Class of 2019 Ken Evans Jr.

[Cusefan0307]

<Sigh.> Again, it depended on the opponents. When we played teams with big front courts, they could (and did) play together.

You also need to factor in that DaShante Riley also played around 160 minutes that season, which works out to another 5 minutes a game for the center position.

When we played shrimpy teams in the pre-conference schedule, of course those 2 guys didn't spend a ton of time on the floor together.

If you do the math, we had centers on the floor for 52 minutes a game, even counting Arinze missing the last 3 games of the season due to injury.

You realize your math proves I’m right? They played about 10-12 min together and 15 separate for a total of 50ish.

 

[FrancoPizza]

Yeah I agree it would be a lot more concerning if it was the same knee. Hopefully it's just a stretch of bad luck and he's not as injury prone as it seems.

I wonder if there is some Tonya Harding shady business going on with the SU orthopedic specialists. With the exception of chance, these guys come to Syracuse with perfectly good knees and feet and they leave on crutches.

 

[Cuse_NYC]

Just to add some substance to your opinion, here are the rebounding stats for the EYBL.

Donnie was the 2nd best rebounder in the conference. Good offensive rebounder but nothing special Really good defensive rebounder.

He would have led the league in rebounding had he been better on the offensive boards. Which I think is directly related to your point.

It will be interesting to see how Donnie plays on the offensive end at Syracuse, especially his frosh year. We might have him play more down low; at least flash him down low some. Could work well with Eddie, who appears to me to be a gifted high post passer.

2023-2024 Men's Basketball - Overall Statistics - Nike EYBL Scholastic

The official 2023-2024 Men's Basketball cumulative statistics for Nike EYBL Scholastic

nikeeyblscholastic.com

Banger doesn’t mean rebounder. Cue every joke, but he doesn’t like to post up and battle inside. He rebounds fine. He’s tall as hell. Have yet to see him really block shots. I’m happy as any1 to get him on campus, but don’t expect this inside force

 

[IthacaMatt]

You realize your math proves I’m right? They played about 10-12 min together and 15 separate for a total of 50ish.

Except that the starting lineup most of the time was Arinze, Wes Johnson, Kris Joseph, Scoop Jardine and Andy Rautins. It wasn't just them playing together until the first time out of each half, as you have insisted. They played together a pretty fair amount.

 

[orangefog]

Except that the starting lineup most of the time was Arinze, Wes Johnson, Kris Joseph, Scoop Jardine and Andy Rautins. It wasn't just them playing together until the first time out of each half, as you have insisted. They played together a pretty fair amount.

Kris Joseph started 4 games that year. Rick Jackson started all 35 and Arinze 31 of the 32 he played.

 

[jordoo]

Except that the starting lineup most of the time was Arinze, Wes Johnson, Kris Joseph, Scoop Jardine and Andy Rautins. It wasn't just them playing together until the first time out of each half, as you have insisted. They played together a pretty fair amount.

Umm . . . am I having a brain malfunction or are you?
Starting line up was Triche, Rautins, Johnson, Jackson, Onuaku.
Bench was Jardine, Joseph and limited amounts of Riley.

Until AO went down.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Kris Joseph started 4 games that year. Rick Jackson started all 35 and Arinze 31 of the 32 he played.

My bad. Thank you for the correction. My memory is of Kris and Wes playing a lot together, running the fast break. Joseph used to be fearless driving to the hoop back then, before he got injured on one of his kamikazee runs to the rim.

 

[Cuse1055]

My bad. Thank you for the correction. My memory is of Kris and Wes playing a lot together, running the fast break. Joseph used to be fearless driving to the hoop back then, before he got injured on one of his kamikazee runs to the rim.

To be fair, we basically had 7 starters that year because of how much Scoop and Kris played. That was such a strong and balanced team.

 

[jordoo]

My bad. Thank you for the correction. My memory is of Kris and Wes playing a lot together, running the fast break. Joseph used to be fearless driving to the hoop back then, before he got injured on one of his kamikazee runs to the rim.

That was one of the great things about that team. We came off the bench with a guard and a forward who where hyper aggressive, they changed the pace and flow. Plus we could score in the half court with either group. It seemed like more than half the games started with Rick in the high post dumping it to AO for an easy bucket.

 

[two3zone]

Banger doesn’t mean rebounder. Cue every joke, but he doesn’t like to post up and battle inside. He rebounds fine. He’s tall as hell. Have yet to see him really block shots. I’m happy as any1 to get him on campus, but don’t expect this inside force

Banger? I hardly know her.

 

[General20]

Umm . . . am I having a brain malfunction or are you?
Starting line up was Triche, Rautins, Johnson, Jackson, Onuaku.
Bench was Jardine, Joseph and limited amounts of Riley.

Until AO went down.

