TFG: As you can guess by the title, LVO and I will preview this season’s starting five. At present, there are no position battles or Burger Boy impact freshmen to speak of, making this year’s first team the most fortified and experienced group to take the floor for the Orange since the 2005-06 season. We’ve broken the starters down into two posts – this one is on the guards and we’ll return with the back of the zone in another post.

We’ll rehash last season’s stats and give extensive outlooks and expectations for each of the starters. We’ll even try to grow a pair and predict some stats, which we may revisit throughout the season. As always, feel free to tell us how unbelievably wrong and shrewd we are in the comments section.

 

PG – Jonny Flynn:
2007-2008 Key Stats: 35.5 MPG, 15.7 PPG, 5.3 APG, 34.8 3PT%.

Comments:
TFG: As part of the much-heralded class of 2007, Flynn didn’t take long to make a splash, scoring 28 points in his debut, edging out Carmelo Anthony for the most points by an SU freshman in his first career game. In the second game of the season, Flynn’s only basket was a go-ahead three-pointer with 5.8 seconds left that proved to be the difference against St. Joseph’s. He would go on to take the Big East by storm, scoring in double figures in 27 of the team’s final 31 games. It can be argued that the offense relied more on Flynn than it did on Donte’ Greene – Jonny was the Orange’s iron man, at one point not seeing the bench for 313 minutes, including seven complete games. On top of that, Flynn went the distance in four other contests, though the streak speaks to his endurance as much as it does to Scoop Jardine’s flakiness and inconsistency. For his strong performance, he was named Big East Co-Rookie of the Year, alongside DeJuan Blair of Pitt.

2008-09 Outlook: Flynn will be relieved to have Devendorf and Rautins returning as scoring options after shouldering so much of the scoring load last season. Jonny, arguably the top point guard in the country, can run an offense as efficiently as anyone in the game and brings with him amazing quickness that allows him to drive on opposing guards, or fake a drive to create space for an easier shot or pass. One overlooked benefit to his quickness is that it allows him to get back on defense rather easily, which will be huge for those times when Ongenaet, AO and Harris get beat on the glass. Staying on defense, Flynn experienced a slight up-tick in steals per game once conference play hit (1.46 SPG in non-con; 1.66 in Big East play). One of the Orange’s most expressive players, Flynn had no setbacks to speak of over the summer and should be raring to go. I expect his scoring average to go down slightly, but that’s largely a product of having more scorers available and a decrease in playing time. However, the return of two big scoring threats in Rautins and Devendorf should result in an increase in assists. Flynn has all the tools needed to lead this team and himself to great places, and barring something drastic, he won’t have anything left to prove to the college basketball world after this season. If not to the NBA, to the professional ping-pong ranks.

When He’s Not On The Court: On the limited occasions when Flynn left the court last season, Jardine subbed in and opposing defenses often seized the dropoff to get back into the game if they were losing or build the lead if they were winning. Scoop had a clearly defined role, but despite his redshirting the upcoming season, Boeheim will have a good deal of flexibility here. The Orange will have a much more productive bench to go to than it did last year (how could they not?). I think we’ll see Andy Rautins and Mookie Jones sub in for Flynn, but that doesn’t mean that either will play his position; Devendorf will slide over to the point on most occasions when Jonny gets a breather, opening up the 2-hole for the aforementioned bench guys. In other words, don’t expect the pace of the game to drop like it did last year when Flynn went to the sidelines. One thing we can be sure of is that the availability of solid options will close the curtain on Justin Thomas playing meaningful minutes.

LVO: I agree with TFG that Jonny’s PPG will drop from last year, just slightly more than he does. That number is offset by a bigger spike in assists as I expect Jonny to be among the nation’s leader in that category and defer his offense to his teammates. As for minutes played, I expect him to be on the floor a lot. Not like last year, but no way he averages under 30 minutes. This is still Jim Boeheim we are talking about. I will say that as of right now, I think Flynn will not test the draft waters at season’s end. The NBA has never favored undersized guys as high lottery picks. So I think he will end up staying 3 seasons minimum.

