing. As Syracuse fans vividly know, 2003 was the lone NCAA National Championship, while 1987 was a heart breaking loss on a Keith Smart shot.

The two teams had a lot of similarities.  Both teams improved as the season went along, and were playing their best basketball during the NCAA tournament.  Both teams were of course coached by Jim Boeheim.  Both teams had leads in the NCAA Championship game, and struggled to make their free throws during the last minute. In both cases the star freshman forward (Derrick Coleman and Carmelo Anthony) missed the front end of a one-and-one that could have sealed the win.  In both cases a senior forward (Howard Triche and Kueth Duany) missed the front end of a one-and-one that could have also sealed the win.  The most clear difference in the championship game is that in 2003 Hakim Warrick blocked Michael Lee’s 3 point shot attempt, whereas Howard Triche could not cover Keith Smart’s 2 point shot. 

The two teams, however, were different in many ways. The 1987 team started the season ranked #15 in the country, and would rise to #5. They were 5-6 versus AP Top 20 teams, including three losses to Georgetown (including two classics).  They won the Big East Regular Season title, and lost in the BET Championship to the Hoyas.

The 2003 team started the year unranked and did not crack the top 25 until January 19^th; they would actually drop out of the top 25 again, and then return for the rest of the season on January 26^th.  The team was 7-2 versus AP Top 25 teams, and beat Georgetown three times. They would not win the Big East regular season title nor make it to the BET Championship game. 

The 1987 team had balanced scoring with five different players averaging 10+ points a game. Those five players also all scored 20 or more points in at least one game, and three of them (Triche, Sherman Douglas and Rony Seikaly) scored 30+ points in a game.  There were a lot of options for who would lead the team in scoring on a given night.

The 2003 team had four players scoring 10+ points a game.  Five different players did score 20 or more points in a game, but make no mistake about it, that Anthony was the alpha dog on scoring, and led the team in scoring most nights.

The 1987 team had more collegiate experience.  The starting five consisted of two seniors, a junior, a sophomore and a freshman.  2003 had one senior, two sophomores and two freshmen.

The 1987 Orangemen played both zone and man-to-man, along with a mix of full court press.  Zone defense was typically used in inbound situations in the half court, whereas man-to-man was used in normal routines.  Syracuse was comfortable pressing a lot utilizing Seikaly as the last line of defense if the press was broken.  The three point shot had just been introduced in 1987, and college teams in general were not geared towards preventing it.  Syracuse did play Providence, a Rick Pitino team that lived-and-died by the three point shot, and the Orangemen did beat them three times.  They did have problems with Steve Alford in the NCAA Championship with Alford hitting 7 of 10 attempts, though a few of those were on fast breaks where he pulled up and took the shot from the arc as the defender back pedaled.

In 2003 Syracuse was playing its vaunted zone defense almost exclusively, and the team played it very well by the season’s end.  Gerry McNamara was very good at picking off passes in the lane, and Duany made an intimidating guard at 6’5” at the top.  The back of the Syracuse zone was tall and long limbed with 6’8” Anthony, 6’8” Warrick and 7’0” Craig Forth.  Jeremy McNeil would offer a change of pace on defense, and was the shot blocking expert in the back line.  The three point shot had been well established by 2003, and the Orangemen were very good at closing out on perimeter shooters.

Offensively the 1987 Orangemen played an up tempo game, and loved to push the pace of the game.  Despite being up tempo, they did a decent job of not being too careless with the ball.  Sherman Douglas had a 2.4 assist to turnover ratio, and his backcourt mate Greg Monroe was even better at 2.9.

The Orangemen loved to score from the inside, relying on Seikaly and Coleman to pound the ball home.  Douglas was the master of the alley oop pass and he would lob the ball over defenses allowing the very athletic Seikaly, Coleman and Stephen Thompson to dunk the ball home.   Monroe was the only real three point threat, and he became very adept at it hitting 44% of his attempts.  Monroe basically camped out on the three point arc, and Douglas would drive and kick the ball back out to him.  Douglas was extremely good at driving the lane and putting up the soft floater, or dish off to the big mean down low.  The team was fortunate to have two pure point guards in Douglas and Monroe.

The 2003 Orangemen ran all of their offense through Carmelo Anthony.  Melo was the most gifted offensive freshman that Syracuse has ever had.  He had good ball handling skills, excellent moves to the hoop with a short jumper and a decent three point shot.  Billy Edelin became more integral into the team as the post season progressed, but the offense was run by Gerry McNamara.  GMac was not a true point guard, but he ran the offense well. He was a sniper with a reputation for making the clutch shots.  Warrick wasn’t a main threat on offense, but he got enough touches to become effective as the third option.  Duany was decent all around, and offered a very good third three point shooting options, behind GMac and Melo.  The team had a decent perimeter attack, and an alpha dog to run the offense through.

Both teams had an Achilles heal with their free throw shooting.  The best free throw shooter on each team was the point guard, which helped in close games.  Douglas hit 74% of his shots, while McNamara hit a blistering 91%.  For 1987, Monroe and Triche were okay, Coleman and Seikaly were marginal, and Thompson and Derek Brower, both from the bench were awful.

For 2003, Anthony was okay from the free throw, while Duany, Warrick and Edelin were marginal.  Forth, Josh Pace and Jeremy McNeil were terrible.

How would the two teams match up? 

