by The GM on January 31 at 5:02PM
This post was written by Kelper last season and I thought that it was worth taking a look back at what was said about the kids at Syracuse. With a Sweet 16 run after what was an amazing Big East tourney run, this team is for real, so pay attention!
This year's freshman class at Syracuse consists of five talented athletes that have the potential of making some major noise before their careers as orangemen are done. Donte Green, Jonny Flynn, Sean Williams, Antonio "Scoop" Jardine, and Rick Jackson make up this group. Greene and Flynn are already mixing it up heavily, averaging 18.6ppg and 15.2ppg respectively, and are among 4 Orangemen playing 34+ minutes per game. Greene also leads the team in blocks with two per game and 3-point FGs made with 58 through 1/29/08. Flynn is the Orange's assist leader with 5.2 per game and leading free-throw shooter at 77.9% Syracuse has suffered some unlikely losses this season, which can be expected with such a young team, but this crop of young players could have the Orange rising again soon (if they all hang around and enjoy the college scene for a while).
Donte Green is a 6'9" forward from Towson Catholic in Baltimore. He turned down Texas, Georgetown, and Maryland in favor of Boeheim's Syracuse team, leading the 2nd ranked recruiting class in the nation. As a high school All-American Greene averaged 18.3ppg as a senior, following up a junior year where he put up 23.3ppg. Greene has proven to be very athletic, being able to score in traffic as well as connect with regularity from the outside. With all the athleticism in his long frame, Greene is an able defender with excellent shot blocking ability. He appears to have a lot of the skills of the Atlanta Hawks' Josh Smith, and he may be joining the ranks of the NBA as soon as the June 2008 draft. For the sake of the Orange faithful, I hope Donte sticks around to lead a deep NCAA tourney in 2009.
Jonny Flynn joined Greene on the McDonald's All-American team, coming out of Niagara Falls, NY. Flynn is a 6'0" guard and he is emerging as a competent floor general for Syracuse. Flynn came out to start the season hot, overshadowing Greene by scoring 28 points in the opener versus Siena, followed by drilling the game winning three-pointer for his only hoop against St. Joseph's. I would expect to see Flynn hang around to lead Syracuse to some big wins in the remaining 2008 season and for the next season or two to follow.
Rick Jackson is a 6'9" forward from Philadelphia, high school teammate of fellow Orange frosh Scoop Jardine, a 6'1" guard, at Neumann-Goretti. Jackson turned down offers from Villanova, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Penn State, St. Joseph's, and Georgia. Scoop spurned the Scarlet Knights of Rutgers to join this elite Syracuse class. The two helped lead their squad to a 27-3 record in '04-05, garnering a ranking of 18 in the final prep poll in that year. Jardine is averaging 21 minutes per game, while scoring 5.2ppg and dishing out 2.1apg in relief of Jonny Flynn. Jackson is seeing nearly 14 minutes of floor time per game, with 4.6ppg, 3.1rpg, and 1.3bpg.
Rounding out the freshmen in this class is Sean Williams, a 6'11" center from Villa Park, California. He is the son of a former Globetrotter (Sean Williams Sr.) He has seen action in only 4 games this season, and will likely take some time to develop as many big men do at the NCAA level.
Also in this group of recruits is junior college standout Kristof Ongenaet, a 6'8" forward from Cuesta Community College in California. In 2007, Ongenaet scored 12ppg and pulled down 11.7rpg. Ongenaet is also a top-notch student, and turned down Northwestern in favor of Syracuse, becoming the first junior-college player to join the Orange in 30 years.
This is a very talented group of individuals, and at this point in the season they are beginning to gel well with Eric Devendorf, Paul Harris, and Arinze Onuaku, the more experienced players on this young team. After the game against Depaul, the Orange play 7 of their last 8 games on national television leading into the Big East Tournament. I would certainly mark the February 6th match-up with UConn and the February 16th game with Georgetown as must watch games down the stretch. As always, feedback and additional input is always welcomed. Thanks for reading!
