Monday, July 23, 2007

More Voting... Football and Lacrosse

Since its a non-election year, and the doldrums of summer with little Syracuse University action going on, and I've been in a 'ranking mode' lately, I've set up two more polls for Syracuse fans to get involved with.

I'm a lacrosse fan, love watching the game the Orangemen play. I'll admit I'm not an expert on lacrosse, nor its history, but I've put together a poll of who I think the top candidates are. Feel free to vote for the Greatest Syracuse Orangeman Lacrosse Player. There have been a lot of great ones on the hill; my personal favorite was Gary Gait. But I'm sure many of you feel that one of the Powell brothers, or Jim Brown, or perhaps Dick Finley should get the honor. I'm sure Roy Simmons I & II have an opinion.

We can turn to the gridiron. Many legendary players have played at Syracuse, and we all know about the legendary 44. How rich is the history at Syracuse? It's quite possible that the great Jim Brown, who I think is the greatest NFL player ever, wasn't even the best running back for the Orange. I'm not saying Brown wasn't, but a very good argument for Mr. Ernie Davis could be made. Or perhaps a great wideout like Art Monk or Marvin Harrison, or a Hall of Famer Tight End like John Mackey, or a Hall of Fame center such as Jim Ringo (because football is won in the trenches, or so we are told). Many to choose from; who do you think was the Greatest Syracuse Orangemen Football Player?

It's all in fun, of course, but I think if you take the voting a little bit seriously, we might get some interesting votes. I am definitely eager to see who the most underrated basketball player for Syracuse is. And a few months back we saw that Dave Bing took the honor of Syracuse's Greatest Basketball Player (though with the ever changing vote, who knows).

Friday, July 20, 2007

Most Under Rated: You Vote

On Thursday I provided my opinion of who I thought the 10 most under rated Syracuse Basketball players were of all time, along with providing reasons why I thought they were underrated.

Do you agree, disagree? Now it is your chance to vote for the 10 Most Under Rated Syracuse Orangemen Basketball players of all-time at Rankopedia.com.

As with the Greatest Orangeman poll I had a few weeks back, you can vote as many times as you want, but only once a day. I'll summarize the results in a week or so.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Most Under Rated Orangemen

Thousands of athletes have passed before our eyes, generation after generation. Many get their accolades, while others fall into that undesirable category of ‘underrated’. Syracuse basketball has its share of underrated players.

Why are some players underrated? I think many factors come into play.

Time diminishes a player’s value. As time passes, the number of fans who saw the player perform decrease, while the number of fans who never saw them play increases. And for most people, seeing is believing. Fans are more willing to believe what they have seen for themselves, rather than the words of someone else. As such, the more current players are valued higher and those from the past are underrated.

Players’ performance in the NBA. Fans will often justify or change their opinion of a college player on how they perform at the next level. If a player struggles in the NBA, it suggests that perhaps the player was not as good as was thought at the college level. If the player doesn’t even make the NBA, it’s a greater curse on the player.

There are four problems with retroactively evaluating a college player based on his professional experience. First, the college game is different than the professional game, in many different ways. Second, a player could have circumstances such as health or even simple nagging injuries that detract from their professional career. Third, a player’s motivation or desire to play at the professional level may not be as strong as it was in college; call it the ‘fat paycheck’ syndrome. In college a player was striving to get the payday, while in the NBA, he has achieved it. And fourth, many players continue to improve year after year, and the player they are in the NBA is a much more skilled player than the one they were in college. However, other players never improve beyond how well they played in college. None of these should detract from how good they were in college; yet they often do.

Performance of his Team: Players who play on great teams get far more credit than players who play on average or bad teams. There is some justification in this logic, since a player does account for 1/5th of a team. However, it’s not universally applicable. Basketball is a team game, and a player cannot be held accountable for the performance of his teammates. A great player can elevate the play of some players around him, but not all of them.

Great Teammates: A player who is on a team with another great player or several other very good players may tend to get underrated. This is only natural. If the world’s second greatest basketball player (whomever that may be) played on the same team as the world’s greatest basketball player, the first player would look less impressive. Furthermore, there is a limit to how much scoring can actually be done in a game, how many rebounds can be pulled down. The more great players, the less each of those great players can accumulate. If you have four great players on a team, they may all average around 15 points a game; it’s really not possible for them all to get 20 ppg.