2008-09 Stat Predictions:
TFG: 28 MPG, 14.0 PPG, 6.3 APG, 228 AST/80 TO, 1 EDD (Early Draft Declaration)
LVO: 34 MPG 12.3 PPG, 7.2 APG, 252 AST/85 TO

SG – Eric Devendorf:

2007-2008 Key Stats: 34.2 MPG, 15.7 PPG, 3.9 APG, 40.7 3PT% (10 games)

Comments:

LVO: Well last season sure didn’t go as planned for Eric Devendorf. As the lone returning starter from the 2006-07 season, Eric was about to assume the mantle as leader to a young and inexperienced squad. All of that quickly changed with an awkward landing on a typical Devendorf slash to the hoop against East Tennessee St. The result, an ACL tear, halted his junior season (regained via medical redshirt) and forced a young squad to mature in a hurry. That the team was able to reach 20+ wins last season is a testament to the talent and resiliency of this squad.

2008-09 Outlook: Based on reports from initial practices, Eric is acting like the Eric of old, with aggressive forays into the paint. Conventional wisdom states that Eric will be eased into the lineup early in the season and his playing time will be limited. He should, in time, take over the scoring burden that was carried by the departed Donte Greene. He will again be expected to shoulder some leadership duties, but they won’t be nearly as great as a season ago now that Flynn, Paul Harris and Arinze Onuaku have logged major minutes of Big East action. He should see some time at the point to spell iron man Jonny Flynn, giving the Orange another solid ball handler that can breakdown a press, hit free throws late in games and find the open man; he did average almost four assists before going down. Devendorf will also add another dimension by bringing in his trademark swagger and trash talking. He will most certainly not back down from the Memphises and Kansases on our schedule.

When He’s Not On The Court: Look for Andy Rautins to snap up the majority of meaningful minutes when Eric is not on the floor. The other option when Eric sits is to move Paul Harris into the 2 slot where he excelled at slashing to the tin and locking down on defenders from the top of the zone. This would allow the Cuse to go big with either Jackson or Joseph at the 4 spot. In the early part of the season, you might see Mookie Jones manning the two to see how his arm span alters the complexion of the zone. By the time the Big East portion of the schedule rolls around, Eric should be back in full swing averaging better than 30 minutes per contest. No matter how the substitution patterns sorts itself out, there will be experienced guys moving in and that can only benefit this club, especially with the collective strength of the Big East this season.

TFG: I was especially saddened to hear about Devo going down at the tail end of the non-conference schedule; Not just because the game was already in hand, but because he seemed to improve his ball-handling skills so much through that point. Things like dribbling the ball high and making stupid passing decisions became things of the past, and I think correcting those fundamental mistakes was a key factor in Devo’s spikes in shooting and 3-pt. percentage (both up 5.4% from 2006-07) in curtailed time.

At the team’s media day a couple weeks ago, Boeheim said that Devendorf was still a few weeks away from full recovery. We could talk at great length about whether or not he’s going to start from day one, but with the glut of capable guards at Boeheim’s disposal, it’s a pretty meaningless argument, even with Scoop Jardine redshirting. I think it depends on whether Boeheim wants to keep things small with Rautins, which is more of a straight-up substitution, or get big with Rick Jackson, which would also mean bumping Paul Harris to the front of the zone. Once Eric is fully recovered, I think we’ll be seeing plenty of him. If both a healthy Devendorf and Jonny Flynn are off the court at the same time, then something is either terribly wrong or Syracuse is up 25+ with four to go.

Devendorf’s fiery attitude, incendiary temperament and skills to match make him capable of preventing the team from going into tailspins like it did in the back end of last season’s conference schedule. I’m a firm believer in the notion that missing extended time and being forced to watch from the bench can be a good thing in the long run, because the game slows down just enough for you to watch other players and learn their nuances from a different perspective. He’s always struck me as the type who isn’t the least bit keen on school, yet he’s highly cognizant of his potential as a basketball player, so the possibility of him leaving early will be in the back of my mind. Ultimately, though, I think he’ll return for 2010.

2008-09 Stat Predictions:
LVO: 33 MPG, 18.5 PPG, 3.1 APG, 38.8 3PT%
TFG: 32 MPG, 17.0 PPG, 3.5 APG, 37.0 3PT% – Similar to LVO, so here’s some boldness – 3 Technical Fouls!

We apologize for not having a preview available for Monday night’s exhibition opener against a tough Bruins team fresh off its second straight Final Four appearance, but…wait, what’s that? It’s Cal-State Los Angeles, not UCLA? You mean they’re two completely different schools and this one isn’t even a D-1 program? Aw, screw it. SU over CS-LA 93-58, yay for Stevie Thompson being in the Loud House.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 2nd, 2008 at 11:57 pm by Brian G. . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Tags: basketball, Preview