Boeheim’s Army is back this summer, primed for another deep run in The Basketball Tournament. In this Eight-Part Series we will look at each player set to play for the Army, as well as what they’ve done since they left Syracuse Basketball.
DaShonte Riley
PF/C- Syracuse (2009-2011) Eastern Michigan (2011-2014)
DaShonte Riley came to Syracuse Basketball tall and lanky. He could block shots, but often was caught giving a foul instead. Standings 7 feet tall, he was someone the Orange hoped would be a centerpiece in the 2-3 zone for years to come.
However, Riley didn’t get much playing time in the 2010 season because he couldn’t stay out of foul trouble. As most know, that won’t pass with Jim Boeheim. He rode the bench most of the year until star power forward Arinze Onuaku went down with a quad injury in the Big East Tournament, according to Syracuse.com.
With a spot open in the starting lineup, Boeheim had to fill the void, and Riley became the backup. Having just lost to Georgetown in the Big East Quarterfinals, he would have a chance to play more minutes in the NCAA Tournament.
In his first game in the NCAA’s against Vermont, Riley would play 12 minutes and score no points. He would grab two offensive rebounds, have one block, and dish two assists, according to Sports-Reference.com. Though not exactly a great performance, it showed improvement.
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In his next game of the tournament, Riley suffered mightily against Gonzaga. In Riley’s 15 minutes against the Bulldogs, he tallied zero points, zero rebounds, zero blocks, three turnovers, and five fouls (which is fouling out in college).
Even though Syracuse Basketball won the matchup with Gonzaga, Boeheim was not happy with Riley’s performance. He would only get five minutes in the Orange’s loss to Butler in the next round. In that game, he fared no better, finishing with zero points, one rebound, and two fouls. In In other words, not a great performance.
That offseason, Syracuse fans were pretty pessimistic about what Riley could bring to the Orange in 2010 and beyond. They questioned whether he really had a future with the team. An injury to his foot made him redshirt, which didn’t help matters. Right after the season he would choose to transfer to Eastern Michigan, where former Syracuse assistant Rob Murphy was the Head coach.
He would develop into a much better player with the Eagles. After only posting about one point per game as a freshman at Syracuse, and not starting a single game; he would score four points, per game in his first season with Eastern Michigan in 2011-2012. He would also start 18 of the 19 games he played that season according to Basketball.RealGM.com.
The following two years, he would average about the same number of points(four), but average about two blocks and six rebounds a game. His foul trouble remained about the same though as he still averaged over three a game.
After his college career ended in 2014, he went undrafted in the 2014 NBA Draft. He would be picked by the Idaho Stampede in the fourth round with the first pick in the 2015 Annual NBA Development League Draft.
The last two seasons he has played in 62 games in the D-League and has started 17 of them, according to the D-League’s website. His totals are similar to his college stats: three points per game, three rebounds, three fouls, and one block per game in 17 minutes of action.
Next: Boeheim’s Army: A Look at the Roster for The Basketball Tournament
DaShonte Riley may not be a star for Boeheim’s Army, but he doesn’t need to be because he just needs to be a player who can play quality minutes and block smaller opponents. If he does even a little bit better than when we last saw him in 2010, then you can expect ‘Cuse fans to give him much more respect than they gave him years ago.
Here’s hoping the Army goes deep in the Basketball Tournament and that Riley is a huge part of that. I think we all know we can at least hold his end on the defensive side.