Point Guard:  6’ Sherman Douglas versus 6’2” Gerry McNamara. Douglas is definitely the better point guard; we are talking about perhaps the best point guard in Syracuse history, and that’s no disrespect to McNamara.  Douglas was quicker, and would likely be able to drive past GMac.  GMac is clearly the better shooter, and the height advantage over Douglas would help him. The 1987 team, because they played a lot of man defense, may have put Monroe on McNamara.  That could backfire, however, because that meant that 6’ Douglas had to guard 6’5” Duany who was adept at hitting the three.  Stephen Thompson could come off the bench and help shutdown McNamara or Duany, but Thompson wasn’t an integral part of the offense in 1987.  Overall, edge to 1987.

Shooting Guard: 6’3” Greg Monroe versus 6’5” Kueth Duany.  Both were seniors.  Monroe was by far the better shooter and the better ball handler. He was very comfortable at running the offense when needed.  Duany would be the better defender and rebounder, and while Monroe was the better shooter, Duany was not a slouch.  If Billy Edelin came into the game and moved to the point, then Douglas would have had to guard him, and Edelin at 6’4”, who specialized in backing defenders into the paint, may have had a good time against Douglas.  In that scenario, Monroe would have been guarding McNamara.  Tough to call.  I would call it Even.

Small Forward:  6’5” Howard Triche versus 6’8” Carmelo Anthony.  Triche was a senior and a solid all around player, but there is no comparison here. Anthony, one of the greatest freshman players of all time, is significantly better than Triche.  Syracuse would likely have had Derrick Coleman guard Anthony in man defense, and that would have been very interesting.  Coleman was a decent shot blocker and at 6’11”, with a very long reach, Coleman would’ve been a tough matchup for Anthony.  I do think the offensive expertise of Anthony would have won out, but Coleman would have made him work for it.  The 1987 team likely would have had Triche attack the side of the zone that Anthony was on, and that would have pulled Anthony a little further out from the hoop, but not much.  Overall edge, 2003 by a lot.

Power Forward: 6’11” Derrick Coleman versus 6’8” Hakim Warrick.  Coleman was a raw offensive player in 1987, with very good hands and the ability to make the short jumper.  His greatest ability was to crash the boards for rebounds, and run the court.  Warrick was coming into his own by the end of the 2003 season, and had that explosive first step to the hoop.  Warrick would have had a tough time matching Coleman on defense, as Coleman’s height and reach would give him an advantage.  Warrick would have had Triche to beat defensively, and Warrick’s speed and size would have helped him a lot there, especially since Warrick played above the rim.  Overall edge, 1987.

Center: 6’10” Rony Seikaly versus 7’0” Craig Forth and 6’8” Jeremy McNeil.  Forth and McNeil split time at center, so that would give the 2003 Orangemen 10 fouls to use, and two big bodies to keep fresh against Seikaly.  Seikaly was definitely better than either Forth or McNeil. He was much more athletic, could run the court very well, and by the end of 1987 had developed a short jumper and some nice post moves.  Forth likely would have been the tougher assignment for Seikaly as he took up more space, and would make it tough for Seikaly to get to the hoop, whereas McNeil could be pulled out of position on the block attempts.  Seikaly handled centers much better than Forth/McNeil in the 1987 NCAA season run.  Forth and McNeil would offer very little offensive against Seikaly.  They both were limited offensively to begin with, and Seikaly was a premier shot blocker in his era.  The offensive liability of 2003 centers would allow Seikaly to cheat and defend against other 2003 players going to the hoop. Overall edge, 1987 by a lot.

Bench:  The 1987 team really went two players deep. Stephen Thompson was the backup shooting guard and small forwards, and specialized in defense and running out for passes on the fast break, as well as putting back loose balls for easy dunks and layups.  Derek Brower was the reserve big man, and he was a load in the middle. Not much of an offensive threat, but solid defensively.  The 2003 team had Josh Pace, the aforementioned Edelin, and McNeil. Pace would offer a good change of pace for the 2003 team, something that the 1987 team really did not have.  At 6’5” he would have a disadvantage against the tall 1987 front line, and Triche may have been able to take him on.  Overall edge goes to 2003.

Coaching: The 2003 Jim Boeheim was likely a better coach than the 1987 Boeheim.  Boeheim had 10 years of experience in 1987, whereas he had 26 in 2003.  Overall edge goes to 2003.

The big questions would be the following:

·         Could the 1987 team run the ball as much as they would want, or would the 2003 team be able to prevent it? If the 1987 team were able to run the ball, could the 2003 team keep up with them?

·         Could the 1987 team slow down Melo?  If they couldn’t, would they be able to contain the rest of the team enough so that Melo didn’t matter?

·         Could the 2003 team slow down Seikaly?

·         Could the 1987 team guard the three point shooting of the 2003 team?

·         Could the 2003 team handle the full court pressure of the 1987 team? 

In the end, I think the 2003 team would win the game.  I think the 2003 team could handle the full court pressure. Melo would be able to help bring the ball up court, and with him and Duany helping in that area, they would be able to move the ball over the press defense.

The 1987 team would have a tough time covering Duany or Edelin, whomever was playing the other guard position to McNamara.  I don’t think the 1987 team is going to stop Melo; they may slow him down but not enough.  The question would be how much could Seikaly help Coleman on defense.  If he could rotate over, he could have been very effective at stopping Melo.  Seikaly would probably have a big day offensively and defensively, but he would get quite a workout against Forth/McNeil, and lest we forget, Warrick and Anthony could collapse on defense and help double team.