Overshadowed by Replacements: A great player who is replaced by another great player, is going to tend to be underrated. The newer player will be fresher, more relevant, and will tend to quickly overshadow the first player. A player’s reputation is enhanced if a few years go by, and fans have time to rehash the memories of that player in their mind. If a player is immediately replaced by another, that period of adulation is non-existent.

Playing From A Different Era: The rules of the game change, the style of play changes, and the type of players changes. In the first 25 years of college ball there was a designated free throw shooter, who took all the free throws. This player would often account for 80% of the team’s scoring. Until the early 1930s, there was a focus on getting the ball to one player to do the majority of the scoring. Guards literally guarded opposing players, and rarely took a shot. There was a jump ball after every made basket until 1938, thus keeping scoring down and eliminating a lot of fast breaks. From the 1940s until the mid 60a scoring was consistently increasing. Late in the 80s the three point shot was introduced, allowing perimeter scorers to become significantly more productive. Defense became the motto of college basketball in the 90s, and scoring has been down the past two decades. Yet, if you don’t know the changes in the game, you cannot really understand what it meant to a 15 point per game (ppg) scorer in the 1920s versus the 1950s versus the 1980s versus today. Players from lower scoring eras are typically underrated, those from high scoring are overrated.

Substance vs Style: Players who are flashy, give a good quote, play big in national games, get the recognition and are more memorable. Those players who play solid game after game with a workmanlike attitude tend to get ignored.

Failure to Hit Milestones: Players who score 1,000 points, or score 20 points a game in a season, or have 10 rebounds a game are remembered. But if you score 980 points, you fail to make the ‘list’ and those tend to get ignored.

I’ll give you my opinion of who I think the most underrated Orangemen of all time have been. It is a dangerous list to try to compile, because it makes an assumption that I think a guy is being underrated by other fans, and that is tough to quantify. However, based on conversations with Orange fans, chats on message boards, and Syracuse articles, I’m willing to take a shot at putting together that list.


So who are the 10 most underrated basketball players in Syracuse history?

First, let me give you my honorable mention: John Wallace. Huh? Now most fans would easily have Wallace in their top 10, so why is he underrated? I think he earns a mention in this category because when I did the poll in May on the greatest Syracuse basketball players of all time he came in 8th. Wallace was a four year starter at Syracuse, carried the 1995-96 team on his back to the brink of a National Championship, averaging 22.2 ppg, and 8.7 rebounds. Wallace shot 42% from three point range that season (best on the team), and also had 2.4 assists a game, and shot 76% from the charity stripe. He had the complete game at the college level. I think a guy like that could be considered by some to be the best ever, and should be in the top 5, so when he’s showing in the bottom half of the top 10, I’d say that’s underrated.

Rafael Addison: Raf had a sweet 16 foot jumper, nice overall shooting touch and was a clutch player in the mid 80’s. He was a decent rebounder and ball handler, and was comfortable in many areas of the court. One reason Raf tends to get underrated because he moved to shooting guard his senior season and hurt his leg at the mid point. While he didn’t miss any games, it did hamper him and reduced his scoring ability. As it was his missed by 7 points in being the player to break Dave Bing’s scoring record. I imagine if he had scored 8 more, he would be for more memorable today. Addison also suffers because he played with the dynamic Pearl for three seasons, and was the season after Raf graduated, Derrick Coleman came on to campus.

Jim Brown: Brown is well known for his football and lacrosse exploits, but his ability in basketball is greatly underrated. Brown averaged 38 ppg in high school basketball. As a sophomore at Syracuse, he scored 15.0 ppg, second only to Vinnie Cohen’s 15.8. As a junior Brown dropped to 11.3 ppg. He was a ferocious rebounder, a strong slasher to the hoop. Brown stopped playing basketball after his junior season because of problems with coach Marc Guley. Brown’s notoriety at football and lacrosse overshadowed his basketball results, and the Syracuse basketball program was low profile at the time.

