There are countless reasons why Syracuse basketball is one of the best teams in the Big East. There are two reasons why the Orange could be poised to deliver Jim Boeheim his second National Title.
- Dion Waiters
- Fab Melo
The duo shined again in last night’s Big East opener against Seton Hall. Waiters led all scorers with 15 points, and Melo broke the program single-game shot-blocking record (while finishing just three rebounds short of a triple-double). The emergence of these sophomores has been well-chronicled, but Dion and Fab deserve to be lauded even more. Because by season‚Äôs end, there‚Äôs a tremendous chance they‚Äôll equal the difference between good and great.
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What were your two main complaints about the Orange following another early NCAA tournament exit this past March? Probably the same as The Fizz: the absence of a legitimate go-to scorer, and general inconsistency. Translation Рa team that relies solely on Kris Joseph and Scoop Jardine isn’t a good enough team to stage a deep tourney run.
That’s exactly why this Fizzster wasn’t buying into the hype when he heard prior to the season that SU had Final Four potential. The Orange is blessed with solid veteran leaders and incredible depth, but it appeared doomed to fall flat on its face in March once again, because its best players had irreparable deficiencies.
Those deficiencies still exist, but now they rest behind a nice comfy mask, bearing the complexion of Waiters and Melo.
Try this for a test: Five minutes left in a tie game. Pick the two SU players you MUST have out there. The rest of the Orange scholarship players are chosen at random to fill out the other three spots in the lineup. Who would you pick?
Back in August, unless you were an irrational Scoop-basher, you’d have taken Jardine and Joseph.
Now? That decision gets much more challenging. Waiters, as the most dynamic scorer on the roster, is an easy choice. And Melo is a wise pick for spot #2. His “value over replacement” (to borrow a popular sabermetrics term used in baseball) is higher on this team than Joseph’s. C.J. Fair and James Southerland have a shot at replicating Joseph’s value as a scorer, rebounder, and defender, while Melo blows Baye Moussa Keita out of the water on both ends of the floor. He is simply a stud on defense, and SU gets substantially worse on D without his presence on the court.
Whether or not you agree with those selections, it speaks volumes about the progression of Dion and Fab that an argument could be made for their importance over the Orange’s senior leaders.
Heading into the season, the sophomore class was the wild card. The main question was whether the inefficient, turnover-prone Jardine could lead SU to the promised land. That question will never be answered, because it has been erased. The improvement of Syracuse’s sophomores has taken the burden off of its seniors, allowing everyone to play more confidently and selflessly.
Ironically enough, if either one of their respective offseason situations had taken even a slight turn for the worse, Waiters and Melo might not be playing for SU anymore.
But since their tumultuous offseasons, both Dion and Fab have successfully answered all questions about their character and ability on the court. Soon enough, they might silence the doubters further, many of whom think Boehiem can’t lead his Orange past a Sweet 16 without the other Melo.
Posted: Andrew Kanell
15 responses to “Super Sophs: How Dion & Fab Took Syracuse Basketball From Good to Great”
Good article. I agree that Dion has stepped into the role of “go to” scorer who has to be out there in crunch time. For some reason, he has a killer instinct that Kris and Brandon lack. However, the article said nothing about his defense, which has been a revelation. I think that is as big a reason as any for Dion’s emergence on this team, and why he will be considered one of the best guards in the country by the end of the season. He’s also, probably for the first time in his life, bought into the team concept. He bounced from HS to HS partially because he wouldn’t buy into the team concept. That suggests that Dion has matured a little, and learned some powerful and painful lessons from JB who deserves a little credit for giving Dion the kick in the pants he sorely needed. The same is true of Fab and Fab has said on the record that he appreciates how tough JB was on him. It obviously worked. He’s the most dominant defensive presence SU has had since Etan Thomas, and I’d hazard to guess he’ll go down as being even better all around than Etan was. AO was a good defensive center, but he was not anywhere close to being the game changer Fab can be. Fab’s shot blocking last night reminded me of when SU had to face Emeka Okafor twice a year. The one difference is that Fab is not as thin as Okafor, which is good. He can put on some more muscle and be even more dominant. He recognizes that he has a lot of work left to do, which tells me (as does his physical transformation) that he’s grown up a little too. All that said, SU can’t win consistently the rest of the way with KrisJo going scoreless. He’s too deferential at times, and I think he needs to be more aggressive. The good thing is, as this article correctly points out, that SU has so much depth that a bad night by Kris does not automatically doom SU. We still need him and Scoop, but the team isn’t completely dependent on them. As for Baye, he’s just not strong enough. I suspect he redshirts next year because he won’t play ahead of Dajuan Coleman. He was recruited to be more of a project, and he’s really exceeded expectations at this point. I live in Virginia and he was hardly a star at Oak Hill. In fact, he was a reserve his senior year. He could use that year off to get stronger and develop some nature of offensive game. He’d still have 2 years and would be able to come back in 2013, when SU may need a big man.