Douglas would be very tough to stop on the penetration, and he would get his points and his assists.  Douglas was able to master the alley oop in the NBA, so he would get the pass off against anyone. 

f the game was close, I would not want to be either squad trying to protect the lead.  I am not one of those fans who believe that Syracuse won the 2003 title only because of Melo. It was a complete team effort throughout the playoffs. But in this hypothetical matchup of 1987 versus 2003, I think he does bring matchup problems, especially with Warrick at the other forward position.  And in the end I think 2002-2003 beats 1986-1987.

All-Syracuse International Team

Twenty five international players have played basketball for the Syracuse Orange.  Clinton Goodwin, a 5’8” guard born to American missionaries in Calcutta was the first in line.  Chino Obokoh, a reserve center for the Orange last season, is the latest in the line of international players.

Rony Seikaly

Rony Seikaly is probably the greatest international player for the Orange.  The 6’10” center helped power the Orangemen to the championship game in 1987.  He was an outstanding shot blocker and rebounder, and by his senior year had developed into a strong offensive threat.

Two early All-Americans for the Orangemen were born overseas. John Barsha was born in Russia, while Joe Schwarzer was born in Austro-Hungary.  The two partnered to lead the Orangemen to the 1918 National Championship (as voted by the Helms Foundation).  Schwarzer was a 5’11” center, considered the best center in the East, and Barsha was an outstanding defensive guard.  Due to the evolution of the game, both would probably be too small for today’s game, but they were outstanding athletes in their own era.

If I were to create an All-International team for the Orange, I would start with Seikaly at center. That’s probably the easiest selection to make.

The team wouldn’t have a true power forward, but I would put Montreal’s Kris Joseph in that position.  Joseph was very adept at driving to the hoop, and liked playing near the basket. He would be undersized, but speedy.

Leo Rautins

Toronto’s Leo Rautins would be an excellent small forward.  Rautins was a triple-double threat, a gifted passer who preferred to play away from the basket, and would be a good fit at the three position.

Freshman phenom Tyler Ennis would be my starting point guard.  He would ensure we have a controlled offense, and would keep the turnovers to a minus. With Ennis and Rautins both on the court, there would be lots of opportunities for low post passes to Seikaly and Joseph.

The shooting guard position is the toughest spot to fill.  It comes down to sharp shooting Marius Janulis versus the versatile Kueth Duany.  Janulis was a sniper on the perimeter, and a great free throw shooter. He was not a strong defender, and was merely adequate handling the ball, but he sure could shoot.  Duany was a very good three point shooter; not in the same class a Janulis, but he could make the open three when defenses focused on other players on the court.  Duany’s benefit to the team is that he was long armed, and played very good zone defense, along with being a decent rebounder and ball handler.  I would likely choose to start Duany, and have Janulis come off the bench. Duany could of course also rotate to small forward.   Both played in the national championship game with Duany getting the edge with the championship win.

Fab Melo would be my top reserve center, and he would be a solid defensive replacement to spell Seikaly. There would be an offensive letdown with Melo on the court, but Melo was a good passer, and the team would not be hurt having him on the defensive end.

My eighth player would be Donte’ Greene.  Greene was a 6’11” three point shooting power forward. I wasn’t always crazy about his game particularly because he tended to care more about what was in his best interest as opposed to the team, but having a tall gifted athlete come off the bench who could hit the long ball is an invaluable asset on the team. 

My ninth player would be Baye Moussa Keita, who would provide some much needed energy off the bench to back up Seikaly, and to replace Melo if Melo was indifferent that night. Keita was very limited offensively, but he could play inspired defense, and get key rebounds.

The tenth, and final, player on my team would be Tom Huggins.  Huggins was a forward for the Orangemen in the early 1950s.  Huggins was a mature player having been a veteran of World War II; he would be 28 when he graduated from Syracuse.  Huggins was a solid rebounder and a tenacious defender, and his maturity would help with some of the younger guys.

Finally, the coach would be Marc Guley. Guley was born in Czechoslovakia, and coached the Orangemen from 1950-1962.  Guley’s career started out well as a coach, leading the Orangemen to the National Campus Championship in 1951, and to their first NCAA bid in 1957.  The team would also hit rock bottom after a steady decline in Guley’s last few years.  However, as the Orangemen have had no other head coaches born overseas, the job is his by default.

So we’re looking at a starting five, with really an eight man rotation, as follows:

• PG-Tyler Ennis, 
• SG-Kueth Duany, 
• SF-Leo Rautins, 
• PF-Kris Joseph
• C-Rony Seikaly.
• Bench: G-Marius Janulis, F-Donte’ Greene and C-Fab Melo

That team would be an NCAA bound team in this era, and possibly an elite eight team, and with some luck a Final Four. A strong power forward on the team would make me more confident.  The team could definitely play big with Rautins taking over the point for periods of time, Duany at the shooting guard, Greene and Joseph up front, and Seikaly down low (or put Seikaly at forward, Melo at center, and drop Joseph).

Player Profiles Completed

I am happy to say that I now have completed on OrangeHoops.org a profile for all 721 players who played varsity basketball for Syracuse University. From Kris Aaron to Mark Ziolko, there is now a profile with the players season and career stats, as well as a description of their career and as much of a biography as possible.  Several players also have a photo included.

This is a never ending project as new players join the team next season, the current players continue to build upon their Orange legacy, and former players continue on with their lives.  Some of the profiles are rather scant as it was difficult to find information about the player, and I will continue to flesh out all the profiles as I move forward.  

My appreciation to those fans who have sent me information over the years. The information has been invaluable to the site.