Bill Smith: How many 6’11” centers, averaging 20.7 ppg and 12.9 rebounds per game, fail to make the top 10 of their schools list of best players? Bill Smith is one. Smith shot nearly 60% from the floor for his career, averaged a double / double all three seasons. His senior season Smith scored 22.7 ppg with 14.5 rebounds. As a sophomore he would score 41 points in a game, and as a senior he would score a Syracuse record 47 points against Lafayette, a record that still stands. Syracuse basketball received little local press during his first couple of seasons, which hampers his rating. A disappointing NBA career (30 games) and a very routine name (how much more common can you be than Bill Smith) also play to the lack of notoriety.

Preston Shumpert: Shumpert blossomed into a star his junior season, with terrific three point shooting and an incredible shooting range. He would be on the All Big East first team his last two seasons. He scored 30+ points seven times in his career. His eye injury in the 2001 Big East Tournament against Providence, cost the Orangemen dearly in the next game, a one point loss to Pittsburgh. Shumpert’s legacy is tarnished by the complete collapse of the Syracuse team. The Orangemen were 14-2 in January, ranked #7 in the country behind the outstanding play of Shumpert. Unfortunately, personnel issues with DeShaun Williams (whom from all accounts was the instigator) cause the team to fall apart and go 4-9 down the stretch, missing the NCAA tournament. I think the lingering image of that season’s collapse hangs over Shumpert and keeps him away from any discussions on great Syracuse players. His failure to make it to the NBA also counts.

Leo Rautins: Leo is now getting attention because of his son Andy’s involvement with the team, and because Rautins Sr is now the head coach of the Canadian National Team. However, people forget how good Leo was at Syracuse. A transfer from Minnesota, Rautins played three seasons for Syracuse during the toughest era of the Big East (The Ewing / Mullin / Pickney days). Rautins was an amazing passer, playing the ‘point forward’ position for the Orangemen. He was a solid rebounder and a terrific scorer. He was the first player to have a triple double in the Big East, and the only player to do it twice. Rautins’ legacy is hurt by many factors. He played alongside two terrific scorers in Tony Bruin and Erich Santifer, so Leo’s scoring was reduced. Syracuse struggled to win the big games in an extremely tough conference dominated by big men, at a time when the Orange did not have a big center. Rautins had to play in the shadows of Big East players such as Patrick Ewing, Eddie Pinkney, Chris Mullin and Bill Whittington. Rautins also injured his knee at Syracuse. He was drafted in the first round of the NBA draft by the Philadelphia 76’ers, but was always hampered by his knee injury and he would last only two seasons.

Eddie Goldberg: Who? I must admit that when I first started studying the history of Syracuse basketball (now many years ago), I had never heard of Ed Goldberg. Goldberg was a terrific scoring guard for Syracuse from 1958 to 1960, averaging 16.3 ppg. In a freshman game, he set the Archbold Gym scoring record with 44 points against Cornell. He was a good perimeter shooter and a solid free throw shooter. Unfortunately, Goldberg was also injury prone and would miss playing time each season due to injury. He also played at a time when football was unquestionably #1 at Syracuse (and in the nation, in 1959), and the basketball team was struggling slightly above .500. That doesn’t help with gaining much attention. Goldberg finished his career with 943 points, failing to hit the magical thousand points that would have garnered him familiarity.

Rudy Hackett: Hackett was a terrific three year player at Syracuse, scoring 1496 points and averaging 17.2, and had 990 career rebounds with an 11.4 average. Syracuse would go 24-5, 19-7, and 23-9 in his three seasons with 3 NCAA bids, the first time SU would go to the tourney 3 years in a row. In 1975, Hackett averaged 22.2 ppg and 12.7 rebounds in leading the Orange (along with Jimmy Lee) to a miracle run at Syracuse’s first Final Four bid. Hackett was a great rebounder, a gifted runner who could quickly get to the hoop. Hackett would have two undistinguished years in the NBA before starring over in Italy for several seasons. Hackett’s recognition is reduced because of the arrival of the Bouie N’ Louie team shortly after he left. Though the improbable run through the NCAA should have left a stronger impact on his memory, I think the excellence of Jimmy Lee in that tournament (Lee hit the clutch shots and was the tournament’s leading scorer) overshadowed Hackett’s outstanding play.

