Syracuse basketball star Tyus Battle has finally 100% confirmed his return to the hill for his Junior campaign. ITLH breaks down the big story.
Many Syracuse basketball fans were worried that perhaps we had another potential ‘Darius Bazley‘ situation on our hands. Let me explain.
Around 5:30 p.m. EST, it was widely reported that Tyus Battle was returning to Syracuse. All of us celebrated and expressed waves of euphoria we hadn’t seen since the Orange made the NCAA Tournament on Selection Sunday.
In the midst of our celebration, a cryptic tweet from basketball insider Adam Zagoria left the door open that perhaps Battle hadn’t made up his mind quite yet:
"“Just talked to Gary Battle who said there is no official decision from Tyus yet on his future.”"
Then we saw a pump fake from Battle on Instagram. He apparently revealed that he was coming back to the Orange and then quickly deleted this tweet. Thus the Zagoria conspiracy theories started to potentially make sense.
Oh no. Did we start to taunt before we reached the end zone? After a tumultuous 12 months where we’ve seen Taurean Thompson suddenly leave the program, Geno Thorpe leave during the season, Darius Bazley become quite literally the first player ever to skip out on college and go to the G-League, were we witnessing another roller coaster chapter in the lives of Syracuse Basketball fans?
Thankfully not, although we didn’t hear the official word until the 10:00 p.m. hour. The official word came through Syracuse University in a press release and we finally got to hear from Battle himself for the first time during this process:
"“I have decided to go back to Syracuse University to complete my junior year,” said Battle on Wednesday night via Cuse.com. “Although I may have been picked by the NBA team of my dreams, I feel it is in my best interest at this time to focus on improving some fine points in my game while continuing to work toward achieving my degree.”"
Most colleges only get to see their star player for one season with the ‘one and done’ era in full effect. Syracuse basketball fans should count their blessings because now they will have Battle for three seasons. But don’t expect a fourth year of Battle.
Tyus also revealed that he intends to enter the 2019 NBA Draft following the 2018-19 campaign. While Battle called it an ‘easy decision on many levels’ to return to Syracuse, it didn’t feel that way.
Battle took the full amount of time to decide if he would even participate in the NBA Combine. Then subsequently took the full amount of time to decide whether he’d stay in the 2018 NBA Draft or return for his Junior campaign. It seemed like a 50-50 proposition at best that Battle would return to Syracuse.
But I think Battle 100% made the right decision going through the NBA Combine and indivudal workout process. Battle worked out for the Brooklyn Nets, Orlando Magic, Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers, and also the New York Knicks.
Those NBA people told him what they thought he was good at and what they thought needed work. Battle cited that he needs to ‘focus on improving some fine points in his game’.
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Now Syracuse fans can breathe a sigh of relief with Battle back in the fold. That was the last domino to fall for this 2018-19 roster and now we can start looking ahead to what should be a magical campaign.