I am continuing to look for missing data for games, and I have a handful of season recaps to complete.  All the season statistics are done.

In case  you had missed it, in late 2013 I had rolled out section recapping Syracuse's all time record against each opponent, along with the highlights and lowlights of each series, and that feature is current as of the end of this past season.

444,444 Thanks!

This morning at 10:56:33 EDT, the 444,444 tracked visitor visited OrangeHoops.org.  My thanks to all the guests to the site over the years! I hope you have enjoyed the site.

44 holds a special meaning for Syracuse fans, and thus three 44s is just extra special!

In reality guest 444,444 would have appeared several months back. OrangeHoops was launched in March 2005, and moved to this specific URL in August 2005. I did not start tracking visitors until November 29, 2006, so there is a lot of lost data.

But we can celebrate what we can!

I have completed all but sixteen player profiles, and there are five seasons remaining that I need to complete the written summary for.

Last year I launched a new section showing the competitive history for all schools against Syracuse. If you have not checked it out, please do.

I appreciate the information sent to me over the years by fans, former player, and families of former players.

There are no plans for the site to stop growing, and I have other ideas for more pages to add, so keep visiting!

Let's go Orange!

Response to NCAA Violations

It has been a week since the NCAA handed down its sanctions on the Syracuse basketball team. During that time I have been spending a lot of time with fellow Syracuse fans on various message boards discussing the penalties.  I wanted to let time pass before I commented here on those sanctions.

To recap, these are the sanctions as they currently stand

• Syracuse has to give up 12 scholarships overs the next four seasons.
• Coach Jim Boeheim has to be suspended for the first 9 ACC games for the 2015-2016 season.
•  The university has to pay back significant money it earned from the Big East participation in the NCAA tournament
•  Syracuse has to vacate 108 wins from its record book.
• Syracuse self-imposed a ban on the ACC & NCAA post-season this year.
• Limited and reduced recruiting visits

Syracuse has been found guilty primarily of three things:

•  Ignoring its own University based drug policy and having athletes who had violated those policies remain eligible to play, and failure to contact the players’ families.
•   Altering the grade of Fab Melo so that he would retain eligibility to play.
•  Five football and basketball players receiving a total of $8000 from the Oneida YMCA.

These are indeed violations and there needs to be a punishment of form for these violations.  I agree with that.

And these violations did occur.  Syracuse University does not dispute that they occurred. In fact, Syracuse University reported all of these violations to the NCAA shortly after each had occurred. 

The NCAA, after an eight year investigation, found little evidence of any other wrongdoing by the University. It took the NCAA eight years to confirm what Syracuse told them.

My stance is that Syracuse University and coach Jim Boeheim are being significantly punished by excessive sanctions.  The investigation feels more like a vendetta than an actual investigation.

Academic Fraud

Coach Jim Boeheim recognized that he needed help in making sure that the players remained academically eligible to play for the basketball team. He hired a Director of Basketball Operations named Stan Kissel.  Kissel’s responsibility was to make sure the players were getting the proper tutoring, and that they were remaining eligible to play. 

NCAA rules prohibit coaches from knowing the specific academics for players on their teams.  All they are permitted to know is if a player is eligible to play or not.  This is important to remember.

In January of 2012 it was announced that Melo was no longer academically eligible to play.  This is a huge mistake by Kissel, as it was his job to be on top of situations like this.  Dr. Darryl Gross, 

Syracuse’s Athletic Director, called a meeting with several administrators and staff to see what could be done to get Melo’s grade issue resolved.  Jim Boeheim was not invited to this meeting. This is important to remember.

It was determined that a professor from a previous semester would be willing to give Melo a better grade if he successfully completed a paper.  This is where the fraud comes into play as Kissel and his receptionist did the paper for Melo, and submitted it.  Melo’s grade was raised, and he was eligible to play.

Later in the semester, the University found out what happened, suspended Melo for the remainder of the season, and reported it to the NCAA.  This suspension of Melo likely cost Syracuse a Final Four berth and a very good shot at the NCAA championship.  Kissel and the receptionist were both terminated from the University.

The NCAA has punished Jim Boeheim for this action.  How can they?  He recognized there could be a problem so he hired personnel to monitor the situations. He was not privy to any of the actions that took place to get Melo’s grade changed. The NCAA, through their investigation could find no evidence that Boeheim knew anything.  The NCAA rules prohibit Boeheim from knowing anything about the specifics of the grade.

So NOW they want to hold him accountable for it?  He’s supposed to be accountable for something he is not allowed to know?

Darryl Gross has some questions he needs to answer, and his employment should be in question.  The individuals who actually did the fraud were dismissed.   The university already sacrificed the 2012 post season for this.

There should have been scholarship reduction implications related to this.  The games were already sacrificed.

Drug Policy

The NCAA, amazingly enough, has no drug policy. The rule is that if a University has a drug policy, then the University must enforce its drug policy. Syracuse has one, and they failed to enforce it. Apparently a few players over the years failed their drug tests due to marijuana usage, and they should have been suspended. They were not.

Furthermore, those players’ families should have been contacted by Boeheim. They were not.

This is a black eye for the University, but hardly a major one.

YMCA Boosters

The YMCA apparently paid $8000 to five football and basketball players. This is an action that took place outside of Syracuse University, and one that the University really did not have a way of knowing about.  The YMCA is disputing this occurred. There is really nothing Syracuse can say about it because it is something outside their control.  $8000 is worthy of a penalty, but hardly earth shattering.