Marty Byrnes: Byrnes is the forgotten man at Syracuse. He was a natural leader and the team captain both his junior and senior seasons. Byrnes was one of those players who wasn’t outstanding in any one area; he was just good in many of them. He could score with a nice left handed shot, he could rebound, and he was recognized as being the clutch player on the team. Byrnes would be drafted in the first round of the 1978 NBA draft (18th overall pick), and would play four seasons averaging 5.7 ppg, primarily as a reserve. He is, as of today, the only Syracuse player to win a NBA championship, in 1980 with the Lakers. I think Byrnes recognition suffers from may factors. He always had talented and/or flashier teammates around him (Dale Shackleford, Jimmy Williams, Louis Orr, and Roosevelt Bouie). The Bouie & Louis Show came on board when Byrnes was a junior, so he shared the limelight his two biggest seasons. Byrnes wasn’t flashy, and he didn’t have any aspect of his game that made him overly memorable.

Roosevelt Bouie: Bouie is greatly unknown by many younger fans (other than being part of Bouie & Louie), and there are misconceptions on why he wasn’t in the NBA. Bouie was an outstanding defender in college, and a big man (6’11”) who could run the court. He was teamed with Louis Orr for all four seasons, where Syracuse had the amazing record of 100-18. He would score 1,560 points in his career, and average 8.4 rebounds. Impressive numbers by themselves, but more impressive when you consider that he had to share points with guys like Orr, Byrnes, and Danny Schayes. Bouie made 59% of his career field goals and blocked 327 shots. His talent kept Danny Schayes off the court for three seasons. Bouie was the 34th pick of the 1980 draft, taken by the Dallas Mavericks. Contract negotiations didn’t go well, so Bouie went to Italy instead. He found he loved playing over there, he loved the lifestyle, and Italy loved him. So Bouie played there for thirteen seasons, never contemplating coming back to the NBA. Today, some fans figure he couldn’t make the NBA, but the reality is he never gave it a try.

Vinnie Cohen: Cohen would have to go down as the most underrated player in Syracuse history. Many fans have no idea who he is. Cohen led Syracuse to its first NCAA tournament bid in 1957, averaging 24.2 points a game. He was the first Syracuse player to average 20+ a game in a season, and his average is still the third best ever. He was an explosive leaper who could drive to the hoop, handle the ball well, and rebound strong, despite the fact he was only 6’1”. He would score 1337 points in his career, averaging 19.7, and took Syracuse to the Elite 8 in 1957. Cohen ignored the NBA and instead earned a law degree from Syracuse, and became prominent Washington lawyer. Cohen lacks recognition because he played over 50 years ago, and he has no NBA resume, from which people draw the wrong conclusion.

There are players from the first half of the 20th century that could also use recognition, guys like Vic Hanson, Joe Schwarzer, Wilbur Crisp, Lew Castle, Lew Hayman, Ev Katz, Edgar Sonderman, Wilmeth Sidat-Singh, and others. I'm not going to say these gentlemen were underrated; in many ways, they are totally unknown, and choosing one of them as being more underrated then the rest would be impossible; for that reason I've excluded players from those eras. They were outstanding players with outstanding contributions and records on and off the court.

Friday, June 29, 2007

Nichols Drafted by Portland

Congratulations to Demetris Nichols who was drafted in the 2nd round of the 2007 NBA draft by the Portland Trailblazers. Nichols is the 50th Syracuse player drafted by the NBA, and hopefully he’ll be the 34th former Orangemen to play in the NBA.

The Trailblazers would have been interesting for Nichols. On one hand, it was a team with a lot of young talent, a situation that may have made it difficult for him to get the opportunities he would need to grow. It’s also a team with a very bright future. On the other hand, the Portland market is probably more suited to a player with Nichols character, a player who is somewhat shy and shuns the spotlight.

Nichols fortunes took a turn last night however, as the Trailblazers traded him to the New York Knicks for the Knicks’ 2008 2nd round pick. There will be more opportunities for Nichols in New York (I would think), and the Knicks are much closer to family, friends and SU fans. On the other hand, New York isn’t the kindest market to players who have low key personalities, so we’ll see.

I’ve always thought that Nichols has tremendous upside in the NBA. He has the right NBA style body (tall, athletic, quick) and a very good shooting touch. He needs to continue to improve his game as he did at Syracuse, but his NBA career is pretty much going to be his to define. I could see him eventually being a star player, or a guy with barely a taste of NBA action.

