Syracuse Season Preview

2022-23 Record: 17-15, 10-10 ACC (8th)

Coach: Adrian Autry, First Season

Departures: Joe Girard III , G (Transfer)

Jesse Edwards, C (Transfer)

Symir Torrence, G (Transfer)

Arrivals: JJ Starling, G (Transfer from Notre Dame)

Kyle Cuffe Jr, G (Transfer from Kansas)

Chance Westry, W (Transfer from Auburn)

Naheem McLeod, C (Transfer from Florida State)

William Patterson, C (Freshman)

Projected Starting Lineup

PG: Judah Mintz

SG: JJ Starling

SF: Benny Williams

PF: Chris Bell

C: Naheem McLeod

Roster Breakdown

After coaching the Syracuse Orange for a staggering 47 seasons, Jim Boeheim has retired and there will be a new man on the sidelines in the Carrier JMA Wireless Dome. Former Syracuse player and assistant coach Adrian Autry takes over a team that has been somewhat middling in recent seasons, and he'll look to rejuvenate the program. He has managed to hold on to the entire 2022 recruiting class, which looks like it will be the building blocks of the program for the next few years, especially the crown jewel of the class, guard Judah Mintz. He's coming off a season in which he averaged 16.3 points and 4.6 assists a game, plus 1.8 steals, and after flirting with the NBA, he's back to lead Syracuse after the departues of Joe Girard and Jesse Edwards, two fixtures for the Orange over the last few years. Mintz is electric with the ball in his hands, and excellent in isolation. He can get to his mid range jumper at seemingly anytime, and he is also a great finisher around the rim. He needs to improve his three point shot, making just 30.3% of his shots from deep last year, but expect Mintz to be in contention for All-ACC honors. Fellow members of the 2022 class Chris Bell, Maliq Brown, Justin Taylor, and Quadir Copeland also return, giving the Orange a strong nucleus. Bell started all 30 games that he appeared in a year ago, and the 6'7" forward fit in immediately, averaging 6.6 points and 1.8 rebounds while being a shooting threat, especially from the corners, making 34.5% of his shots from beyond the arc. He is in line for a bigger role this year, and he's got plenty of length and athleticism to go along with his shooting ability. Brown is another forward, but he's more comfortable inside the paint. He's 6'9" and averaged 5.7 points and 4.6 rebounds last year. He was already quite strong, and another year with a college strength and conditioning coach should have him able to play some small ball 5 if the Orange so choose. Taylor is the next in the lineage of deadeye shooters for the Orange, following in the footsteps of Gerry McNamara, Eric Devendorf, and Buddy Boeheim. He made 39.3% of his threes last season while averaging 4.2 points a game, and also has good size for his position at 6'6". Copeland can play as a guard or wing, and at 6'6", has great positional size. He's a willing passer, but not much of a shooter yet. He made the least impact of the four last year, averaging 2.1 points and 1.6 rebounds, but has value as a strong defender, and will be looking to make the traditional sophomore leap. The Orange also bring back two upperclassmen with Benny Williams and Mounir Hima. Williams was the #32 player in the 2021 class according to the 247 Composite, and he got a bigger role last season, increasing his minutes by 11.5 per game last season, and with good reason. He has always had the traditional Syracuse length and athleticism, but he added a jump shot last year, making 39.6% of his shots from beyond the arc last year. On the year, Williams put up 7.2 points and 4.1 rebounds, and I could see him getting into double digits scoring this year. Hima is a transfer big from Duquesne, and he put up 1.4 points and 1.7 rebounds last year. He's a serviceable backup big who has good size at 6'11" and doesn't play outside his means. Adding to the optimism in central New York is the transfer class, which features JJ Starling, Chance Westry, Naheem McLeod, and Kyle Cuffe Jr. Starling hails from Baldwinsville, NY, and returns to upstate New York after one year at Notre Dame. He averaged 11.2 points a game to go along with 2.8 rebounds and 1.1 assists. He's a natural scorer that can get it done at all three levels, although he did struggle from deep last year, making only 30% of his threes last season. However, and take this with a grain of salt because I'm not exactly a high level basketball evaluator, but his jump shot looks good to me and I think with a couple small tweaks, he'll be much better this season from deep. He's also a solid defender, and at 6'4", has solid size for a guard. Not to mention, he was a 5 star recruit and McDonald's All-American. Westry, meanwhile, was the 44th ranked recruit in 2022 and spent last season at Auburn. He suffered a preseason knee injury, and  never got fully healthy, and only playing in 9 games and putting up 2.5 points and 1 assist on the year. Out of high school, he was considered a big guard, standing at 6'6", with playmaking ability and shiftiness with the ball in his hands. However, he needed to add strength, and I wonder how much of that he was able to do with his injury last season. He also needs to continue to develop as a shooter, as he missed all 14 of his three point attempts in 2022. He's a real wild card for me this season. McLeod comes in from Florida State, where he started 16 games over two seasons in Tallahassee, and he's absolutely massive. Syracuse fans will remember Pascal Chukwu from a few years ago, and McLeod is a similar player. He's 7'4" and even though he only blocked 0.9 shots a game during his tenure with the Noles, he alters a lot of shots just because he's so big. He also put up 4.1 points and 2.4 rebounds as well. However, he's penciled in as the starter at Syracuse, but he's averaged 12.3 minutes a game in his collegiate career. He'll need to try and get up to 20 this year for Syracuse, so that's something to monitor. Cuffe Jr was the #117 player in the 2021 class and committed to Kansas, but his career thus far has been plagued by injury. He played only 6 total minutes last year after redshirting in 2021-22, but out of high school, he was regarded as a good athlete who could be a pest at the point of attack defensively and score off of the bounce. However, we'll have to see how the injury has affected him, and there are reports that he has a broken hand already at Syracuse, so who knows if he'll suit up. Older fans may recognize the name from his dad, who played a St. John's in the early 2000s. Also on the roster are big men Peter Carey and William Patterson, two low ranked recruits who figure to mostly be depth options in case of emergency this season.

