#49: Scoop Jardine
Guard: 2007-2011
SCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That’s the sound fans would make when Scoop Jardine would make a big play for the Orange. I used to think it was booing, because he did make a lot of silly plays at times, but it wasn’t. Scoop wasn’t a human highlight reel by any stretch, but he made the best of the talent he had.
Jardine was a player the Orange could count on to make plays either by scoring or assisting in key situations. He averaged 9.0 points and 4.4 assists a game, while shooting 45%, according to Sports-Reference.com. His main purpose though, in my opinion, was being a mentor and floor leader.
When Jardine played at Syracuse, the Orange were picking up lots of Top 100 commits out of high school. As such, Jardine became the perfect role model for freshman coming in. He had a great work ethic and a great smile to go with decent skills. That helped mold the new crop of Orangemen from boys into men.
Now, most wouldn’t say that’s enough to qualify Jardine for a Top 50 spot. My response to that is this: while on the team, Syracuse was ranked first nationally during two of those seasons, was given two #1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament, was the Big East Regular Season champion twice, and made the NCAA tournament four times in his five years (one year he was a redshirt), according to Orangehoops.com. In addition, in his last season he led the Orange to the Elite 8. If that isn’t a track record of success I don’t know what is.
Scoop was a player who didn’t need the stats or the highlights, he just wanted to make his teammates better so the team could play well and win. That’s exactly what he did while playing for Syracuse Basketball, which is why we felt he was deserving, regardless of his stats, to be among Syracuse Basketball’s Top 50 Players of All-Time.