From a historical perspective getting out of Portland may have been a good thing for Nichols. Two former Orangemen have been drafted by the Trailblazers, and both had very short careers. Bill Smith was drafted in the 3rd round of the 1971 NBA draft (the 42nd pick overall), and Dave Johnson in the 1st round of the 1992 draft (the 26th pick overall). Smith would play 30 games in the NBA, and Johnson 59 (by the way, how mundane is it that the previous two Orangemen drafted by Portland had names so common as Bill Smith and Dave Johnson. If Mike Jones had stayed at Syracuse he could have been the trifecta in 2010).

The New York Knicks haven’t been much kinder to former Orangemen. Howard Triche and Gary Clark were both drafted by the Knicks but failed to play in the NBA. John Wallace was a 1st round pick in 1996 (18th pick overall); he’d have a seven year career in the NBA, but no where near the success a 1st round pick should have.

Though there was some hope that Darryl Watkins would get drafted, it was not a surprise he was not. He’s definitely a project in the NBA, and I think not getting drafted will benefit him. Now Watkins and his agent can pick the right opportunity for him as a rookie free agent. He may need to spend some time in Europe or the NBDL, but I could see 'Mookie' making the NBA someday as a serviceable backup player.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

The Iverson Effect

I believe there are often times when a player is so gifted athletically that fans (and experts) are so amazed by the great plays that they overlook the obvious shortcomings of the player. Even more so, I would contend that often the player is put into a position to be a late game hero because of his own failure to deliver during the rest of the game. This is what I call the “Iverson Effect”.

Allen Iverson is no doubt a talented basketball player. He has a reputation throughout his career of being a great clutch player, a guy who carries the team in the fourth quarter to amazing come-from-behind victories.

I would contend, however, that he is the reason his team is behind in the fourth quarter. Iverson has historically been a selfish player, a shoot first, pass second guard (not my favorite type). I'll give two examples from the 1999-2000 season. On December 23rd, 1999 in a 94-99 loss against the New Jersey Nets, Iverson, the starting point guard played 47 minutes, scoring 42 points. He had NO assists. He scored 42 points by chucking the ball up 26 times (making 11 baskets) and going to the free throw line 20 times and making 17 freebies. Nobody on the 76ers shot particularly well that day, but 47 minutes, and not one cheap assist?

Later that same season on March 29th, Iverson played the whole game in an 84-98 loss to the Utah Jazz. Iverson was 7-21 from the floor, with only four trips to the charity stripe, and a ho-hum 18 points. Again he had 0 assists. This time, his teammates were shooting sharp. Toni Kukoc was 6-12, Tyrone Hill 4-8, Aaron McKie 3-6 and Matt Geiger 6-9. Not one of those guys was the beneficiary of an assisted basket by Iverson. They are all shooting well and he throws up 21 shots, bricking 14 of them. He could’ve had 5-8 easy assists by passing the ball to the hot hand.

Iverson isn't even a great shooter. For his career he is only 42% from the floor. He good at driving the lane and drawing fouls, but even with all that he's still only 42%. He’s gotten better from the floor the past few seasons, and has learned to bring his teammates into the game. But he was already a legend by that point in time. And I’m referring to the stuff that made him a legend.

Let’s take into hand his reputation for being a clutch 4th quarter player, and let’s assume its true (I have no statistical evidence to confirm nor deny it). Let’s say that he does play better in the last 12 minutes when the game is on the line, and he shoots 50% in that quarter (a big assumption, but it will help illustrate a point). If Iverson truly is that good in the fourth quarter, which is what his supporters would like to believe, then he’s even worse in the first three quarters than the statistics earlier supported. For if he’s a 42% career field goal shooter, and he hits 50% in the clutch fourth quarter, then statistically, he must be shooting under 40% for the rest of the game; possibly well under.

Whereas, if Iverson were to play solid in the first three quarters, the 76’ers would likely have been in the lead in the fourth quarter and had no need for his late game heroics. Its because he missed the shots earlier in the game and failed to get his teammates involved, that late in the game he has no choice but to try to make it up.

