Syracuse Basketball: Oshae Brissett, RJ Barrett will put Canada on the map
Syracuse Basketball’s Oshae Brissett will play against Duke’s RJ Barrett twice during ACC Play in 2019. Expect the two Canadians to put Canada on the map.
The 2017-18 season quickly went from a debacle to a spectacle for Syracuse Basketball. Led by Canadian forward Oshae Brissett, this team did the impossible against all odds.
After winning just two of their first six games in conference play, many college basketball analysts quickly dismissed Syracuse’s chances of making the NCAA Tournament. Two months later, after a miraculous turnaround, the Orange squeezed into the tourney and exited it far later than most expected.
This coming season, Brissett won’t be the only Canadian stud in college, as another superstar born north of the border, RJ Barrett, will be a prominent fixture in a matter of months. In many respects, Canadian dominance in the NCAA is at an all-time high and is showing no signs of slowing down.
For Brissett, a four-star recruit out of Athlete Institute Basketball Academy, all expectations were exceeded in his first season under Hall of Fame coach Jim Boeheim. The 19-year-old averaged 15 points, nine rebounds, and anchored a Syracuse team that was never supposed to smell Tournament success. After an unexpected plunge into NCAA stardom during his first season wearing Orange, Brissett was named to the ACC’s All-Freshman Team.
Fellow Canadian Barrett, the undisputed No.1 recruit in the country, is expected to dominate the NCAA in his first and probably last year in college.
Coach Mike Krzyzewski now boasts the three best recruits out of high school in Barrett, Zion Williamson, and Cam Reddish, and the Blue Devils are heavy favorites to dominate college hoops’ best conference all season and cut down the nets next April.
However, it won’t be Williamson and Reddish carrying the load this coming season, rather the fearless Canadian, who will quickly cement his role as college basketball’s best two-way player.
The Orange and Blue Devils are set to play each other twice next season, in perhaps the two most well-recognized venues college basketball has to offer, the Carrier Dome and Cameron Indoor Stadium.
These two stadiums emulate the stage and pressure NBA players face on a nightly basis. For Brissett and Barrett, it is a perfect opportunity to prove that they can handle adversity at home and on the road. These two teams have a heated rivalry, and their two best players will definitely show out during these two games, all while putting Canada on the map in the process.
With Kentucky’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, a projected lottery pick in this year’s draft out of the NCAA mix, Brissett and Barrett will be Canada’s best players at the collegiate level next season, and their head-to-head matchups will garner plenty of national attention.
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The two Canucks will most likely be lottery picks in next year drafts sparing any disappointments or injuries this upcoming season. Down the line, Brissett and Barrett will join Jamal Murray, Andrew Wiggins, Tristan Thompson, and the many other Canadian players in the NBA, and continue to put Canada on the map.