Scholarship Reduction

The NCAA is requiring Syracuse to eliminate 12 scholarships over four years, three for each year. Syracuse is allowed to push that penalty back one year to accommodate the incoming class, which Syracuse will do. Syracuse will have 13 scholarship players in 2015-2016.

Twelve scholarships is a very large number, and four years is a long period of time.  The NCAA makes a big issue that they are for the student athletes and they would never remove a scholarship from an existing player.  However, the mathematics of the situation state that Syracuse could indeed be forced to take a scholarship away from an existing player. 

Syracuse has 13 scholarship players in 2015-2016. Two players are scheduled to graduate (Michael Gbinije & Trevor Cooney).  That leaves Syracuse with 11 players on scholarship for the 2016-2017 season, which is one over the limit.  It is likely that someone from Syracuse could jump early for the NBA, or could transfer which would fix the situation. But what if nobody does?  Does the NCAA really want Syracuse to remove the scholarship from a player?

My guess is the NCAA plans to reduce the scholarship reductions from 3 to 2, and possibly from four years to three years. They wanted to make headlines with their over-the-top sanctions, and they wanted to have room to negotiate down.

They got their headlines.

The shame is that most fans across the country do not know the details of the situation. So Jim Boeheim is labeled a cheater.  There is no evidence he cheated.  The university did make some mistakes and so there are some things the university should be stained with. 

But the University did NOT have any recruiting violations.  NONE.   That is major cheating.

There was NOT systemic academic fraud. There was a major case involving a big name player, and there are some other issues with tutors and mentor semantics, that may lead to other minor issues. 

There was NO systemic paying of players, and the players who were paid were given a small sum by a booster that the University had no way of preventing.

Look, the NCAA took its sweet time over eight years covering everything with a fine tooth comb. The things we are certain about is that there were NO other issues out there. The NCAA surely would have found them. 

The self-imposed post season ban for this year seems like it was justified for ‘lack of institutional control’.  A restriction of one or two scholarships made some sense, for a two or three year period.

I would not be surprised to see many of the sanctions reduced / eliminated. Then again, I would not be surprised if they remain close to where they currently are.  

The NCAA is inconsistent, tyrannical, and a joke of an organization. It fails to accomplish what it needs to accomplish.  If it has finished its original investigation in 2-3 years, many of these issues may NEVER have occurred.  And taken in the context of small intervals of time, none of the violations in themselves are significant.  Stretch out a time period long enough, pile enough items into the basket, and you can make is sound far worse than it was.

They got their pound of flesh.

Here is the lesson that Syracuse University learned, as did all the other universities out there. Do NOT self-report your issues, and do not cooperate fully with the NCAA.  Despite the fact that Syracuse systemically reported issues as they occurred, AS THEY SHOULD HAVE, they were punished for it as if they had not.  They would be far better off not saying anything and hoping the NCAA never came across it.  Like all the other schools that have skeletons in their closet that they have not yet reported (and now never will).

A Year Ago Today

Coach Boeheim, thank you for the memory.

Another Winning Season

The Syracuse win over Boston College was an enjoyable game, and different than what Orange fans have become accustomed to.  Syracuse has not had too many walk-away wins this year, and this game really was never in doubt over the last 6-7 minutes with the Orange winning 70-56.

The game did have a historical perspective to it.  The win moves the Orange record to 16-8 for the year, and with only seven games left on the schedule because of the post-season ban, it guarantees the Orange another winning season.  

We take winning for granted in Syracuse, as the Orange have not had a losing season since 1968-1969 when the team went 8-16.   That is 46 seasons of winning basketball.  The school has only had sixteen losing seasons ever, and the program started in 1900-1901.  I am not sure which basketball program has the longest streak right now for consecutive winning seasons, but 46 is very impressive. 

For perspective, remember that Duke, one of the best programs out there, had a losing season in 1994-1995.  Mike Krzyzewski also had losing seasons in 1981-1982 and 1982-1983 with Duke.  Kansas was 13-16 in 1982-1983.  North Carolina was 8-20 in 2001-2002.  Georgetown was 13-15 in 2003-2004.  UConn was 9-19 in 1986-1987. Kentucky was 13-19 in 1988-1989.  

Kaleb Joseph had a coming out party tonight!  He was aggressive to the hoop, and went 7 for 7 from the floor for 14 points.  Welcome Kaleb!

B.J. Johnson also got some significant playing time and made some three point shots. He hit four of twelve, on his way for 12 points for the night.  That shooting is not going to break any records, but considering how poorly he has been shooting, that was very nice to see.

Michael Gbinije continues to play at a very high level.  8 of 11 from the floor for 21 points, coupled with 7 rebounds and 4 assists.  Gbinije has been extremely impressive as of late.

Rak Christmas was handcuffed tonight by several double and triple teams, and he ended up with only 7 points, though he did get 10 rebounds and 3 nice blocks.

Let’s go Orange!

Syracuse Self Imposes Ban for 2015 Post Season

Syracuse University announced today that it is self-imposing a ban on all post season activity for its men's basketball program for this year.  The ban includes the NCAA, NIT and the ACC tournament.

It is a shame that the current roster of players has to suffer for the misdeeds done in the past.  I do not know all the details of this particular investigation, though I have been flustered by what I already know.  Syracuse self-reported academic violations by Feb Melo and James Southerland at the time they occurred.  Melo was suspended first by the university and then later in the season by the NCAA.  The Melo suspension in 2012 was extremely impactful on the Orange as the team was ranked #2 in the country, and one of the top favorites to win the tourney. Without Melo they were talented enough to make a run to the Elite Eight.