And here’s where the legends are made. Let’s say you are trailing by 10 points in the fourth quarter and you take 10 shots. If you are cold, and make only 3 out of 10 baskets, your team will never really be in it down the stretch, and so there won’t be any close moments for you to blow. If you’re somewhat hot, and you make 5 out of 10 baskets, now you’ve helped bring your team back… even if you still lose. People remember, “yeah, the 76’ers lost, but Iverson helped bring them back”, completely forgetting the 1-9 effort in this first 3 quarters (for example). And if you’re really lucky, and go 7-10 or 8-10, then you overcome that big deficit single handedly, and a legend is born.

The Iverson effect is essentially, a player puts himself into the situation to be the star of a game because of his inability to play well earlier in the game. I think this happens with several ‘superstars’ out there in many different sports. The player can’t stay focused for the whole 9 innings or the whole four quarters or 3 periods. So they hang around, playing mediocre, and give it their best shot late in the game.

It’s really the opposite of the “ARod Effect”. The ARod Effect would be a player who puts up great stats but has a reputation for failing in the clutch. ARod’s critics would say he hits an ‘empty’ 50 home runs and meaningless 140 rbis. Perhaps he does struggle in some close moments; but I would contend that the number of close moments is greatly reduced because he played so well during the rest of the game. Because ARod hit that 3 run home run in the ‘meaningless third inning’, the Yankees were leading by 5 in the 8th inning and didn’t need any heroics. Or because he hit that ‘meaningless 2 run homer in the first inning’, the Yankees were down by only one run late in the game… and he strikes out at that point making himself the goat.

I’ll admit I’m not Iverson fan. He possesses many characteristics I dislike in modern athletes. A criminal background, a lot of hype, self centered style of play, more athleticism then basketball skill. He was everything John Thompson didn’t like in a guard, but played for the Hoyas, in my opinion, because of a political statement by Mr. Thompson.

Look, Allen Iverson is a very good player, with great athletic ability in a 6’0” frame. And in the past few years, he’s learned to involve his teammates. But if a guy in my church basketball league put up 27 shots in a night and made only 11, and did that on a regular basis, we’d all have a simple name for him: he’s a ‘chucker’. You wrap that chucker up in an athletic body, and suddenly he’s labeled a star. Accomplishes the same thing… but gets more recognition doing it. In my book, if you put up 25+ shots in a game, you had better score 30+ points. Scoring 20 points on 10-14 shooting is impressive; scoring 20 points on 10-30 shooting isn’t.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

US Open 2007 - Truth in Advertising

Allow me a minor diversion from Syracuse basketball.

Tiger, Phil, Vijay and others prepare to tee off this weekend for the 107th US Open on one of the country's toughest golf courses in Oakmont, PA according to the official US Open site. However, that statement isn't quite true.


The US Open is being played at the Oakmont Country Club, a record 8th time for a site to host the open. The Oakmont Country Club, however, is not located in the beautiful village of Oakmont. Only a maintenance shed on a corner of the property is located in Oakmont.


The club is instead located in Plum Borough, PA. Plum is the second largest borough (in terms of land space) in the state of Pennsylvania with 28.6 square miles, and a population of 27,940 (2000 US Census). It's best described as a rural suburb, on the outskirts of the Pittsburgh suburban area. It is also the home of the OrangeHoops blog, and thus the compulsion by me to set the facts straight.

Now to be fair, the area of Plum where the Oakmont Country Club is located is mostly small housing and open fields. The business section of Plum, what little there is, is miles away from the club location. Whereas the village of Oakmont is literally right next store, and the large beautiful homes of Oakmont decorate both sides of Hulton Road as you go down into the village. In fact, residents of Plum who live in that area, refer to themselves as living in "East Oakmont", though they are indeed Plum residents.

So Plum won't get the notoriety this week (except in this blog). But the residence, such as myself, can take some solace in having a nice bump in the tax revenue for the borough over the next week.

Good luck to all the players in this week's tournament. And as history shows, it will definitely be a tough battle.


Tailgating and Visting the Syracuse Area

If you're looking to visit the Syracuse area, and in particular are looking to attend a Syracuse football or basketball game, I would suggest visiting the blog of TexanMark. He has done an outstanding job of detailing the campus, city and regional area, and gives a large amount of information that will help those unfamiliar with the area, and many helfpul hints.

He's put together similar guides for other Big East venues, so give those a shot too if you're going there. If he's put together the same vim and vigor for those as he did for Syracuse, you should be in good shape.