Boeheim’s Army: Late Roster Changes Bring Team Into Focus A Week Before Play Begins

Boeheim’s Army made multiple moves this week in preparation for The Basketball Tournament which starts this weekend. Inside The Loud House brings you the latest details.

Boeheim’s Army is gearing up for another successful run in The Basketball Tournament. Like other past teams, this year’s team is full of Syracuse alumni spanning almost a decade. As of June 1st, the team existed of James Southerland, Brandon Triche, CJ Fair, DaShonte Riley, Rick Jackson, Trevor Cooney, Scoop Jardine, Donte Greene, and Eric Devendorf.

To those who haven’t heard of The Basketball Tournament, it is a winner-take-all tournament in which teams compete for a two-million-dollar prize. The cash prize is split up among the team members, the head coach, as well as the highest supporting fan during the pre voting process to get into the tournament. (They only split up the prize if the team wins the tournament.)

The Basketball Tournament gives players the opportunity to showcase their talent to professional teams both overseas and in the NBA. In previous years, the tournament has had several college alumni teams enter the field including Notre Dame, UMass, Villanova, Pittsburgh, a multiple others.

The Basketball Tournament begins play this weekend, July 7th and 8th. Boeheim’s Army plays on the Saturday, July 8th at 6 p.m. In previous years, Boeheim’s Army has made it to the Sweet 16 and the Elite Eight in The Basketball Tournament, and this year hopes to go even deeper.

This past week, Boeheim’s Army made multiple moves to position themselves better for a deep run once again. James Southerland, who committed early, announced that he wasn’t going to be able to join the team until at least the Sweet 16 stage (if the team makes it that far) because he is taking part in the NBA Summer League with the Utah Jazz. As a result, Boeheim’s Army went out and added an extra sharpshooter.

For the steep price of $1,000, Boeheim’s Army added former Syracuse guard Trevor Cooney to this year’s team. (They paid the $1,000 to add him because he was added after the initial deadline for adding players.)

Trevor Cooney carved his role as a three-point specialist and shooting guard when he played for Syracuse basketball from 2011-2015. Though Trevor Cooney is not nearly as tall as James Southerland, he will more than replicate the production that Southerland would have had from behind the arc. If Boeheim’s Army makes the Sweet 16, when Southerland rejoins the team, the Army will have multiple three-point threats, making them very hard to beat.

In addition to the Cooney move, it was announced that fan favorite Scoop Jardine would have to leave the team because of a nagging injury suffered while playing in Canada earlier this year. As a result, Boeheim’s Army moved quickly in order to secure another point guard in addition to Brandon Triche. Kevin Belbey, the team’s GM, called up last year’s point guard John Gillon to gauge his interest in joining the team. Thankfully, Gillon was immediately on board and gave notice he would join the team for The Basketball Tournament soon after.

Gillon becomes the first player on Boeheim’s Army to play after leaving the Orange the season before. He gives the team another viable three-point threat, great ball-handling, and adept passing.

Barring any unforeseen changes in the next couple days, Boeheim’s Army roster should be complete for the basketball tournament. The final roster has nine players and stands like this:

Point guard: Brandon Triche, John Gillon

Shooting guard: Trevor Cooney, Eric Devendorf

Small forward: CJ Fair, James Southerland

Power forward: Rick Jackson, Donte Greene

Center: DaShonte Riley

This team is stacked with great talent at every position. With Gillon and Triche at point, we have great passers on offense. Eric Devendorf and Trevor Cooney bring swagger and passion to the team. They are also excellent three-point threats. In CJ Fair and James Southerland, you have two players who can hit shots on the outside, mid-range, and around the basket.

In the post, you also have excellent two-way players in DaShonte Riley, Rick Jackson, and Donte Greene.  What’s more is that all of these players are 6’10 or higher. Dashonte Riley in particular is seven feet tall, making him both an excellent rebounder as well as a shot blocker. Though he is not great on offense, he makes up for it on defense.

I think this team is ready and poised for deep run. They are familiar with each other as most of them played together while at Syracuse University. The team also got together and practiced almost a week before the tournament, showing their commitment to winning it all. In previous tournaments, this team knew that they could have won it all and just fell short. This team is expected to do great things this year, and should live up to those expectations for themselves and the Syracuse faithful. It’s just a matter of taking it one game at a time. Hopefully this year is the year Boeheim’s Army puts it altogether and wins it all.