According to several ‚Äúway too early‚Äù rankings for next year, one thing is impossible to ignore: Syracuse is near the top of everyone’s list.¬†Let‚Äôs ignore for a minute there’s still plenty of unknowns surrounding players departing for the draft, and how incoming freshman will perform. But we‚Äôve finally recovered from that atrocious championship game and need something to get excited about, so why not take a peek inside the hype machine?
Averaging the rankings from ESPN, Sports Illustrated, The Sporting News, Fox Sports, and CBS; here is the top ten:
- Kentucky
- North Carolina
- Ohio State
- Syracuse
- Duke
- Texas
- Louisville
- Memphis
- UConn
- Vanderbilt
An average ranking of #4 in the country and tops in the Big East. That ought to create some buzz. But after failing to reach the Sweet Sixteen and losing its only inside presence, does the Orange deserve this lofty standing?
Syracuse returns nine of its top ten scorers from last season, and brings in The Three Amigos - a highly touted recruiting class with star power. This should be the deepest Orange roster in a long, long time. It also delivers universally high expectations for the Orange. In the five rankings mentioned above, SU’s lowest spot was seventh.
There’s been a lot of hype surrounding the incoming freshman, but these lofty rankings have more to do with what’s coming back. This team returns a nucleus of Brandon Triche, Kris Joseph, and Scoop Jardine. That’s three players with potential to play professionally who enter their third full season playing together.
That fact is obviously a rarity in college basketball nowadays. This is what differentiates SU from the other teams in this top ten. Almost every other program has questions as to which of their top players will be back, and have to hope for star underclassmen to lead the team. Syracuse will be relying on two seniors and a junior with lots of experience to forge the path.
Assuming Kemba Walker leaves for the NBA, Brandon Triche and Kris Joseph will be Big East POY candidates next season. Their talent and experience, combined with the depth of talent around them justifies the early hype.
Syracuse relied heavily on freshman Dion Waiters, CJ Fair, Fab Melo, and Baye Moussa Keita last season. As Bob Knight always said, the best thing to happen to those freshman is that they’re now sophomores. It‚Äôs not unrealistic to expect them to make significant improvements for next season. Add potential contributions from Rakeem Christmas and MCW, and this team appears to be nine deep.
Talent, depth, and leadership are three key elements to a top college basketball team. With the experienced big three of Triche, Joseph, and Jardine leading the way and plenty of talented youngsters behind them, next year’s Orange appear to have those three qualities in droves.
It’s early. Really early. But the lofty rankings are warranted. The hype was going to start sometime. Why not now?
Posted: Steve Neikam
3 responses to “Syracuse is a Preseason Top-5 Team: Why the Rankings Are Justified”
One thing I completely agree with is the “way too early” statement regarding the rankings. Also, I do like the talent that should be returning along with what is under development and what’s on the way in. But, I believe that much of the reason that SU didn’t run deeper into both the BE tourney as well as the NCAAs was due to a lack of intensity and a lack of leadership. Yes, at different points during some games individuals stepped up but there was never a clear and defined team leader and we rarely saw the pure “will-to-win” that most champions exhibit. The point guard SHOULD be a team leader. But Scoop, no offense, simply is not. KJ by right could be a leader, at least on the offensive end, but he hasn’t embraced the role and I’m very reluctant to assume he’ll be back next year. Triche absolutely could be the leader, and even showed signs of it, but a bit more consistency is needed to take on the responsibility. I think Waiters and Fair both showed signs of being future leaders but one of the upperclassmen must fill that void for a successful 2011-2012. Waiters and Fair, along with Keita also showed me signs of the intensity that will be needed in the pressure situations. If they can build on that and be the “energy catalysts” next year, that would go a long way toward posting great wins rather than close losses. There are way too many questions to confidently state how this team will turn out next season. Yes, only one man is gone (again with a HUGE “if” regarding Joseph) but that one was by far the most important piece of the puzzle. You will be sorely missed Ricky!! I like the possibilities and the potential of this team but if the leadership and energy issues are not addressed, I‚Äôll expect next year to have a very similar result to this years, at best.
What posters fail to realize is that Triche is less than a mediocre ball handler and passer…..He cannot penetrate because he does not possess or cannot use a simple cross over and cannot change direction during penetration leading to many charging calls….Consequently Scoop has to carry total play control as compared, for example, to UCONN which has Lamb and Walker…Fortunately, Waiters has most of the necessary skills to take the pressure off Scoop and should see more time at 2 next season if he can avoid turnovers…Joseph gave up his driving game for most of the season and hung around outside waiting for three opportunities.Hopefully, next year he will figure out that Wes Johnson has been a total bust in the NBA because he hangs around waiting for 3’s and almost never takes it to the hoop. Christmas and MCW will have to bulk up to make big contributions because Big East basketball is a collision sport….inside the paint is a war zone! But they are hugely talented as is Fair who gets away with being slender because of his amazing hops and timing…Scoop will have a brilliant year because he will not have to bring the ball down every time and won’t be double teamed at the top of the key or face a packed in defense because we will have a much improved 3 shot potential with Cooney who the author forgot to mention and is the hidden jewel of this recruiting class ! Go, Cuse !
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