I’m going to keep things light today as we enter a holiday weekend, after a week at SU that was pretty eventful, considering it’s the off-season and the Orange didn’t have anyone realistically considering declaring for the draft, which is something that usually takes the headlines around this time of the season.

1) Former guard Adrian Autry is reportedly succeeding Rob Murphy as an assistant on the SU bench. While I think it’s a little odd that none of the current assistants have playing experience as a forward, considering the unrefined talent SU has down low, I’m not sure I should necessarily be concerned, but mostly because I think there’s a greater meaning to the move, which is in the next point.

2) It’s more interesting that Autry and Mike Hopkins, who played together in the backcourt for most of their careers at Syracuse, will be reunited on the bench. We know Jim Boeheim is in the twilight of his career, and that Hopkins is presumably taking the reins once Boeheim finally calls it a career, so in putting on my tinfoil hat, I get the feeling that this move was made with a good deal of consideration towards the long-term future of the program as well as the short-term.

3) Big ups to Mike Porter at The Juice for scooping the report that Syracuse will play George Washington in the non-con slate this fall. It’s by no means a sexy opponent as we wait for the rest of the NIT Season Tip-Off field to be announced, but the Colonials are losing just one senior, and with some solid young players, should make a push within the Atlantic 10. To boot, point guard Tony Taylor is a statistical and physical replica of Scoop Jardine - It’s really uncanny. Now we can commence our seven-month wait with baited breath.

As we celebrate the reunification of the Hopkins/Autry duo, I leave you with this ditty:

Syracuse has fielded a talented stable of big men over the last seven years, even though Terrence Roberts and Darryl Watkins fell short of expectations. For all his faults, Donte Greene was a very good scorer. Arinze Onuaku and Rick Jackson weren’t as heralded coming out of high school, but both maximized their ability while donning Orange. Currently, the jury is still out on Fab Melo, Baye Moussa Keita and DaShonte Riley, but all three ooze promise and upside. Additionally, Rakeem Christmas has all the tools to be a dominant defensive force in the back of the zone. The future looks undeniably bright.

The presence of all those players (save those first two) wouldn’t be possible if not for the tireless work of assistant coach Rob Murphy, both on the court as well as on the recruiting trail. For those who haven’t gotten word, Murphy accepted an offer to become the next head coach at Eastern Michigan University, and will be formally introduced later today. Murphy leaves the ‘Cuse after pouring in seven seasons under Jim Boeheim. It’s hard to be too surprised by the move, as younger assistants perpetually look for opportunities for their next step up. After Mike Hopkins was designated as the head coach in waiting and Murphy developed his reputation with a major program, it only became a matter of time.

Though it’s hard to say exactly how much credit he can take for Hakim Warrick’s sensational senior year (which came in Murphy’s first season with Syracuse), his accomplishments proved that he could coach a little. Below are just some accolades earned by SU’s forwards under Murphy’s tutelage:

Hakim Warrick – 2005 AP All-American, All-Big East First team and Big East Player of the Year

Donte Greene – 2008 All-Big East Second Team, averaged over 17 points per game as a freshman

Wes Johnson – 2010 AP All-American, All-Big East First Team, Big East Player of the Year, #4 pick in 2010 NBA Draft

Murphy had a hand in the development of four of Syracuse’s top 20 career rebounders. The Eagles (why Eastern Michigan University’s teams aren’t known as the Emus will forever be a mystery to me) are getting one of the prized assistants of the Big East, and certainly the best rapper in that category. The move also opens up the possibility that Jim Boeheim schedules a game against his now-former colleague in an effort to soldier on in the Orange’s recent competitive onslaught against the state of Michigan.

Later this week, we’ll discuss some potential successors to Murphy, and the early returns imply that the most realistic candidates are all former players under Boeheim, which I feel is a good thing. Until then, however, CuseOrange wishes Murphy, a great coach and a terrific community guy, all the best with his new gig.

It sounds weird, but one thing I love about college basketball isn’t mostly about college basketball. Over the last couple years, I’ve become a big fan of the increase in visibility of the nation’s top high school recruits. Thanks to contracts involving networks televising events like the Boost Mobile Elite 24, Nike Hoops Summit, the McDonald’s All-American game, and most recently, the Jordan Brand Classic, we’re able to get glimpses of the best high school talent in the country as they near the start of their college careers. The high school scene is covered thoroughly by a variety of tremendous online news outlets and scouting services who provide periodic updates. But the everyday fans, until recently, haven’t been able to see their school’s freshest faces in high school exhibition action. I know it can be tough to come away from these all-star games with a lot of confidence in what to expect from these players, but I’ll take any chance to take a look at guys like Rakeem Christmas and Michael-Carter Williams.

