The time is now for Syracuse basketball. With a #1 ranking in the country and nightly blowouts of inferior competition, like the 80-61 drubbing of Tulane last night, all eyes are focused on what the Orange can accomplish this season. But another exciting story line is developing in the backdrop for Jim Boeheim: SU’s future is just bright as its present.
Michael Carter-Williams and Rakeem Christmas¬†have provided assurances thus far the Orange will be handing the Final Four baton to very capable hands. Both came in as McDonald’s All-Americans, but because of the depth of the roster have seen limited action so far. Boeheim, though, has seen an opportunity this week to get the two freshman some playing time, and both have taken advantage.
Christmas posted a career high 10 points, along with 5 rebounds and 2 blocks in 14 minutes of work Tuesday night. Rak was simply more athletic than any of the Bucknell players trying to defend him, and was dominant from the start, scoring the first 7 Orange points. The Per’fesser says Christmas has showed promise, but still has a long way to go.
“Rakeem works in practice, but basically he is too nice. He needs to get more physical on the basketball court. You can be as nice as you want off the court. Carmelo Anthony is the quietest, nicest kid off the court but once he gets on the court it is serious business. He’s physical and he’s going to play you hard and Rak needs to use those skills. It takes time. I’ve seen almost no big guys come in and be physical. Hakim Warrick played in the NBA six or seven years and his freshman year he couldn’t even play in this league. He got better. He’ll get better.”
Carter-Williams logged 22 minutes against the Bison, and another 18 last night. Against Bucknell, MCW filled out the boxscore with 6 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, and a steal. He provided the exclamation point to the victory with a steal and slam late in the second half. Versus Tulane, he chipped in 7 points, 3 assists and 2 rebounds.
“We wanted to get Michael some opportunities and he’s still trying to figure it out. He made a couple really good plays at the end (against Bucknell) so I’m glad we were able to leave him in there to get that experience. It was a 13-point game when he made a great drive and dish out to Scoop for a three Рthen he made four free throws and made good defensive plays. So, that was good for him.”
While the freshman haven’t had many opportunities to showcase their talents in game action, they both understand their roles and have brought in a humble attitude from day one.  That may be part of the reason they’ve gained the respect of their older teammates, like Kris Joseph, in practice.
“Rakeem and Michael are very capable freshman – highly talented out of high school as you all know. Rakeem just showed a little bit of what he can do. He really hasn‚Äôt even scratched the surface of his potential and Michael can do the same thing. ¬†Michael showed tonight mentally that he can really run the offense and they both did a tremendous job for us.‚Äù
It’s been the perfect time to get Christmas and MCW some significant minutes before Big East play starts next week. Most of their contributions came with the game still in balance, while they’ll likely not be relied upon in conference play. Whether Christmas and Carter-Williams are even given the opportunity to make an impact from here on out remains to be seen.
But imagine the experience both are getting in playing with a Final Four-caliber squad. How beneficial will this season be for carrying over a elite intensity into their sophomore season? Add in redshirt Trevor Cooney, DC 2.0 and Jerami Grant, and the long term outlook is exhilarating. Some time in the not-so-distant future, these players will take over as leading men for the Orange. This week they provided a small glimpse at how bright that future could be.
Posted: Steve Niekam
4 responses to “#1 Orange Rolls Again: The Present is Bright, the Future May Be Brighter”
MCW is going to be ridiculously good. He’ll show just how good he can be by the end of this year. Rakeem will be ridiculously good too, but probably won’t really show that until next year. JB was smart to give both of them a lot of minutes this week because they won’t play a lot of minutes in the Big East games. He also gave Brandon and Dion some rest and got to try out some different lineups. SU should be ready for Seton Hall next week, but Dion needs to improve his 3 point shooting percentage. Kris’ has improved markedly, and I think that’s partially due to shot selection. I’m guessing the tape from last year’s debacle in the Dome against Seton Hall will be watched a few times between now and the 28th. I suspect SU will be ready by game time to come out and smoke Seton Hall, but Pope is a load. They need to go right at him and try to get him in foul trouble. Theodore should be less of a problem as long as the SU guards stay true to their responsibilities in the zone. I’m pretty sure the Seton Hall game is where Dion told JB to eff off, and I’m guessing there will be a laugh or 2 about that next week. I bet Dion has that game circled and will be ready to play some serious defense so he can get some steals and throw down at least one one handed rim rocker. This team is so good as long as they stay focused, there is no reason that they can’t get to New Orleans to play in the Final Four. Better yet, there’s no reason they can’t cut down the only nets that matter in April.
I agree with you orangeskin, almost completely. But, I don’t think SU will “smoke” Hall tonight. Seton Hall is currently RPI #9 and has the talent to contend with the BE big boys. They may not the depth to take the pounding for the entire season but they have enough to make this a competitive game. Also, I would much prefer that Waiters focus on driving to the basket. Along with Scoop, Triche, KJ, CJ and MCW for that matter. In the past few games the Cuse has settled for jumpers and taken too many 3s in my opinion. The stat lines have looked good because a high percentage of those shots have been falling but in BE play, those shots will be much better contested and driving the lane, points in the paint and forcing some fouls will be far more valuable and important.
Rakeem hasn’t yet had his transformation game. It might not happen this year with the depth that the team is showing. If it does, we will be even stronger. The same applies to MCW. He has very little confidence in his shot at this time.Should that change we will be damn near unbeatable. His importance next year will be extreme considering Scoop will be gone and maybe even Dion.He will likely be the starting point with time sharing with Brandon. After that there is no one else to bring the ball up should the big kids move on to the hated pros. I say hated because they tear apart the college game by taking the players out of this level.
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