Elijah Hughes, rightfully, slots himself on Syracuse basketball 2010s team

Former Syracuse basketball star Elijah Hughes gave his opinion on who to build an Orange unit with from players over the last 10 years. Here’s our take.

Former Syracuse basketball sensation Elijah Hughes, who is seeing his stock continue to rise in mock NBA Drafts, had some fun recently on Twitter, hosting a Q&A session.

There are plenty of gems among his answers, but one particular question is really intriguing and warrants further discussion. Someone asked Hughes whom he would build an Orange team with relying on players from the past 10 years.

Hughes’ crew consists of guards Tyler Ennis and Brandon Triche, Hughes and Marek Dolezaj at the forward spots, and Rakeem Christmas at center. Hughes slots in forward C.J. Fair as the sixth man.

First and foremost, that’s a pretty solid collection of stars, and I don’t blame Hughes for including himself in the starting five.

Now it’s my turn, but I’m going to do a starting group, as well as a five-man bench. Trimming my list to only six guys proved too challenging.

My starters are guards Michael Carter-Williams and Triche, forwards Hughes and Fair, and center Christmas.

The second unit is guards Ennis and Tyus Battle, forwards Kris Joseph and Michael Gbinije, and center Tyler Lydon. You could easily insert several other studs into the first or second units, like wings Malachi Richardson and Dion Waiters, as well as guard Trevor Cooney.

I went with Triche and Carter-Williams for obvious reasons. Each started for the ‘Cuse when it advanced to the 2013 Final Four. Triche finished his career on the Hill with the most wins in program history. Carter-Williams proved so lethal at the top of the 2-3 zone.

In 2019-20, Hughes paced the Atlantic Coast Conference in scoring and had one of the finest seasons in recent Syracuse hoops memory. Fair played key roles on Final Four and Elite Eight crews, and he was an All-American in his senior stint. The same rings true for Christmas.

The steady Ennis helped guide the Orange to a 25-0 beginning in 2013-14. Battle hit numerous clutch shots in his three years with the ‘Cuse, leading his team to a magical Sweet 16 journey in 2018.

The Syracuse group in 2011-12 put forth perhaps the most-spectacular regular stanza in the squad’s existence, going 30-1 and reaching the Elite Eight, and Joseph led the crew in scoring.

Gbinije, a member of the All-ACC second team, and future NBA Draft first-round pick Lydon were among the stand-outs on the Orange’s 2016 unit that miraculously made it to the Final Four.

It’s totally up for debate who should get included, which makes this conversation a blast. Hughes has gone, and so have I. The question then becomes, who do you have on your dream squad?