Christmas impressed the most on Saturday night in Charlotte. He started, had two quick dunks and finished with 12 points to go along with seven boards and a block. The Jordan Brand Classic looked like an extreme case of a defense-free exhibition, as the teams combined for 222 points, so while Christmas showed the ability to finish, you still have to take the performance at face value. The physical tools are definitely there, though I’d like to see him add 10 or so pounds of muscle of meat on his bones, and his offensive game is essentially limited to putbacks, finishing on the break, and exploiting mismatches.

We also got a good look at Michael Carter-Williams, SU’s incoming point guard who rose up the charts for ranking services over the past year. Known as a scoring guard, Carter-Williams has recently taken on more of a distributor/floor general role, and scored just one point, though he dished out five assists and pulled down six rebounds. He appears to be the successor to Scoop Jardine at the point guard spot, and will have a year to get his legs under him and build up some much-needed muscle.

High school exhibitions make for entertaining basketball, but the springtime portion of the off-season is also busy with news of coaching hirings and firings and player movement, whether it’s in the form of draft declarations, transfers or action in the spring signing period. It seems as though there’s been an inordinate amount of player movement in the Boeheim era this millennium. In many cases, it’s been the kind that garners great PR, like Carmelo Anthony, Wes Johnson and Johnny Flynn leaving early for the draft and having their names called as top ten selections. Occasionally, it’s head-scratching, like Donte’ Greene’s draft decision following the 2007-2008 season. Other times, though, the news of players leaving the Orange has vindicated whispers and reports alike that certain guys simply wore out their welcome with Jim Boeheim (Paul Harris, Louis McCroskey), the school (Eric Devendorf, Josh Wright) or each other (DeShaun Williams). We may have such a scenario yet again with Saturday’s report that Dion Waiters’ status with the team is, according to Boeheim, “up in the air.” Boeheim added that the matter will be resolved one way or another by the end of this school year, so we shouldn’t expect this to drag out for long.

As illustrated, the SU program has withstood a great deal of roster attrition over the years. From that angle, this is nothing new. But it’s intriguing that a player who was recruited by Syracuse as early as Waiters was, a guard who committed to SU more than three years before his first game, could be off the team a mere six months after his debut. That doesn’t mean this move, should it take place, would be surprising. He came to Syracuse as a ball-dominating guard who was asked to come off the bench as the Orange’s third guard, a role he very obviously wasn’t used to. Then, in January, Waiters infamously threw an f-bomb in the general direction of Jim Boeheim during garbage time of the Seton Hall debacle in January, so it’s not hard to see how the bouts in chemistry and style would lead to some disagreements.

I’m a big fan of Waiters’ on-court play. Last season, he turned the ball very rarely over for someone who commands the rock as much as he does, displayed an aggressive eye towards the basket that Brandon Triche lacked, and his defense, perceived as an Achilles heel upon his arrival, really seemed to come along. While Fab Melo and Baye Moussa Keita struggled on offense, Waiters stuck out as a freshman who could produce as long as he stayed out of his own way. Of course, the last part of that sentence proved to be operative over the course of the season, and Waiters was benched for the Marquette game that followed his colorful language propelled at The Per’fesser. Around the same time, he hit the freshman wall, going 5-25 in three games during SU’s midseason losing streak. At the end of the season, though, he was SU’s leading scorer in their tournament loss to Marquette, going 8-10 from the floor for 18 points, with his only misses coming from behind the arc.

Truthfully, I would love for him to work out any remaining qualms with Jim Boeheim and stick around. I hope that next March, there’s an article in the Post-Standard talking about how Dion Waiters ascended from possibly leaving the program to flourishing as a consistent double-digit scorer in a fast-paced SU attack as the Orange forges along into the second weekend of the tournament. I love Waiters’ scoring potential as a long-term player, and while I like what’s on tap from next season’s freshmen, his presence would keep Trevor Cooney and Michael Carter-Williams from having to do too much too soon. However, both sides need to be all in, and the last thing the team needs, especially with a talented freshman class coming in, is a locker room lingering with discomfort, tension and clashing personalities.

At the same time, SU figures to have a very deep roster next season which is built to withstand Waiters leaving if the situation presents itself. For a variety of  reasons, roster retention drama has a way of popping up around Jim Boeheim’s program on a regular basis. Fortunately, we’ll be able to know what’s what by early-to-mid May.