This was going to be a very good Syracuse team no matter how its freshman point guard played. C.J. Fair would be a go-to scorer, and one of the best all-around ballers in the ACC. He was picked as the conference’s preseason player of the year. The Orange would have experience navigating the treacherous March land mines. SU Fair, Trevor Cooney, Jerami Grant and the bigs all were part of last year’s run to the Final Four. The ACC (as we would find out) was down, meaning SU could load up on conference wins and assure itself a high-seed in March. Jim Boeheim – well, he had been through about 4 million March appearances.
But Tyler Ennis has taken this Syracuse team from very good (and contender) to a legitimate National Championship possibility. Every great March team needs two options late in games. Fair being an obvious one, but Ennis developed within weeks as a play-maker and finisher extraordinaire for final minute situations. He can dish with the best, but also can score at the basket.
He has late-game genes. The stats have been plastered everywhere after his Pitt miracle. Final five minutes or OT with a one possession game? He’s nails. Ennis wants the ball, wants the decision, wants the win. He’s ice at the line. He drills the jumper. He hits deep shots. He scoops to the basket. He owns the final sequence.
If Fair’s shot isn’t hitting, Cooney has stepped up and been thrilling from beyond the arc. His marksmanship spreads the floor. Grant has taken his rebounding game to the next level (thankfully) and developed a tremendous put-back scoring knack. Rak Christmas and Baye Moussa Keita are doing enough on the interior. The bench can give the starters a bit of a breather (although not too much).
But the key is Ennis. He believes. The team believes. The coach believes. The city believes.
Before the season began it was Julius Randle, Jabari Parker, Andrew Wiggins. Put Ennis in that category. He’s one of the best freshman in the country. Heck, he’s one of the best players in the country. And he makes the Orange a title contender.
Posted: D.A.
8 responses to “Syracuse Can Win the National Championship Because of Freshman Tyler Ennis”
What you say is true, but never, never count your chickens before they are hatched
If they go all the way someone else is going to be needed to step up besides just Tyler. Counting hatched chickens is easy. IF the Orange get to the big game again the defense and rebounding must be improved. At least the rebounding. The defense is pretty much very good if you don’t count the foul prone Christmas who still reaches in for cheap calls against him. Jimmy might want to give more PT to Roberson. and maybe even B J.
Some things just never change,the complaints stay the same. i don’t understand why,maybe it’s because the gme differently than I do or it shows that some people just fail to see and understand the dynamics of the game. The comments were the same in 1975 when Roy’s Runts played Kentucky,the same in 1987 when the Jim Boeheim Orangemen played the Bobby Knight Indiana Team,tghe same when again the Orangemen led by John Wallace and Lazarus Simms damn near beat the Kentucky Wildcats and again in 2003 when the Orangemen beat the mighty Kansas Jayhawks.
Here we are in 2014 and people are repeating the complaints that were made back in 1975. Our bigs need to improve,if they don’t were going to get destroyed. I guess I see things a little differently than most. Rakeem Christmas,Baye-Moussa Keita,Tyler Roberson,Chinonso Obokoh and even DaJuan Coleman are forces that control the middle and play the way that is needed for a team to reach the national championship game. For those of you who complain about the inside game I wish you understand what it takes to play inside before voicing your complaints.
Starting with the NC State game today,the rest of the schedule is going to be brutal. Next Saturday Syracuse enters the gauntlet(Duke,Maryland and Virginia)the toughest part of their schedule and all are road games.
I’ve noticed that the ESPN pundits haven’t mentioned the fact that Syracuse hasn’t left NYS during the month of December or haven’t played any road games or any games on neutral courts this year. Ummmmmm,I wonder why that is? Do you think that they’ve finaly figured it out that NYC?NJ areas are not suburb’s of Syracuse NY?
In the end the one’s showing concerns about our bigs are going to be surprised when one of them comes through and makes a play to win the game for us. Just let the season play out.
Well all of you cry babies,lets hear it now how our bigs can’t play the game. Rakeem Christmas records a double-double has seven blocked shots and 1 steal during the NCS game.
Not bad for a kid that can’t play the game. I’d take a player like that any day of the week.
Good job Mr. Christmas, no it was a grteat job tonight. Congratulations.
The bigs are not the problem. They are doing a great job with the defence they play. The issue is making the shots that they should be making; open shots from mid-range and behind the arc.
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