My Thoughts

Best team in the country, hands down. Certainly the best school to attend and it produces the best college basketball analysts. Now, I may be slightly biased as a Syracuse alum, but I don't think so. As for my thoughts on the roster, I'm really high on the Orange. I promise it isn't bias speaking, I just really, really like the roster Adrian Autry has assembled in Year One. I love the backcourt pairing of Judah Mintz and JJ Starling. They're both really good scorers, and while inconsistent shooting from beyond the arc could be an issue, I think Starling especially will take a step forward in that department. I also think the wings in Williams, Bell, and Taylor can all help space the floor around them. I really like what I saw from Benny Williams down the stretch last year, and I think he'll be a nice veteran presence. I'm also expecting a good amount of Maliq Brown as a small ball five, which brings me to the biggest question I have about this team, and it's the obvious one. With Jim Boeheim gone, will Syracuse continue to play the 2-3 zone? It's one of the most fascinating questions in all of college basketball to me, as Syracuse has been synonymous with the system for years. However, their defensive efficiency has been getting worse, and teams have adapted to be able to get good looks consistently. The catch is, most of these players are built to play the zone. It's a collection of good athletes with long wingspans that can get deflections, clog passing lanes, and get hands in shooters faces. Williams, Bell, Copeland, and especially McLeod are all built for zone defense. I do question how a lot of these players will transfer over to a man scheme, which Autry has hinted at playing. It will definitely be something to monitor, but it could be a curveball that Syracuse can throw at teams. I've liked their press in years past, maybe there's some man to man high pressure defense the Orange can go that will play to the strengths of their players. I could talk about this team for hours, but on the whole, I'm a big fan of this roster and I think Adrian Autry will have them dancing and, bold prediction time, they will be ranked in the Top 25 at some point.