Tyus Battle has really come into his own for Syracuse Basketball the past couple weeks. Inside the Loud House checks out his NBA Draft Stock going forward.
All year, Syracuse Basketball fans have been hoping we wouldn’t lose another great recruit after only one year. Last year that player was Malachi Richardson. He started slow and ended strong in the NCAA Tournament. This year it’s Tyus Battle.
In pure Richardson form, Battle had a hard time adjusting to being the capable star he could be on offense. Now, late in ACC play he is asserting himself and the Syracuse Basketball team is reaping the benefits.
As has been said before on Inside the Loud House by our own Zachary Weisleder, John Gillon is the heart and soul of this team and they’re going nowhere without him. However, when another star doesn’t show up beside him, like Andrew White has the last two games, then the scoring ability of Tyus Battle becomes all the more important to this team’s success.
Take the latest example, when Syracuse took on Duke at the Carrier Dome Wednesday night. He, along with Gillon, made up for the fact that Tyler Lydon and White couldn’t do anything on offense. In the waning moments of the second half, Battle took it upon himself to make step back jumpers from mid-range and long-range that we all knew weren’t ordinary.
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Duke’s defense was outstanding, with pressure right in Battle’s face on multiple attempts. However, Battle has confidence in his ability to hit NBA-level shots and that can be both a good and a bad thing. He showed on the highest level of competition that he can help win games and hit tough shots, but he also showed NBA scouts he is more than ready to make the leap to the next level, maybe even more so than Richardson was last year.
Unfortunately for Syracuse Basketball, the better Battle plays the higher his draft stock. The likes of ESPN.com, CBSsports.com, NBADraft.net, and many others I checked don’t even have him listed in their mock drafts or top 100 NBA players prospects quite yet, but by year’s end I expect they will. He’s just too talented not to make a difference in March.
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Like Richardson, Battle’s a player who’s capable of jumping up NBA Draft boards in a hurry. Let’s just hope for Syracuse’s sake, the NBA comes calling more next year instead, but that’s just being selfish.