To the Chinese, the number 8 is symbolic of good luck and fortune. (It’s no coincidence that the Beijing Olympics opened on the night of 8/8/08, at 8:08:08pm.) Syracuse fans have a choice. The number 8 can either represent Cody Catalina or the #8 reason to get pumped for basketball season:
#8: Insane Roster Flexibility
It’s been a fairly long time since Syracuse basketball has boasted a roster with so many versatile players. Certainly last season the depleted roster limited the possible lineups that JB could put out there. The few years before that, guys like Demetris Nichols, Terrence Roberts, and Darryl Watkins were mainstays in the lineup but were pretty much locked into their positions. The backcourt was Devendorf and either Josh Wright or Gerry Mac. A little further back and we have Hakim who was almost exclusively a PF. The National Champs were pretty flexible, actually: Josh Pace was a flex guy off the bench, Duany moved from SG to SF when needed, Melo could play the 4 in college when Warrick took a breather, and McNamara played shooting guard a lot of the time once Edelin came off suspension. But this season’s roster may exceed even that one in the number of viable 5-player combinations.
The flexibility starts with Eric Devendorf and Jonny Flynn (the presumed starting backcourt). Flynn is pure point guard, but there were plenty of offensive sets last year in which Scoop ran the point and Jonny moved without the ball. (This was of course due to the fact that Flynn was the only guard left on the roster capable of consistently hitting jumpers.) Devo began his career at the 2 when Gerry was PG, but took over as PG as a sophomore. You may remember some ups and downs as he learned to run an offense, but by the end of the season he was a solid floor general, though he still split time with Josh Wright in that role. In fact he was the leading assist man for that team (Wright was 2nd). With either of these guys more than capable of running the point, the offense should be able to remain focused at all times. And it’ll be a nightmare for opposing coaches to prepare for SU’s offensive sets when Jonny and Eric are on the court at the same time — on any given possession, you won’t know which of them is playing the “1” role and which the “2”. They can flip roles at any moment to take what the defense is giving.
Next comes the recently lauded Andy Rautins. Every bit of news we heard about Andy this summer got us salivating. His knee is 100%; he put on some muscle; he spent hours fine-tuning his shot. Andy is the classic Boeheim wing player, capable of playing shooting guard or small forward (think Duany for a recent comparison). His height and wingspan make him a stalwart at the top of the 2-3 zone, and on offense will allow him to get shots off from the wings and the corners over lunging defenders. As an added bonus, playing for Team Canada this summer Andy spent all his time at point guard. So he’s at least capable of stepping into that role should circumstances require it. Offensively we all think of him as a spot-up shooter but thinking back to the end of his sophomore season, he was taking advantage of that rep by putting it on the floor from time to time and taking it into the paint (usually dishing to a big man rather than seeking his own shot). If his handle has improved enough to play point guard in international competition, then his ‘threat level’ on offense will have increased.
Then we get to Paul Harris. Jack of all most trades. In his SU career Paul has at times played shooting guard, small forward, and power forward. We may not need him in the backcourt much this season but I am sure there will be times when he moves from the 3 to the 4 in a smaller, ball-handlier lineup. On offense Paul is like the anti-Rautins: his strength is driving the paint, while his outside shot is suspect. But like Rautins, Harris showed improvement in that weaker area of his game as his sophomore season progressed. With another summer of work under his belt he should be able to play multiple roles on offense. Especially if he is in at the power forward position — you don’t lose much defensively in the zone (certainly not in the rebounding department), and on offense he will be able to blow past larger, slower players.
Of course, you aren’t going to see Onuaku roaming too far from the paint this season, and Kristof, though he is quick enough to guard an opposing small forward, will almost automatically match up with the other team’s PF due to our small forwards being, well, small. That is if we play man-to-man at all; chances are you just see Kristof on one wing of the zone and the other forward on the other. And K-Ong doesn’t figure to have much of a scoring role in the offense, but rather will be a screen-setting machine. But Rick Jackson is capable of backing up both the 4 and 5 spots, and if they want a lot of size along the back line it’s not inconceivable to see all three guys in there at the same time.
But what ices the flexibility of this roster is the freshmen. We’ve gotten pumped about them already, but in case you’ve forgotten (what with all the other reasons to get pumped that you’ve seen since then) here’s a quick reminder. Mike Waters said over the summer that “[Kris] Joseph combines the height of a small forward with the ball-handling of a two-guard and the passing ability of a point guard.” Meanwhile Mookie Jones has “got good size. He can play away from the basket. He can put the ball on the floor. He’ll be able to defend the back line of the 2-3 zone defense very well.” It’s always dangerous to expect too much of a contribution from freshmen, especially when there are so many upperclassmen already splitting the minutes — it’s just hard for a frosh to develop when he gets only 5 minutes of time per game. But these two guys have the size and skills to complement any combination of our other players. Especially Joseph. He is 6’7”, 220. You tell me he won’t be playing some at the power forward spot this season? Especially since he can (supposedly) hit a 15-footer? Please. If he gets sufficient time early in the season to adjust to the college game, there is no reason why he can’t be an effective option off the bench.