Part of me feels like there is double jeopardy in this situation. The punishment was handed out, and the program suffered at the time.

Again, there are probably more issues at hand than what I am aware of.  I will be curious to see what those may be.

The self-imposed ban from the ACC tournament seems excessive.  When Syracuse was banned in 1993 by the NCAA, it was still permitted to play in the Big East Tournament.  So the Syracuse administration is dolling out a very stiff penalty on itself.

The move is definitely self-serving by the university; I am not naive to that. This year's team was not going to have a strong post season, and they are hoping that sacrificing this year will allow the team not to be impacted for next year, nor have any lingering impact on recruiting.   The 1992-1993 ban took a couple of years to get announced, and there were recruits the Orangemen lost as a result.

I do find the NCAA to be a capricious and inconsistent organization.  There does not seem to be any predictable pattern to penalties they dole out, nor which institutions get investigated in the first place.  It seems clear that some programs are cheating academically because practically it seems illogical that they types of players that revolve through their program could not possible maintain proper academic standing, yet they do. 

Anyhow, good luck to the Orange on their remaining nine games this year.  Particularly sad is the relevance to Rakeem Christmas, who is having a tremendous senior season, and will have no opportunity to showcase his talents.  The greatest irony being that Christmas is one of the best student athletes Syracuse has ever had, completing his four year degree in only three years (no redshirt year).

Free Throws Do Matter (Again)

It was a shame to watch the Orange fight back gallantly against the Hurricanes yesterday, and see them fall up short.   The Orange played hard, and they never gave up despite two prolonged scoreless stretches in each half that let Miami pull out ahead.

The shame was the poor free throw shooting by the Syracuse players. This issue has been a thorn in the Orange side for years; it seems the Orange are having a collective freeze on their free throw shooting right now.  The Orange hit only 8 of 19 free throws against the Hurricanes, missing the front end of some crucial one-and-ones, and missing some critical free throws in the last couple of minutes that would have allowed them to win the game.  The Orange made some clutch jump shots, some clutch rebounding (thanks Tyler Roberson!), and some nice defensive stops.  But they have to make some of their free throws.

Michael Gbinije is the worst culprit. Yesterday's loss dropped his season average to 48.9% (23 for 47).  Gbinije was not terrific before this year, but 64.6% last season was bearable.  He is now 11-23 in conference play.  For a player that Jim Boeheim wants to be running the offense in clutch moments, that is just not tolerable.  You can see that Gbinije is a total mess right now, with different forms on his free throw attempts each time to the line.

Trevor Cooney is a terrific free throw shooter.  Yet, he is in a funk in conference play making only 21 of 34 free throws for 61.8%.  Several of his misses over the past few games have been in crunch time.

Rakeem Christmas had been a rock and clutch player at the charity stripe. Yesterday, he bombed making only 5 of 11 attempts. 

Ron Patterson has not shot much in his career. He does not give much glimmer of hope as he has made only 2 of 8 attempts for the season.  At least Patterson does have the humorous quote of the season mentioning earlier in the year that his free throws were 'close'.

By comparison, Tyler Roberson is shooting well from the line. In conference play, he has made 71.4% of his shots, hitting 10 of 14 attempts.

A dilemma for Boeheim could be what to do with Kaleb Joseph.  His play has improved during the game, and his turnovers have cut down, but he was very rocky earlier this year when under pressure.  Joseph, however, has made 16 of 19 free throw attempts in conference play, for 84.2%.   He  has not shown the ability to shoot from the perimeter, and defenses are leaving him wide open.  He still makes big mistakes on defensive positioning.  But he has been making his free throws.  

I have got to imagine that Boeheim rides Cooney and Christmas down the stretch of games, hoping they can revert to form, and he keeps the ball out of Gbinije's hands during obvious fouling situations.  I'm not sure he wants to give up all the positives that Gbinije brings during crunch time to give some time to Joseph, but it will be something he is surely evaluating.

Also noteworthy in the game was that Syracuse played only six players during the contest.  Four of those players (Christmas, Roberson, Cooney and Gbinije) played the entire game.

The Elusive Triple Double

Triple Doubles are a rare commodity in college basketball.  There have only been nine triple doubles recorded in Syracuse Orange history; the last one occurred 14 seasons ago when Allen Griffin accomplished it against Pitt with 14 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists.  Lazarus Sims, Derrick Coleman, Leo Rautins (3 times) and Dave Bing (3 times) are the only other Orangemen to accomplish the feat.  

Michael Carter-Williams was the perfect type of player to get a triple double.  A tall point guard who liked to drive the lane, and was strong at offensive rebounding.  It seemed destined he would complete the feat after some near misses, but he never did.  The other style of player to get a triple double is a forward who is adept at passing  (ala Leo Rautins), but the Orange have not had a player of that style for a while.

Michael Gbinije

Michael Gbinije might be able to get the triple double, if the stars align correctly.  Gbinije is Syracuse's starting small forward, but he spends a lot of time running the offense at the point.  In two of the last three games, Gbinije has had double digit rebounding efforts.  The Wake Forest game is the closest he has come to a triple double when he had 11 rebounds, 7 assists and 17 points.  

Gbinije's career high in assists is 8, which he did against Long Beach State earlier this year. He had 6 rebounds and 24 points in that game.