This year's freshman class at Syracuse consists of five talented athletes that have the potential of making some major noise before their careers as orangemen are done. Donte Green, Jonny Flynn, Sean Williams, Antonio "Scoop" Jardine, and Rick Jackson make up this group. Greene and Flynn are already mixing it up heavily, averaging 18.6ppg and 15.2ppg respectively, and are among 4 Orangemen playing 34+ minutes per game. Greene also leads the team in blocks with two per game and 3-point FGs made with 58 through 1/29/08. Flynn is the Orange's assist leader with 5.2 per game and leading free-throw shooter at 77.9% Syracuse has suffered some unlikely losses this season, which can be expected with such a young team, but this crop of young players could have the Orange rising again soon (if they all hang around and enjoy the college scene for a while).
Donte Green is a 6'9" forward from Towson Catholic in Baltimore. He turned down Texas, Georgetown, and Maryland in favor of Boeheim's Syracuse team, leading the 2nd ranked recruiting class in the nation. As a high school All-American Greene averaged 18.3ppg as a senior, following up a junior year where he put up 23.3ppg. Greene has proven to be very athletic, being able to score in traffic as well as connect with regularity from the outside. With all the athleticism in his long frame, Greene is an able defender with excellent shot blocking ability. He appears to have a lot of the skills of the Atlanta Hawks' Josh Smith, and he may be joining the ranks of the NBA as soon as the June 2008 draft. For the sake of the Orange faithful, I hope Donte sticks around to lead a deep NCAA tourney in 2009.Jonny Flynn joined Greene on the McDonald's All-American team, coming out of Niagara Falls, NY. Flynn is a 6'0" guard and he is emerging as a competent floor general for Syracuse. Flynn came out to start the season hot, overshadowing Greene by scoring 28 points in the opener versus Siena, followed by drilling the game winning three-pointer for his only hoop against St. Joseph's. I would expect to see Flynn hang around to lead Syracuse to some big wins in the remaining 2008 season and for the next season or two to follow.
Rick Jackson is a 6'9" forward from Philadelphia, high school teammate of fellow Orange frosh Scoop Jardine, a 6'1" guard, at Neumann-Goretti. Jackson turned down offers from Villanova, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Penn State, St. Joseph's, and Georgia. Scoop spurned the Scarlet Knights of Rutgers to join this elite Syracuse class. The two helped lead their squad to a 27-3 record in '04-05, garnering a ranking of 18 in the final prep poll in that year. Jardine is averaging 21 minutes per game, while scoring 5.2ppg and dishing out 2.1apg in relief of Jonny Flynn. Jackson is seeing nearly 14 minutes of floor time per game, with 4.6ppg, 3.1rpg, and 1.3bpg.Rounding out the freshmen in this class is Sean Williams, a 6'11" center from Villa Park, California. He is the son of a former Globetrotter (Sean Williams Sr.) He has seen action in only 4 games this season, and will likely take some time to develop as many big men do at the NCAA level.
Also in this group of recruits is junior college standout Kristof Ongenaet, a 6'8" forward from Cuesta Community College in California. In 2007, Ongenaet scored 12ppg and pulled down 11.7rpg. Ongenaet is also a top-notch student, and turned down Northwestern in favor of Syracuse, becoming the first junior-college player to join the Orange in 30 years.
This is a very talented group of individuals, and at this point in the season they are beginning to gel well with Eric Devendorf, Paul Harris, and Arinze Onuaku, the more experienced players on this young team. After the game against Depaul, the Orange play 7 of their last 8 games on national television leading into the Big East Tournament. I would certainly mark the February 6th match-up with UConn and the February 16th game with Georgetown as must watch games down the stretch. As always, feedback and additional input is always welcomed. Thanks for reading!
|
HUGE game for Flynn at Villanova as the young Orange pick up another big victory. They're growing into a team that could pull off a stunner or two in the NCAA tourney THIS year en route to a deep run next season.