Every Sunday, Inside the Loud House will release the Top 50 Players they believe are the best in Syracuse Basketball History. This week we continue the countdown with #40.
As Paul A. Esden Jr. mentioned last week, there is no easy way to make a list of the 50 best players in Syracuse Basketball history. The criteria for ranking one player ahead of another is even more complicated. How can you possibly compare a one-and-done prospect who was amazing to an average player who stayed for four years and set records? There is no easy answer to that question.
More from All-Time Lists
- Syracuse Basketball: Top 3 NBA players from ‘Cuse in Jim Boeheim era
- Syracuse Basketball: Top 3 family ties during the Jim Boeheim era
- Syracuse Basketball: Top 3 NCAA Tournament games in Boeheim era
- Syracuse Basketball: Top 3 dunkers in Jim Boeheim-era history
- Syracuse Basketball: Ranking the top-10 games for the Orange in 2021-22
The real point of these rankings is to honor those who gave it all for Syracuse Basketball. Some of these players we have never seen, but learning about past players helps remind us all of those who laid the foundation of what Syracuse Basketball is today.
Not everyone will agree with how we rank these players and that’s okay. In fact, we encourage debate because that means you, the fan, are passionate about the team you love. As long as you learned something new, and enjoyed reading about players you’ve grown to love watching, then we’ve achieved our objective.
If you missed the last two weeks of this segment you can read them here:
- Syracuse Basketball: Top 50 Players of All-Time (50-46)
- Syracuse Basketball: Top 50 Players in School History (45-41)
We hope you continue to enjoy Inside The Loud House’s edition of the Top 50 Players In Syracuse Basketball History. This week we will continue the countdown with #40.
#40: Rakeem Christmas
Power Forward/Center: 2011-2015
Rakeem Christmas was a prime example of a senior who finally put it altogether. Leading up to his senior year, Christmas, a former McDonald’s All-American, seemed like a bust of sorts. He had the skill and potential to be great, but just couldn’t live up to it.
In his sophomore and junior year, he averaged about five points, five rebounds, and two blocks a game, according to Sports-Reference.com. Then, after an offseason training hard, he opened up his senior season strong, and never let up.
Christmas looked like a completely different player. He finally looked like a starter, and was a threat on both sides of the court for opposing teams. In that senior season, Rakeem Christmas finally proved he was worth an NBA Draft pick. He would score 18 points, grabs nine rebounds and block three shots a game.
Christmas wasn’t quite a double-double machine, but it looked like it on each games’s box score. He would have been higher in our rankings had he put it altogether sooner, but sometimes you need take baby steps before you walk. Such was the case with Rakeem Christmas.
His hard work in his senior season paid off as Christmas was selected 36th overall in the 2015 NBA Draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves, according to ESPN.com. He didn’t stay there long and soon drifted to the D-league for awhile, but lately he has been playing well for the Indiana Pacers.
Christmas wasn’t the best power forward or center Syracuse has ever had, but his senior season is evidence to the fact that hard work can pay off. We felt he belonged in these rankings because of how far he’s come to be where he is today. Christmas’s SU career is a strange tale, but one, that luckily for Syracuse, had a happy ending.
#39: Andy Rautins
Guard: 2005-2010
Andy Rautins will forever go down as the guy who just made big three’s when Syracuse needed them most. He wasn’t flashy or a superstar in any way, but he made a contribution to the team by being its’ three-point specialist.
In his college career at SU, Rautins made 282 three point shots, according to Sports-Reference.com. That’s good for second All-Time at SU, behind only Gerry McNamara: who made 400 three-point field goals, according to Orangehoops.org. In addition to being the 2nd all-time best three point shooter at Syracuse, Rautins is also 53rd all-time on SU’s scoring list with 1,121 points, according to Orangehoops.org. Of those 1,121 points, 846 came from three.
Most Syracuse Basketball fans probably best remember Rautins for how he put on a show in the Big East Tournament 6OT game against Connecticut. In that game, he made 6 of 12 three-point shots, according to ESPN.com. One of those tied the game at 98 to send it to a 4th Overtime. Another, in the sixth overtime, gave Syracuse it’s first lead of the game; one they would not relinquish.
Rautins may not be the most exciting athlete on this list we’ve made, but his legacy is cemented in anyone who saw him play. He loved the game and gave everything to it and left no regrets. Syracuse Basketball fans are forever grateful for all those unforgettable moments and clutch shots. It’s player’s like Andy Rautins that remind us why we love Syracuse Basketball so much. It’s for that reason, along with his incredible stats that he’s on this list.