10 assists will be tough for Gbinije to get. Syracuse is not a high scoring team, and therefore there is a smaller potential for assists to begin with.   If he had a good night of feeding Trevor Cooney and Rakeem Christmas, and they both had big scoring nights, that could help him a lot. But right now there really are only three scoring threats on the Orange: Cooney, Christmas, and Gbinije, and Gbinije cannot get an assist to himself.  A big game by Tyler Roberson or another Orange player would help.

Gbinije is more likely to get 5-6 rebounds in a game than 10, but he does have that potential.

I do not think he will accomplish the feat.  He does get the playing time, but I think the assists will be out of his reach.  But I will be rooting for him to do it.

Bill Smith Nets 47

44 years ago today, on January 14th, 1971, Bill Smith set the Syracuse single game scoring record with 47 points against Lafayette.  The closest any Orangeman has come to breaking that record was when Gerry McNamara lit up Brigham Young for 43 points in the 2004 NCAA tournament.

Bill Smith

Smith was a fiery tempered center who once punched a referee.  He was an excellent rebounder and a terrific inside scorer. At 6'11" he was the biggest center Syracuse had up to that point in time.  Smith would average 20.9 points and 14.5 rebounds per game for his career.  

On January 12th, 1971 he had 28 points and 30 rebounds in a victory over American University. That was only the appetizer to his big night.  Two days later, Smith would score 47 points in a 106-92 win over Lafayette.  

It was a shootout of the big scorers for both teams. Tracy Tripucka, brother of NBA star Kelly Tripucka, would score 41 points for Lafayette.  Smith would have 27 points at halftime; Tripucka 26.

But the spoils would go to Smith who shot 17 of 23 from the floor, and 13 of 19 from the free throw line.  Smith would also have 19 rebounds in the contest.  

Greg Kohls also had a big night for the Orangemen with 24 points, but all accolades on that evening go to Mr. Smith.

Christmas Comes Up Big

Rakeem Christmas had a career night against Wake Forest, leading Syracuse to a 86-83 overtime win over the Demon Deacons.  Christmas scored 35 points and had 9 rebounds for the game.

Christmas simply overwhelmed Wake Forest for most of the game, on both sides of the court. Though he ended up with only one blocked shot, he altered several other shots by Wake Forest.  Offensively, the Demon Deacons just could not match up to Christmas as he made 12 of 23 shots.

Rakeem Christmas

Christmas' 35 points were the most points by an Syracuse player since James Southerland scored 35 against Arkansas in November 2012.  This was the best scoring effort by a Syracuse inside big man since Hakim Warrick scored 36 points back in 2005.  The last Syracuse center to score over 30 points in a game was Otis Hill back in 1997 with 34 points against Alabama.  The last Syracuse center to score 35 or more points in a game was Bill Smith, back in 1971, when he set the school record with 47 points in a game.

Christmas had four fouls with about six minutes to go in regulation, and he managed to stay in the remainder of the game and all of the overtime period.  He gave up the defensive baskets rather than foul out, and that was crucial as he was the Orange's best scoring threat from the field and from the free throw line.  

It will be interesting to see how this season plays out for Christmas.  He continues to amaze me each night with the immense improvement in his game. He is so much more fluid offensively than in the past, and is extremely aggressive around the hoop.  The fact that he consistently faces a double team just makes it more amazing.

McCullough Out

On a night when Trevor Cooney blistered Florida State for 28 points and the Orange moved to 3-0 in ACC, there was not too much joy as freshman Chris McCullough injured his knee.

News today is the McCullough has torn his ACL and will miss the rest of this season.

The Orange will move on without McCullough, and all is not loss, as basketball is a team game. But this is highly damaging for a team already thin in the front line.

DuJuan Coleman is out for the entire year, and Chino Obokoh is the only reserve 'big' man the Orange have.  

The Orange need Rakeem Christmas to continue to play aggressive, but when he gets winded or in foul trouble, it will be tough to replace him.  Obokoh had four fouls in the Florida State game in just over five minutes of play, so you have got to believe he has a lot of work cut out for him.

Tyler Roberson can help replace McCullough, and Roberson is more of a natural power forward, so this should help Roberson.  But you do not replace 6'10" athletic players easily and that is what McCullough brought to the court.  He may have been struggling, but he was still a factor on the court.  

B.J. Johnson is going to need to come back from purgatory, and start to play.  He was rebounding well earlier in the season, but his shooting was horrendous and his defensive play in the zone was lacking.  Jim Boeheim will play a player who plays defense but is struggling offensively, but he does not like to play a guy who creates a problem in the zone defense.   

The Orange are going to need Johnson and Obokoh to start to develop.  The perimeter with Cooney, Mike Gbinije, Kaleb Joseph and Ron Patterson will be fine.  And Christmas is playing like an All-American. Let's see which Orangeman will help him out.

The timing for when McCullough can return next year will be interesting.  Conventional timing indicates it takes about a year for a repaired ACL to heal.  Some players do have a faster time line.  Andy Rautins tore his ACL, and missed an entire season.  The upside for Rautins was that he hit the gym hard, added twenty pounds of muscle, and came back a much stronger and better player.  Hopefully McCullough's surgery goes well, and he can have the same success Rautins had with his rehab.

The Most Improved Senior

Conference play has just begun for Syracuse, so there is still a long way to go in the season.  However, at this point in time, Rakeem Christmas has made an amazing jump in his performance from his junior year to his senior year.  This is causing a lot of discussion among Syracuse fans on whether this is the best increase between a junior and senior season.