Krisjo is not too differential, it was just one game, his shot was off and he was setting up his teamates like a pg he had four assists and alot to offer defensivley. I think that statement about krisjo in this article is also wrong, the wouldnt have one the preseason NIT without him and in close game situations he will be the guy taking over the game. I think hes just scratching the surface of his ptoential and as he gets in better shape he will be more explosive. Also I see scoop getting better as well he had a great summer and got the attention of nba scouts, just think he needs to shake off some of the pressure of his new role with so many options. I think thats the scary part about this team theyre just scratchin the surface, so much upside and raw talent that will develope more and more as the season goes on and most other teams dont have that
Great article. If someone were to be hit with a season ending injury it wouldn’t be as detrimental as years past, but to add to the last 5 minutes scenario, losing Fab would hurt the most followed by Dion.
Many excellent points from both of you. I also want to clarify that this article is not meant in any way to put down Kris. He’s a very good player and it’s still important that he’s at the top of his game. The good thing for both him and Scoop is that there is far less pressure on them than there was last year.
Dion is playing like another #3 wearing a Miami Heat uni. Coaching staff has done a great job keeping this team together. Gmac continues to deliver for the Orange. First as a player and now as a coach!
Triche is lost in all of this. People are forgetting how clutch he can be. Remember that huge, clutch three-pointer in Storrs last year? Southerland, or mr. mid major killer, is not hitting against our tougher competition, and this is a problem simply because Triche isnt either. Triche needs to start hitting from the perimeter real soon.
Triche sucks. He can’t create his own shot. and when he does drive in the lane always a foul. He belongs on the pine! Sometimes Cuse fans are too far in the forest to see the trees.
Woahhhh M&M let’s calm down there. Triche is a great player let’s nots for get he has a thumb injury and will be fine in a few weeks. Let’s just calm down bud.
Fab is one of the keys to this team being successful. But Dion is on his way to becoming , dare I say, a superstar. Whether or not he comes off the bench, and no matter what the media and JB tries to tell us, it is clear that he is becoming the leader of this team.
M&M you are wrong. I dont think triche sucks, i just think he cant hit the broad side of a barn right now. The worst thing about it is he is our best defensive player and when he isnt hitting his shots boeheim benches him, essentially weakening our defense. With southerland throwing up brick after brick against “real” competition we need triche to be our primary perimeter threat. Both of them shooting so poorly is a very bad thing, trust me.
this team can be great, look at draft express and you see one player going pro this year(krisjo but waiters probably will as well) and 4 going pro next year (actually 5 butcoleman is on that list so 4 not inlcuding him) with waiters, melo, fair, and triche, they used to have xmas as a lotto pick but dropped him, i expect him n MCW to be pros in the future. The “analysts” say in order for a deep tourney run you need a pro, and this team has that and limitless upside. This team is going to keep getting better and by march should be excellent. If waiters stays for next year I cant not see this team being rank below 3 preseason, with coleman grant and cooney coming and should be the emergance of xmas, SU will definitley have the best front court in BBall with coleman, xmas as the pf, southerland, grant, and fair(should expand his game and develope a better handle and improved 3 shot) at SF, and melo, keita at center.
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Well the Liberal again seem to not be holding up their end of the henost debate, as can be deduced from the lack of response to what should really be a simple question for the supporters of Dion’s carbon tax.Lets look at what we have so far:Air: Sorry but since we don’t pay for it (yet, but give the Libs a chance) the cost increase comparison really cannot be made. Canned air being the exception, TY Powell.Commodities: At first I thought you may have found something, but I am not so sure. Wheat also is a commodity but if you look at how the much loved (by the Liberals) Canadian Wheat Board have managed to manipulate that market, it leaves me little hope that other commodities will make it out of the carbon tax untouched. Oil too, as Wilson and others have pointed out looks to be getting nailed, or at least some oil is. The Liberals need to explain this more, but judging how they answer other such questions I am not expecting much if anything to be answered.Poop: LOL, I don’t think the Liberals have enough money to pay the tax man if the amount they are shoveling ends up getting caught up in this.Come on Liberals. Where are you?For a plan that is supposed to make Canadians better off, this thing sure looks like a dud.
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