Syracuse Basketball: Frank Howard-The Underappreciated Playmaker Syracuse Needs

Syracuse Basketball has struggled all year to find consistency. So what’s the answer finding it? Inside The Loud House examines what the underappreciated Frank Howard can bring.

Syracuse Basketball knows they need some wins down the stretch if they want to be in the NCAA bracket this year as opposed to the NIT. Considering this is a team that usually starts 2-3 freshmen a game, that’s a tall order, but not an impossible one.

The Orange have a star in Tyus Battle, but besides him they’ve lacked consistency all year. So what’s the answer? Surprisingly I’m finding its none other than Frank Howard.

Frank Howard is our starting point guard and a fine one at that. He is a good distributor, a decent shooter, and is unafraid to hit clutch shots when called upon.

However, Syracuse fans can all agree he lacks that killer instinct and is too passive at times. In addition, Howard makes dumb, mind-numbing plays when passing the ball sometimes and takes way too many off balance floaters in the lane when he could just hand it off.

Outside of Battle, and possibly Oshae Brissett though, he is one of the Syracuse’s best scorers. The Orange need him to continue to be so since the Orange struggle as it is to create good offense and scoring.

While that’s all fine and all, the Orange need him to be more than that. They need his playmaking ability on top of his scoring to truly reach their potential as a unit. Though we know he’ll still make mistakes, the Orange desperately need him to continue to play well and be consistent in order to get to the promised land.

Up until the Louisville game last week, Howard hadn’t really lived up to both ends of that. He was scoring just fine, but was struggling as a passer. His turnovers in some games like the Georgia Tech game in Atlanta cost the Orange dearly. Since then though, he has responded in outstanding fashion and finally stepped up as the leader at the point position that the Orange need him to be.

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In that Louisville game, he had only one assist, but only one turnover, according to ESPN.com. Despite that though, he made up for it in how he made lots of good passes to keep the offense flowing. Against Wake Forest, Howard once again showed off he is the real deal when he puts his mind to it. He dished out NINE, count them NINE assists, according to ESPN.com. That’s the Frank Howard we need.

Though some may argue he chose to pass instead of score because he was 3 of 12 from the field, he gave away the ball only once. That’s a 9:1 turnover ratio! I’ll take that any day. It just goes to show what Frank Howard can be, and that he’s finally turning the page and becoming the playmaker Syracuse needs him to be.

Howard doesn’t care if he’s underappreciated or the forgotten point guard no one considers a threat in the ACC. What he does care about is getting Jim Boeheim to stop chirping at him, and the best way to do that: do things right the first time. As long as he can continue to limit his turnovers and thrive as a passer then the Orange can be great and make a huge run down the stretch.

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It all starts with consistency, and the last two games show Howard is finally taking that to heart. Hopefully for Howard’s sake and Syracuse’s NCAA Tournament chances, he continues to embrace his role.