Syracuse basketball head coach Jim Boeheim feels confident in his depth moving forward. Here are all the details and what it means moving forward.
For the first time in a long time, Syracuse basketball head coach Jim Boeheim used his bench in an actual game.
On Wednesday night vs Boston College, the Orange went nine deep with scholarship players (and 13 deep including the bench warmers).
A lot of reasons went into that: injuries (Elijah Hughes hurt his ribs, Joe Girard rolled his ankle), foul trouble (Bourama Sidibe three fouls), but it was still encouraging to see nonetheless.
Heck, last week Jim Boeheim only used a six-man rotation in a game, so you can never take these moments for granted.
Prior to the season starting Jim Boeheim spoke at ACC media day and lauded his bench saying, “this was the most depth he’s had on a team in over seven years.”
Obviously, since he said that a few months ago a lot of things have transpired on the hill: Jalen Carey had thumb surgery (out for the year), Robert Braswell suffered a mysterious leg injury (out for the year), and John Bol Ajak (redshirt).
So when he was asked again about his depth after the Boston College game, he didn’t waver:
"“Well, we’ve had guys hurt obviously. We also have a few guys who haven’t been ready, but we have enough depth.”"
After the game, we spoke to a few of the guys in the locker room and they reiterated the importance of having depth especially as the team continues through the ACC slate:
"Elijah Hughes: “The ACC is a grind man. Our bodies are going to get beat up so we have guys who are going to have to step up here and there. It’s the beauty of how much depth we have on this team.”Howard Washington: “You know G-Mac said it at the beginning of the year if we can get this four-guard rotation down it’s going to help us reach another level. When our top guys like Buddy, Elijah, and Joe are all out of the game at the same time we have guys who can step in and make things happen.”"
Here’s a look at the final numbers after the Boston College game (in terms of minutes played):
Marek Dolezaj: 37:54
Buddy Boeheim: 33:38
Elijah Hughes: 31:!6
Joseph Girard III: 25:23
Quincy Guerrier: 21:05
Bourama Sidibe: 16:56
Howard Washington: 13:!6
Jesse Edwards: 10:07
Brycen Goodine: 5:01
Syracuse basketball is red smoking hot right now, they’ve won two games in a row. The Orange are 3-3 in the ACC, 10-7 overall and have a rematch set up against the Hokies on Saturday at noon.
If this team has serious aspirations of going dancing this March they will need this depth to have a legitimate shot. Vs Boston College, Jim Boeheim at least displayed a willingness to go deeper into his bench when necessary, that could prove vital down the stretch.