Nah you are right. Starting lineup was Triche, Rautins, Johnson, Jackson, and Onuaku with Jardine and Joseph coming off the bench. They were 7 deep and all 7 played what I would call starters minutes. Jackson only played the first 5 minutes of each half as a forward the rest of the time he was the back up center when Onuaku needed a breather or was in foul trouble. Joseph sat the first 5 minutes of each half but played pretty much the rest of the game at forward. The finishing line up on that team and the best line up was Jardine, Rautins, Joseph, Johnson, Onuaku.

Even back then playing Jackson as a forward was not ideal but doing so early was the best way to make use of our talent. We had 7 good players and nobody else of much use. 14 years later it would be even less ideal to play two centers like that together.

 

[Niastri]

How did we manage to score when we had both AO and Rick in the lineup together? Just playing devils advocate.

In response to your obviously rhetorical question, I'll give a long and unnecessarily detailed answer.

On the 2009-2010 season, Jackson and Onuaku played together 32/35 games that season. Jackson averaged 26 minutes and Onuaku played 22. They averaged 21.3 points combined. Jackson had a 59% shooting percentage, Onuaku 67%. Part of the reason the team scored so well is that we had two really consistent inside scorers.

But there's more. This team also had Andy Rautins and Wes Johnson, both shooting 40% from 3 point land. Scoop Jardine and Brandon Triche also shot nearly 40% from 3. Mookie Jones and James Southerland comprised the .5 in the 7.5 player rotation, although they probably were together a .25 rotation player. The 7 man rotation was a murderers row.

But looking at the team, we would always have had 2-3 high quality three point shooters on the court at all times. Chris Joseph was actually the weak link in this category, but managed to score 10.8 per game with all that firepower around him, while shooting only 22% from three (only 9 made 3s all year). It helped that Onuaku and Jackson were really good at setting picks, not just away from the basket, but also on the interior, sealing their defender away from a player driving to the basket.

The offensive team Red is putting together looks a little bit similar, although nowhere near the proven calibre of that team that was a top 10 team most of the season. The people who voted for the rankings didn't know how good Rautins and Johnson would be in the preseason.

2010 had a bunch of guys who could shoot like crazy. We'll have Bell and Evans to play Rautins and Johnson, the elite shooter and all around great college scorer. But to back them up we have a bunch of potential(eg, not much proven at this level). But if you squint, you could see Starling being a Jardine clone. Starling was much higher rated out of high school, and looks to be more athletic.

I think the structural problem we would have compared to the 2010 team is the one IthacaMatt is concerned about. We have a bunch of guys who want to play inside first, and shoot threes later. Even if we get Evans, the only guy who wants to shoot threes before other options is Bell. Everybody else is foremost either a penetration, post up or only layups guy.

Lampkin, Freeman, Bell, Evans and Starling has 4 guys who can shoot, but also two post players and two guys who want to drive as their primary way to score. A Lampkin who could shoot 40% from 3 would really open the offense up... Then again, if Lampkin could shoot that way, he'd have been in the NBA a few years now.

The bench of Davis, McLeod, Carlos, Cuffe and Westry has three more guys who are threats to hit a three, but also want to score closer to the basket most of the time.

Spreading out the defense is going to be our offense's mission number one, and that means hitting threes.

Successfully recruiting Evans would make the team a lot better.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

I wonder if there is some Tonya Harding shady business going on with the SU orthopedic specialists. With the exception of chance, these guys come to Syracuse with perfectly good knees and feet and they leave on crutches.

How do you do consistently come up with these extreme negative positions?

It's legitimately impressive. Just a fascinating case study.

 

[orangefog]

How do you do consistently come up with these extreme negative positions?

It's legitimately impressive. Just a fascinating case study.

I stopped eating Franco Pizza, afraid of the negative side effects.

 

[Nicknack]

 

[Cuse1055]

Ken posted a pic of himself in an SU uniform that Eddie commented on. He is also now following Donnie Freeman

 

[djorange1989]

I stopped eating Franco Pizza, afraid of the negative side effects.

A lot of sulfur smelling farts

 

[Zelda Zonk]

How do you do consistently come up with these extreme negative positions?

It's legitimately impressive. Just a fascinating case study.

Underwear’s too tight or too loose. One or the other.

 

[kingtidge]

Ken posted a pic of himself in an SU uniform that Eddie commented on. He is also now following Donnie Freeman

The pic was from Orange Insider, no?? (not from the payer...)

 

[Cuse1055]

The pic was from Orange Insider, no?? (not from the payer...)

Correct, he just re-posted it as well as Eddie commenting on it.

 

[kingtidge]

Correct, he just re-posted it as well as Eddie commenting on it.

He didn't repost it, Orange Insider tagged him.

 

[Cusesky8214]

He didn't repost it, Orange Insider tagged him.

He shared it on his IG story

 

[Cusesky8214]

Seems obvious that this isn't just the players recruiting him and that we have reached out.

 

[kingtidge]

He shared it on his IG story

Ahhhh... you are correct... very good sign!

And Big Eddie ain't afraid of a curse word or two...

 

[Todoubled23]

Between Eddie's raw approach to social media, and his post to Maliq "See you soon" or something along those lines I really enjoy having him as our center already.