Syracuse Basketball: Super-Early Grades for Orange Starters

The Syracuse Orange men’s basketball team is off to a 3-1 start after salvaging the consolation game of the 2K Classic against Iowa (66-63) in Madison Square Garden on Friday night.

The previous night, Syracuse suffered a 73-59 beating from California—thanks to a three-point barrage and a stagnant offense. The loss to Cal in the 2K semifinals was the Orange’s first November loss since a loss to UMass in 2007.

With a new-look Syracuse team, it is understandable to have struggles early in the season, as the team will need to undergo a few growing pains in order to gain its true form.

The unranked Orange are without former standouts C.J. Fair, Jerami Grant and Tyler Ennis due to graduation and NBA aspirations. Without the trio, the Orange will have to make do with a few familiar faces and a handful of new Orange players.

Among the returnees are shooting guard Trevor Cooney and forward Rakeem Christmas.

Cooney spent the first 25 games of last season as a sharpshooter for the Orange, pushing the team to a No. 1 ranking. But double-teams, exhaustion and a few dry spells cooled off the Orange sniper (whose form coincided with Syracuse finishing 3-6 after running through its first 25 games unblemished).

Christmas spent last season as a role player, averaging 5.8 points per game and 5.1 rebounds. After getting his degree in three years, the graduate student will look to emerge as a prime-time player. He’s nearly tripled his scoring and doubled his rebounding from last season.

New to the Orange are point guard Kaleb Joseph, who has the task of replacing Ennis, and forward Chris McCullough, who will have to play the role of Fair and Grant—at least until forwards such as Tyler Roberson and Chinonso Obokoh are ready to contribute in a meaningful way.

With the season just starting, it is too early to know how this team will look once it hits midseason form, but we can take a look at how it’s doing so far (at least as far as the starters are concerned).

We’ll use a standard grading system, with “A” being outstanding and/or greatly exceeding expectations, “B” being playing well and/or better than expected, “C” being average and/or playing just up to expectations and “D” meaning that the player is playing poorly and/or far below expectations.

Rakeem Christmas: A+

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Rakeem Christmas

Rakeem Christmas, with the exception of the Cal game, has been everything the Orange thought he could be, going back to his freshman season.

The Philadelphia product has been a reluctant scorer throughout his tenure and seemed content with his role as a contributor. But because of necessity, he’s broken free from his shell.

He’s averaging 15.5 points per game—almost 10 points better than last season. And he’s  averaging 9.3 rebounds per game—an improvement of more than four from last season.

He’s also playing five more minutes per game.

The Orange sorely miss Christmas’ frontcourt mate DaJuan Coleman, who is recovering from knee surgery and may not return to the team at all. Christmas’ aggression and willingness to be the go-to guy on this team lessen the sting of Coleman’s absence and give hope to an uneasy Orange fanbase.

Trevor Cooney: C+

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Trevor Cooney

Trevor Cooney had a breakout season last year. But after spending most of the season running through double-teams and being shadowed for entire games, his engine wore down and his shooting suffered.

Shooting 50 percent from beyond the arc for the first half of the season, Cooney emerged as one of the best three-point shooters in the NCAA. ACC play proved to be challenging, though, and Cooney finished the season shooting .375 from long range.

His final numbers were respectable—including his 12 points per game—but the Orange will need more from Cooney this season.

To his credit, Cooney has been passing the ball in Tyler Ennis’ absence and is averaging three assists per game, which is triple his average from last season. To his detriment, he is only shooting 8-of-24 (.333) from distance (which is not bad for most players, but the Orange know Cooney can provide more).

When the Orange offense is stagnant, a big Cooney three can be a spark plug. But when he is off, along with the offense, teams have no fear of the Syracuse outside game and can completely clog the paint.

Cooney is an outstanding defender, but he will need to get his shooting percentage up. He’s made eight of his 14 non-three-point attempts and is a fantastic catch-and-shoot sniper, but perhaps he could have greater success if he were to slash to the basket a little more and back his defenders up a bit.

Tyler Roberson: C+

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Tyler Roberson

Sophomore Tyler Roberson has seen his minutes more than double from his freshman year. Accordingly, his scoring and rebounding have almost tripled.

At 20.8 minutes per game, he’s not playing starter minutes. He is No. 7 on the team in minutes per game (and five of his teammates are averaging more than 28 minutes per game).

Until he finds his way in the offense, the numbers he has now likely show the type of player he will be this season. He can rebound when needed, take weak-side rebounds back to the basket and fill the zone.

What he’ll need to concentrate on is making the shots he takes. Roberson shot less than 30 percent from the field last season. This season, he’s only at .375 from the floor. At 6’8”, he’ll have to be better if he wants to maintain his increased minutes.

All signs point to Roberson being an improved player, but the season is young.

Chris McCullough: A

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Chris McCullough

Chris McCullough, with a steal in the closing seconds against a surging Iowa team on Friday night, saved the Orange from defeat. That stat came along with his 20 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks.

McCullough is an exciting, athletic forward who, along with Christmas, will conjure up memories of a Syracuse low-post game.

Just four games into his freshman year, McCullough is averaging 15.3 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. He’s also blocking three shots and stealing almost two balls per game.

He’s filling the stat sheet, but what’s more important is that he’s showed poise and composure under pressure. It's been a great start for McCullough, so far.

Kaleb Joseph: C

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Kaleb Joseph

Kaleb Joseph is not Tyler Ennis.

Kaleb Joseph is not Michael Carter-Williams.

Kaleb Joseph is not any of the previous point guards who have spoiled Orange fans with their seamless ability to lead the team from the moment of being handed the reins.

Joseph is exactly what we thought he would be. He’s a good passer but can be a little sloppy with the ball. He can score a little but is too green to be trusted with a shot in crunch time.

In other words, he’s a freshman.

Players such as Ennis come around almost never, which is why the need for patience is important with Joseph. He’s got talent, but he will need to learn on the job (with the very difficult task of getting the Orange offense in gear).

For now, Joseph needs to concentrate on keeping the turnovers down. After that, everything else will fall into place.