Friday, May 24th, 2013
If you haven’t heard by now, there are some rumblings that Dion Waiters may be leaving Syracuse after his freshman season.
Waiters had a typical up-and-down freshman season, but his low point came during a Jan. 29 loss to Marquette, when Waiters didn’t play a single minute. The one game absence came after Waiters reportedly cursed at SU coach Jim Boeheim.
If Waiters were to transfer, he would follow this long line of Orange players in the past decade to transfer to another school:
DESHAUN WILLIAMS: Williams averaged 11.7 points and 4.5 assists per game in his three year career at Syracuse. But off the court problems took away what was a promising career, at Williams ended up transferring to Iona following the 2001-02 season.
JAMES THUES: The scrappy point guard started 18 games in his sophomore year and averaged 5.6 points and 4.9 assists. He ended up moving closer to home following the 2001-02 season, and finished his career at Detroit-Mercy.
BILLY EDELIN: A talented, but troubled point guard, Edelin left Syracuse after his junior year in the 2004-05 season. He enrolled in Mountain State University in West Virginia, but never played a game. Where is Billy now?
LOUIE MCCROSKEY: As the rumor goes, McCroskey got in a shouting match with Boeheim after an overtime win at Rutgers where McCroskey played just three minutes. McCroksey left after the 2005-06 season, and played his senior season at Marist, averaging 12.1 points and 5.2 rebounds a game.
MIKE JONES: Jones lasted just one semester at Syracuse, and transferred before the 2006-07 season ended. Citing homesickness and frustration with his lack of playing time, he left for the University of South Carolina. There, he was ruled academically ineligible and was last seen playing JUCO basketball at Indian Hills Community College.
JOSH WRIGHT: The speedy Wright never settled into Boeheim’s halfcourt offensive style, and struggled throughout his four years at SU. After playing just four games in the 2007-08 season, Wright quit the team and ended up transferring to University of Ottawa to play for the Gee-Gees. Things didn’t quite go well there, either.
SEAN WILLIAMS: Williams oozed raw talent, standing at 6 foot 11 with a 7-foot-9 wingspan. But Williams never cashed in on that talent, and played just 49 minutes in his two seasons. Following the 2008-09 season, Williams left for Cal-State Fullerton.
That’s all for this week, folks. See you at the same time, same place next week.
Sincerely,
Wesley Cheng
Editor in Chief
Tags: Basketball, Dion Waiters, Syracuse, Week in Review
More From: Wesley Cheng
Williams oozed raw talent? Not to bash on a young student athlete, but talent was something he did not have in abundance. He couldn’t catch the ball, and never had any hopes of playing at the D1 level. All he had was great height and wingspan, and great physical attributes are NOT talent.
You didn’t mention the transfer of Michael Lloyd. One of the most talented yet not talked about cuse players in the late 90s
You forgot Tony Bland. He and Shumpert were our two dynamic freshmen pre-DeShaun Williams and Bland really didn’t do anything for us. If I remember correctly, he was decent for Arizona State.
All of the players mentioned are within the last decade (00-01 forward). Bland just missed the cut off because he left after the 99-00 season, while Lloyd was all the way back in the 94-95 season.
This would be bad news indeed, but I suspect that it may be based in academics. If his future is “up in the air” and will be clarified in “the next 30 days,” that sounds like code for his grades stink and if he doesn’t do something about him, he’ll be academically ineligible. JB would be smart not to chase off Dion since he has the confidence that Brandon lacks, and it will hurt SU’s borderline APR. Doesn’t JB get that? If he leaves, expect to see him at St. Joe’s. He’ll start and not get pulled for gunning because Martelli’s team stinks, and his seat will start to get warm next year due to how bad the team was this year. I hope Dion stays, but it’s JB’s program and he calls all the shots.
I meant to say “them” with regard to his grades. I’m not blaming my SU education for that mistake though.
Don’t forget Ramel. Long Beach State’s finest.
Let’s talk a walk…
Bobby Lazor, Matt Roe, Dayshawn Wright, Mark Konecney, Ramel ‘Rock’ Lloyd, Tony Scott, McCroskey, Bland, J-Wright, Devin Brennan-McBride, Sean Williams… the list is not short, but seriously, did any of these guys really leave ‘Cuse in a tough spot? D-Will left (or was asked to leave more like it) and we won a national title the next year with some Melo guy. Matt Roe stung a little, but Tony Bland was a starter that was replaced rather easily. Transfers are really no different than guys who enter the draft early. Early entries hurt you more than transfers.
You could pretty much count Paul Harris and Devo in the list of transfers too since they didn’t do anything in the NBA, though both have carved a niches in other countries. Of all of them, the only one I ever remember doing well at a BCS school was Lazor at Arizona State.
Dooner, You are NOT much of a fan if: Bobby Lazor is the ONLY Syracuse Transfer to have an impact anywhere else! Glen Sekunda was close to a 20 a game scorer at Penn St and Rich Manning became a 1st Round Draft Pick at Washington!
Rich Manning could also be added to this list. After leaving SU had a great two years at Washington and then was drafted in the 2nd round by the Hawks. Played a couple of years for the Grizzlies and for the Clippers.
WHOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!
Settle down there boss. Manning was a first rounder for the same reason LeRon Ellis was a first rounder – he’s tall. And do you really want to hang your hat on a guy who went to Penn State? He never even started a game at SU. I think I could average 7 or 8 a game there given their long hoops history. The moral of the story was – and still is – that guys that leave aren’t really missed. Sorry my allegience to the Orange isn’t proven by the number of times I post on a message board (now a career total of 2, including this post).