Syracuse Basketball: Sophomore Taurean Thompson has Withdrawn From SU

ITLH lets you know one key member of the Syracuse basketball team who was noticeably absent. A new report suggests he’s taking his talents to Seton Hall.

Syracuse Basketball had a rebuilding year of sorts last year. Despite some hurdles, the team had a respectable year with some key wins, helped a lot by the development of freshmen Tyus Battle and Taurean Thompson.

Coming into this year, Syracuse Basketball fans had high hopes for this season. Now, they might be thinking NIT again for the second consecutive season.

Today, Syrcause.com announced that Taurean Thompson had withdrawn from school. According a statement by Jim Boeheim from Syrcause.com its was for personal reasons:

"My understanding is he wants to go to school closer to home due to some family health issues."

Thompson who lives in New Jersey has reportedly not been contacting his fellow teammates or

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members of Boeheim’s staff this summer, according to Syracuse.com. He missed all the summer session classes that players usually take part in and has not really been heard from at all.

Now with classes officially started, he has withdrawn from school and taken a leave of absence from Syracuse University. As of right now there is no timetable for his return. Thompson could still return to the program once things have sorted out, but there has been no indication at this stage that that will be the case.

If Thompson does not rejoin the team this winter, the team will have to turn to developing 7’2 Paschal Chukwu at Center. Chukwu missed most of the season last year with an eye injury. However, he is talented shot blocker who can be a star in the middle of the zone if (and that’s a big if) he can stay out of foul trouble.

UPDATE:

With Thompson gone, the Orange will have to find some offensive scoring from another place. While Thompson averaged 9.2 points per game for Syracuse last year and came on strong at the end of the season. He was a force to be reckoned with in the post and could shoot the jump shot with ease. If he does not return to the team, he will be greatly missed, especially on offense.

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Luckily for the Orange, Syracuse brought in a quality freshman class with the likes of Oshae Brissett, Howard Washington, Bourama Sidibe, and Marek Dolezaj, according to ESPN.com. Of those four, three of those players are forwards which means any one of them can fill the spot left by Thompson. While the one thing they can’t replace though is the player himself. We wish Thompson and his family the best of luck as they move forward.