In 2013-2014, Christmas  averaged  5.8 ppg, and often was pulled early in the game by a frustrated JimBoeheim. In 2014-2015, Christmas is the focal point of the offense, and is scoring 17.3 ppg.  Not only is his production up, but he seems to move with more grace and ease on the court, shows a wider variety of moves, and a more aggressive style. There are still weaknesses to his game, and the tough part of the schedule is still a month away, but Christmas has definitely made huge strides.

How does Christmas compare to other seniors who made great strides their senior year? Chronologically…

In 1919-1920, forward Nick Paul led the Orangemen in scoring with 13.5 ppg, and was the team’s designated free throw shooter. Paul was 8.5 ppg better than runner up Ken Lavin.  He led the team to a 15-3 record.  As a junior Paul played in only four games and scored 10 points.   A rather remarkable performance for a man who had played only 5 games in his career prior to his senior year.  Syracuse won its last 13 games of the season, and Paul was the leading scorer in each game.

In 1951-1952, guard Bucky Roche was second in scoring on the team with 14.0 ppg.  His junior year he had scored 4.6 ppg.  Roche’s highlight of the season was a 35 point game in a tight win over rival Cornell.

In 1968-1969, forward Bob Kouwe was second in scoring with 14.0 ppg, and had 6.5 rebounds per game.  He had only 4.0 ppg and 2.8 rpg in a junior season that was cut short by a team suspension.  Kouwe would have a career high 27 points in a one point win over rival Colgate.

In 1980-1981, center Danny Schayes led the Orangemen in scoring and rebounding with 14.6 ppg and 8.3 rpg.  He shot 82% from the free throw line and 58% from the floor.  He had only 5.9 ppg and 4.5 rpg his junior year.  Schayes had always been a fundamentally sound player, but he was stuck behind Roosevelt Bouie for three years.  Boeheim tried a twin tower approach with Schayes and Bouie both on the court, but that did not work well as neither player was suited for the forward position.

In 1986-1987, guard Greg Monroe would increase his scoring from 4.6 ppg to 12.9 ppg, along with doubling his rebounding and assist efforts.  Monroe could always play, but he lacked the playing time being stuck behind Pearl Washington and Rafael Addison.  The unknown that Monroe brought to the game was his three point shooting. This was the first season of three point shooting in the NCAA, and Monroe proved to be very good at it, hitting 43.9% of his shots. That, along with his senior leadership, was a great factor in allowing the Orangemen to make a run at the National Championship.

In 1995-1996, point guard Lazarus Sims would develop into a fantastic playmaker, averaging 7.4 assists per game, along with 3.7 rpg. He wasn’t counted on to score, averaging only 6.3 ppg, but he shot well enough (36% from three point range and 75% from the free throw line) to keep teams honest.  Sims would help guide the Orangemen to the National Championship game against Kentucky, and his playmaking was the second biggest factor behind big John Wallace.  Sims only played 441 minutes his junior year, averaging 2.6 apg, 1.4 rpg, and 3.0 ppg, as he sat behind Michael Lloyd and Lawrence Moten.

In 2000-2001 point guard Allen Griffin would dwarf his junior year statistics.  He had 10.8 ppg, 6.5 apg, and 3.3 rpg, versus 3.0 ppg, 1.7 apg, and 1.1 rpg.  However, Griffin’s career was strange, as he was a healthy but seldom used junior player who was stuck behind guards Jason Hart, Tony Bland, DeShaun Williams and swingman Preston Shumpert.  As a sophomore, Griffin had been a starter and had a decent season, so while his senior year was a huge leap from his junior, it was not a huge leap from his sophomore.  Griffin did have to huge games his senior year; he recorded a triple double in a win over Pitt, and the next game he would score 31 points in a 2 point win over St. John’s.

In 2006-2007, forward Demetris Nichols went from having a good junior year to an excellent senior year.  Nichols had 13.3 ppg as a junior, but he rose that to 18.9 ppg as a senior.   Nicholas became more efficient as he improved his shooting touch, and was more prolific. He increased his three point shooting from 36% to 42%, and his free throw shooting from 68% to 85%. Nichols would score 37 points and have 10 rebounds in a two point win over St. Johns.

In 2010-2011, forward Rick Jackson made significant strides in his play, even if the statistical numbers weren’t as strong as some other candidates.  Jackson increased his scoring from 9.7 ppg to 13.1 ppg, and his rebounds from 7.0 rpg to 10.3 ppg.  Defensively he became the Big East Defensive Player of the Year.  He was far more consistent offensively, as opposed to his junior season where he often disappeared. 

If I were to choose a player, prior to this season, I would have to go with Lazarus Sims.  I did not see the first three players I mentioned, and statistically speaking, Nick Paul had the best improvement of any Syracuse player ever, especially in the context of his era.  But I did not see him play.

Sims ran the offense spectacularly his senior year, and with his size was a strong defensive presence at the top of the key.  This from a player that almost transferred earlier in his career, and a player that Jim Boeheim was shaky enough about that he recruited a junior college player (Lloyd) to play the point instead.  The fact that Syracuse went to the national championship game speaks a lot about Sims improvement.

Many of the players listed above may not have benefited from significant improvement in their play, but rather from finally getting the opportunity to play. That is always tough to tell. Christmas is a little bit clearer because he has been given the opportunity to play, and never took hold of it.  He has been a starter his whole career, but has also been the victim of many quick hooks.

If Christmas keeps up his pace, and the Orange make some noise in the post season, I would be apt to make him the most improved senior ever.  We will have to see how it plays out.