Syracuse Basketball: Tyus Battle set to make decision this weekend

It seems like Syracuse basketball star Tyus Battle is nearly ready to make his decision on his future, according to the rumor mill. ITLH breaks it down.

The 2018 calendar year for the Syracuse basketball team has been a bit of a roller coaster so far. We saw the Orange roster get depleted with injuries and question marks. So much so that this team nearly missed the 2018 March Madness tournament. Then we celebrated with jubilation when Syracuse was the last team in the field.

With one of the most unusual roster constructions in recent memory, Tyus Battle led the charge for the squad bringing them all the way to the Sweet 16. But the funny thing is it was more than just Battle. This tight knit group leaned on each other and found a way to win when they probably shouldn’t have.

Of course the season ends which is always sad, but throughout this campaign there was always that light at the end of the tunnel. For the Syracuse fans who pay attention to the wild recruiting adventures, it seemed like on paper that SU potentially had a National Championship caliber roster coming together for the next season.

That came to a stunning halt in late March when consensus top-10 recruit Darius Bazley decided to become the first player in history to go from high school to the G-League (go figure). Now the Orange were in a precarious position as it pertained to their immediate future.

Ruh roh…

But on any roller coaster ride you understand when you go down, you’ll eventually come back up. That’s exactly what happened when Oshae Brissett officially made it official that he was returning for his sophomore season. Hope is a funny thing and it often comes and goes.

Which brings us to our latest tidbit of information. I’ve heard rumblings of this, but none of my sources were willing to put their money where their mouths were, but someone was willing to confirm this rumor that has been churning.

Interesting…

This would be surprising to me on several fronts. First off, Battle technically has until April 22nd to decide if he wants to put his name into the ring. Most players do put their name in under this new format because it allows them to go through the motions attend the NBA Combine and get a feel for what teams are interested and how much they’re. Then if they don’t feel the love they’re able to take their name out and return to school, this is a relatively new update to the process.

Which would mean if that happens SU fans wouldn’t know Battle’s future until possibly the end of May. But it seems like according to this rumor and a few whispers I’m hearing, that this indicates Battle doesn’t want to prolong the decision and he’s going to pick one way or another this weekend on whether he’s staying with Syracuse or going pro. A ballsy decision, but perhaps he has had his mind made up for a while.

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I’ve said this before and I’ll reiterate it here, I think the Brissett decision was more important based on positional value and upside. But no one would be complaining if Battle came back because that would still put SU in the preseason top-25 conversation and this team would have a huge chip on their shoulders heading into next season. Battle is a scoring machine and when he gets in ‘Battle Mode’ all hell breaks loose and he’s more than capable of draining some clutch shots.