So where does this put us? If you’ve watched any Boeheim teams through the years you know that his preference is to put his best guys on the floor as much as possible, regardless of the position they officially play. (Remember Ryan Blackwell being the backup center to Etan Thomas as a senior?) The result is that rarely do more than 7 or 8 guys see any meaningful minutes. We’ve got Flynn, Devo, Rautins, Harris, Ongenaet, Onuaku, Jackson; that’s seven. Scoop Jardine would be a potential eighth, if he doesn’t take the medical redshirt. I am not going to expect Sean Williams to contribute much until I hear otherwise. But what intrigues and excites me is the prospect of one or both freshmen being the missing ingredient that lets Boeheim play loose with his rotation and match up as needed against the opponent.
Last season — in fact the last two or three seasons — we’ve been hamstrung by our inability to match up with certain teams. UConn would push us around in the paint; Notre Dame would spread the floor and shoot the lights out. We always had issues with the pesky Villanova lineups too. With this roster the matchup possibilities are much greater; what’s more, we can create more matchup problems of our own since we have so many multi-threat players. Consider the following lineups:
STARTING (projected): Onuaku; Ongenaet; Harris; Devendorf; Flynn
SHOOTERS: Onuaku; Harris/Joseph; Rautins; Devendorf; Flynn
BIG: Onuaku; Ongenaet; Joseph; Rautins; Devendorf
QUICK/PRESS: Ongenaet; Jones; Harris; Devendorf; Flynn
2-3 ZONE: Onuaku; Jackson; Harris; Rautins; Flynn
REALLY BIG: Williams; Onuaku; Jackson; Joseph; Harris
Okay, just kidding on the last one. The point remains (in the unlikely event that you are somehow still unclear as to what I’m trying to say) that we’ve got plenty of player permutations that make up BALANCED teams. With the starting lineup as a base case, the coaches will have the ability to make adjustments without losing much skill. Last year we had no subs. Year before that, it’d be Gorman in for one of the big men and Rautins for one of the guards, while Nichols played 38 minutes. That was it. But think about this outstanding fact: this year when Andy Rautins is the first sub off the bench he could conceivably be replacing any one of four players. We haven’t had that kind of option since Josh Pace was a supersub in 2002-2003. (And we know how that went.)
How the rotations shake out this season remains to be seen, but I do know this: we are certainly lucky and fortunate to have such a dynamic, versatile group of players. (I think the Chinese may be on to something.)
The full “Get Pumped” countdown:
#30: another lacrosse walkon
#29: Plenty of games along I-95
#28 & #27: Mookie Jones and Kris Joseph
#26: Kristof goes coast to coast
#25: Sean Williams’ go-go gadget arms
#24: Scoop Jardine has a broken leg
#23: Historic strength at nearly every position
#22: The 3-point line moves back one foot
#21: The Correct Paul Harris Plays for the ‘Cuse
#20: Arinze does some damage
#19: What football team?
#18: Sexiest non-conference schedule EVER
#17: The Guy No One Is Talking About
#16: More chances to prove how little Doug Gottlieb knows about college hoops
#15: Other People Get to Shoot!
#14: Return of the Ongenaet
#13: The many faces of Jim Boeheim
#12: The Unfathomable Experience Jump
#11: A few new rules that you may not have known about
#10: Andy Rautins makin’ it rain
#9: Arinze Onuaku is a beast
#8: Insane roster flexibility
One Comment
Great post. Something rang a bell in my head that I think you left out: wasn’t there a particularly desperate point two years ago when Paul Harris was essentially our primary ball-handler (”point-forward”) for a little while? During a rough patch — Devo had been benched during his early season sophomore slump (and was slowly rejuvenating as the high scoring 6 man), Rautins was in the starting lineup but sucking day-by-day, and Josh Wright had already exposed himself as a useless bust whose minutes were declining precipitously. I recall a brief moment in time where Paul was getting a lot of time handling the ball, even though he was not the official PG. It was a way to make use of him on the court as a freshman, when he didn’t really know how to get his own points, but when we already knew he needed to be in the game. Am I remembering this right? Maybe it was just a week or two, but I swear it happened.
2 Trackbacks
[...] while Media Day was in full swing, we revealed the #8 reason to get pumped for hoops season: insane roster flexibility. We made the argument that this team has a lot of guys who can play multiple positions, especially [...]
[...] burn a TO whenever he wanted to scream at coach up the guys after a bonehead play. He also used his insane roster flexibility like a kid with a new toy at Christmas, sending guys in and out in a constant rotation, and eagerly [...]