Syracuse Basketball: Orange’s latest international recruits are enthralling

Syracuse Basketball’s newest international recruits of Quincy Guerrier and Jesse Edwards are timely, and perhaps Jim Boeheim’s most intriguing yet.

Since assuming the Syracuse basketball head coaching job 43 years ago, Jim Boeheim‘s recruiting exploits have been deemed ambiguous year after year. The  Hall-of-Famer has a knack for recruiting unknown talents from locations that extend beyond his own native soil and grooming them into dependable players at both the collegiate level, and for many, the professional basketball that follows it.

Boeheim’s prowess as a college basketball mastermind is supported by his ability to regularly defeat powerhouse programs, especially during the NCAA Tournament, with ‘seemingly’ less polished talent.

A large portion of Syracuse’s consistency since the 1980s has been the product of their international talent from just north of the border, and from up to 6700 km overseas. Toronto’s Leo Rautins (1980-1983), Portugal’s Rony Seikaly (1984-1988), Lithuania’s Marius Janulis (1994-1998), and Montreal’s Kris Joseph (2008-2012) are some of the many international players that kept SU potent during its 34-year stint in the Big East Conference.

Since then, Brampton Ontario’s Tyler Ennis and Mississauga Ontario’s Oshae Brissett have continued the trend of international dominance at Syracuse during what has been a seamless transition into the ACC over the last six years.

SU enters the 2019-2020 season with just one of its five recruits holding a spot on ESPN’s top-100 recruits, shooting guard Brycen Goodine. Two of the other four recruits, Quincy Guerrier (small forward, Montreal, Quebec) and Jesse Edwards (center, Netherlands), are traveling 400 and 5,900 km from their homes to continue Boeheim’s uniform tradition of having international talent in Central New York.

Quincy Guerrier:

Guerrier, who finished with the 115th best grade on 247 Sports for 2019 recruits, once held a higher ranking than Goodine, but never found his name on ESPN’s annual list much like Oshae Brissett three years ago.

ESPN’s lack of international coverage led to Brissett, who would end up receiving an 84 overall recruiting score from the website being left off a list that had sixteen players ranked below him. Similarly, Guerrier’s ratings have taken a drastic decline after a lack of coverage, leaving him unrated on ESPN.

The 6-foot-7, 204-pound small forward from Thetford Academy in Montreal, Quebec will eventually find his place as SU’s mainstay Small Forward, and finally, end their dreadful experimentation with the position that plagued them last season.

Guerrier’s promise as a defender, shooter from all spots on the floor, and passer indicate that Boeheim may have once again found another premier Canadian talent whose exploits at Syracuse will shock the nation.

Jesse Edwards:

Similar to Guerrier, Edwards has the ability to at some point during his time with the Orange, make one of their weaker positions something of the past. The Orange have struggled to find a dependable center since Rakeem Christmas‘ departure in 2015. Edwards, a 6-foot-11, 205-pound forward who committed to SU in early April, spent his senior year playing for IMG Academy in Florida.

After just two days at Syracuse on an official visit, the big man committed over promising programs in Vanderbilt, Georgia Tech, and Stanford. Edwards and fellow big man recruit John Bol Ajak will look to battle for playing time against Syracuse’s already undersized frontcourt of Robert Braswell, Bourama Sidibe, and Marek Dolezaj following the departure of Paschal Chukwu.

Depending on how Ajak and the already members of SU’s frontcourt perform during the lead-up and early stages of the season, Edwards may end up either redshirting his freshman year or play regularly for an Orange team that is still trying to find its identity down low.

It’ll be interesting to see how Boeheim goes about utilizing Edwards’ eligibility, and whether or not the 19-year-old will see minutes in his freshman year. The big man has the potential to be an extremely skilled forward for an Orange team that is hoping its class of 2019 can buffer their potential loss of both Tyus Battle and Oshae Brissett before the 2019-2020 season begins.

In 2019, Syracuse is bringing in two capable scoring guards in Goodine and Joe Girard, and a 6-foot-10 center in Ajok. They are also bringing in Guerrier, and Edwards, two intriguing and timely forwards who will look to continue the trend of international dominance under Boeheim.