Syracuse Orange basketball has drawn players from
29states; 14 of those states they have
drawn 5 or more players, thus enough to form a basketball team. If you were to
form a tournament playing those teams, which would be the best?
New York, by far, has the most players to draw from, with
344 players. The backcourt would be led by
the dynamic Pearl Washington, and Greg Kohls would be his long range shooter by
his side. John Wallace would carry the
front line of the team, with Roosevelt Bouie the big man in the middle, and
Rudy Hackett on the other side. Adrian Autry could back up the Pearl at the
point, or play the two guard, as could Dennis DuVal. The versatile Dale Shackleford would be a key
reserve, and Danny Schayes would back up Bouie.
Billy Gabor, Jonny Flynn… a lot of guard talent. More sharpshooters like Andy Rautins and
Marty Headd. And of course, the greatest Syracuse player from the first half of the 20th century, Vic Hanson, would also be on the team.
The All
New Jersey team (44 players) would be a decent squad. The backcourt would have Tyler Ennis and Dion
Waiters, the forwards would be Rafael Addison and Keith Hughes, and Rick Dean
would man the center position. There would
be some depth in the backcourt with 50’s stars Jack Kiley and Ed Goldberg,
along with forward Terrence Roberts. Newcomer Malachi Richardson may bring some
excitement to the line.
The
Pennsylvania team (43 players) would be led by Billy
Owens at forward. Scoop Jardine and Gerry
McNamara in the backcourt; Hakeem Warrick would lock down the other forward
position and Rakeem Christmas would man the center position. Rick Jackson would be a versatile backup
forward and center on the squad, and Tom Green the backup guard. If you could stop Scoop from having his
Scoop moments, this would be quite a team. The front court of
Owens-Warrick-Christmas would be a fantastic combination, and to have Rick Jackson
as a reserve is just fantastic.
The
Massachusetts team (23 players) star would be Michael
Carter-Williams. Kaleb Joseph would join
him in the backcourt. Paul Harris would
play one forward and James Southerland the other. Center would be tough to fill with probably
Tom Stundis and Peter Wynne having to rotate the position. The Massachusetts
team would have a tough time scoring with Southerland the only true shooter on
the team, and no real size in the front court.
The
Connecticut team (17 players) would focus its offense around
Dion Waiters (also on the New Jersey team).
Larry Kelley would join him in the backcourt. Chris McCullough would be the star big man,
which is somewhat daunting considering his limited time at Syracuse due to his
injury and then going early to the NBA.
Stan Richtmeyer, star in the 1920s, may be the big man with the best
career of the bunch, though at 6’1”, he would play guard today, not
forward. Eric Williams and Mark Meaders
would have to help fill out the front line, both reserves in their Orangemen
careers. Connecticut is definitely going
to have some problems.
The
Maryland team (14 players) despite having a small pool
to pull from, would be very tough competition.
It would of course start with Carmelo Anthony. You would have C.J. Fair or Jerami
Grant at
the other forward, and Arinze Onuaku at center.
You’d also have Donte Greene to come off the bench for some pure
shooting. The backcourt would have Billy
Edelin at the point, with sharp shooting Michael Brown as the shooting guard.
And two very capable backup point guards in Michael Lloyd and Ernie Austin; in
fact, I might start one of them over Brown.
We could catch a wave and go with the
California team (13
players). There’s some strong defensive
backcourt players with Jason Hart and Mike Hopkins; you could use Earl Duncan
or Tony Bland if you wanted a little more offense. The front court would have twin towers in
Rich Manning and LeRon Ellis, and the explosive Stephen Thompson would
highlight the offense at the small forward position. This would be a strong
defensive team with Hart, Hopkins and Thompson all known for strong defensive
capabilities and two tall centers.
Team
Virginia (11 players) actually has a lot of crossover
with other states. They can also claim Carmelo Anthony for one forward
position, and Arinze Onuaku at the center.
Billy Edelin would be a guard and silent G Michael Gbinije at the shooting
guard position. Baye Keita would be the
third front court player, probably the only weak (relatively) spot on the
court.
The
Ohio team (10 players) does not have much to draw from.
Louis Orr would be the star at forward, and Fred Saunders would hold down the
other forward. J.B. Reafsnyder would be
the center. LaSean Howard and Reaves Baysinger are probably the two best
guards, and that would be stretch for this team to be competitive in today’s
game.
The
Michigan team (10 players) would have a backcourt of two
Eric’s: Eric Devendorf and Erich
Santifer. Derrick Coleman would be the star
of the team, and obviously could play the power forward or center
position. Todd Burgan and Wesley Johnson
would be the other two forwards. James
Thues could be the backup point guard.
The toughest challenge for this team is the lack of a true point guard
in the starting five (tough Devo could do it).
It has perimeter shooter with Devo and Johnson, and guys who can drive
to the hoop in Devo, Santifer Johnson and Burgan. Coleman could just dominate
inside and from 15’ in.
New Hampshire (10 players), because of New Hampton Prep (4
players) becomes competitive. The top
player would be Lawrence Moten, and you could have Chris McCullough and C.J.
Fair join him on the front line. Kaleb
Joseph and Ron Patterson would be the backcourt. If Tylor Lydon ends up playing well, he would
be a valuable addition to the squad.
The
District of Columbia (8 players) would have perhaps the
strongest backcourt among all the states, including New York: Dave Bing and Sherman Douglas. Lawrence Moten would be one small forward and
Kris Joseph the other. The weak spot would
be center, and football star/basketball reserve Melvin Tuten would have to take
that role (all 6’6” 300 lbs of him).
This team would definitely be able to move the ball and run the court,
and would be fun to watch play on offense.
Defensively they would have some significant problems, but when you have
three of the leading scorers in SU history on the same team (Bing, Douglas and
Moten), things are going to happen on offense.
Florida (8 players) could field a team but it would have
three true starters and then struggle to complete the lineup. Preston Shumpert would be the offensive star
at guard/forward, and Chris McCullough and Fab Melo would handle the front
court. Reserve guards Brandon Reese, Ray
Balukas, Albert Nassar and Andrew Kouwe would have to fight it out for the two
guard positions.
Indiana would be the last state that SU could field a team
from (6 players). Kueth Duany would be
the best player and would likely play the small forward position. Ron Patterson would be the point guard, and
Chuck Wichman could join him in the backcourt. There would be no center, and
Frank Hamblen and Don Degner would have to handle the other frontcourt
positions.
If I were to rank the teams that you could build from these
14 states I would go: New York
- New York
- Pennsylvania
- Michigan
- Maryland
- New Jersey
- Virginia
- District of Columbia
- California
- New Hampshire
- Massachusetts
- Connecticut
- Ohio
- Florida
- Indiana
In a round robin tournament with all 14 teams, I think New
York, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Maryland would all have legitimate chances to
win it all. I’d put my money on New York…
just far too much talent to draw from, but the other three would be very
strong.
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