#38: Etan Thomas
Forward: 1996-2000
The first time I heard the name Etan Thomas was in my NBA Live game growing up as a kid. I never knew he played at Syracuse until much later. When I put players on teams in my video game, he was usually someone I liked putting on my team as a free agent or by trading for him. I did that mostly for one reason: I knew he could block shots really well.
Not surprisingly, that is what Etan Thomas did best while playing for SU. He is the all-time leader (first) in blocked shots in Syracuse Basketball history with 424, according to Cuse.com. In addition to blocking shots, Thomas was also a pretty good rebounder and scorer. In each year while at Syracuse those numbers rose:
Provided by CBB at Sports Reference: View Original Table– Generated 4/23/2017.
Thomas was so good by the time his senior year came around that he became a first round pick, 12th overall to be exact to the Dallas Mavericks in the 2000 NBA Draft, according to ESPN.com. Usually seniors don’t get picked that high in NBA Draft, but in Thomas’s case, he earned his selection that early. That just shows you how far he developed over the course of his SU career.
In addition, Etan Thomas is 35th All-Time on Syracuse Basketball’s scoring list with 1,340 points, according to Orangehoops.org. The fact that Thomas is that high up the scoring list, along with being the all-time leader in block shots at Syracuse, makes him a definite fixture in our rankings.
#37: Dave Johnson
Forward: 1988-1992
Dave Johnson was anything from finished masterpiece when he joined the Orange in 1988. He was an inconsistent shooter who was relagated to being bakcup and role player off teh bench. However, as a junior, he was forced into the starters role and did not dispapoint.
In his first two years at Syracuse, Johnson averaged 4.2 and 6.5 points respectively, according to Basketball-Reference.com. In his junior year though, he exploded for 19.4 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 38% from three point range a game. To top it all off, he, along with another member on this list, Billy Owens, became one of the best duos in college basketball during his junior year.
In his senior season, Johnson would form another duo with Syracuse’s would-be All-Time leading scorer, Lawrence Moten. In that final season in an Orange uniform, he would score 19.8 points, grab 7 rebounds, and shoot 34% from three.
To top it all off, his numbers for Syracuse are amazing considering most of them were accumulated in two years. He finished his SU career with 1614 points, 571 rebounds, 192 assists, and 127 steals, according to Basketball-Reference.com. That puts him 16th all-time on Syracuse’s All-Time Scoring list, according to Orangehoops.org.
#36: Michael Gbinije
Guard: 2013-2016
Michael Gbinije is one of the few players on this list that didn’t start his career in Orange. After one year at Duke, Gbinije transferred to SU where his college career would take off. A Top 100 player coming out of high school, Syracuse expected he would be good, and he was.
Due to the lack of decent point guards on the roster, Gbinije served much of Orange career at the point rather than at shooting guard or small forward where he technically belonged. As a result, Gbinije learned how to play point so well that by senior year he was the starting point guard for Syracuse Basketball. He became not only just a great scorer, especially at penetrating the lane, but but also a decent jump shooter and passer.
Gbinije’s numbers rose the longer he stayed at Syracuse. His sophomore year, his first in Orange he scored 3.4 points and had 1.2 assists per game, according to Basketball-Reference.com. By the end of his senior season he scored 17.5 points, and dished out 4.3 assists per game. In addition, during his three-year stint in Orange, he accumulated 1,144 points, which put him 51st All-Time on SU’s scoring list, according to Orangehoops.org.
| Season | College | G | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | PTS | FG% | 3P% | FT% | PTS | TRB | AST |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013-14 | SYRACUSE | 34 | 60 | 41 | 25 | 7 | 116 | .380 | .349 | .646 | 3.4 | 1.8 | 1.2 |
| 2014-15 | SYRACUSE | 30 | 150 | 107 | 56 | 10 | 381 | .460 | .392 | .571 | 12.7 | 5.0 | 3.6 |
| 2015-16 | SYRACUSE | 37 | 151 | 159 | 70 | 13 | 647 | .461 | .392 | .663 | 17.5 | 4.1 | 4.3 |
| Career | 120 | 377 | 310 | 154 | 31 | 1177 | .454 | .388 | .639 | 9.8 | 3.1 | 2.6 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table– Generated 4/23/2017.
Although Gbinije was talented, the thing I loved most about watching him play was the smile he always had on. You could really tell he enjoyed the game and you could see it through the way he played.
Next: Syracuse Basketball: Top 50 Players in School History (45-41)
The good news to all this is his dreams came true when he became the 49th pick by the Detroit Pistons in the second round of the 2016 NBA Draft, according to ESPN.com. He has yet to play a minute for them, but here’s hoping someday soon he gets a chance to shine, much the way he did while In Central New York. Gbinije is a perfect example of someone who doesn’t need a full career somewhere to leave a legacy behind.