Syracuse Basketball: Backcourt will rank in ACC’s top three in 2020-21

Syracuse basketball returns one of the better backcourts in the Atlantic Coast Conference this coming season.

All things considered, Syracuse basketball point guard Joe Girard III and shooting guard Buddy Boeheim made a pretty good duo in the 2019-20 stanza, and they’re poised for an even better upcoming campaign.

Yes, the Orange managed just an 18-14 record before the last term got halted due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. At times, the rising sophomore Girard struggled to shoot from the field, but he averaged 12.4 points, 3.5 assists and 3.0 rebounds a game. Not too shabby.

Boeheim, the rising junior son of head coach Jim Boeheim, tallied 15.3 points, 2.2 dimes and 1.9 boards per contest, while hitting on 40.8 percent from the field and an Atlantic Coast Conference-leading 37.0 percent from beyond the arc.

So combined, they collected nearly 28 points per meeting this past season, which puts them among the conference’s elite backcourts entering 2020-21 as it pertains to points produced by a particular squad’s two returning lead guards.

Michael Devoe and Jose Alvarado at Georgia Tech are really good, and the Yellow Jackets surprised a lot of folks in 2019-20. Don’t sleep on the GT backcourt.

Virginia should arrive at the beginning of 2020-21 as a pre-season top-10 crew. Its backcourt is experienced, although the Cavaliers often struggle to score.

Duke and North Carolina saw their point guards, Tre Jones and Cole Anthony, respectively, travel to the pro ranks. The Blue Devils and the Tar Heels also lost other talented guards, but let’s be honest, these two teams always reload. UNC incoming freshman Caleb Love is going to amount to a star in this league.

Miami’s Chris Lykes is an excellent player, I’m a huge fan of incoming freshman Earl Timberlake, and the Hurricanes could ultimately finish in the top four to top six of the ACC.

Florida State and Louisville are likely to hover around the top five of the conference. Both have lost some backcourt players from 2019-20, although the Seminoles and the Cardinals have restocked their rosters.

Other groups such as Clemson, Notre Dame and Virginia Tech will have solid backcourts. In the end, though, at least on paper, the ‘Cuse appears to possess one of the top-three backcourts for 2020-21.

Syracuse basketball guards Joe Girard III and Buddy Boeheim will compete for the title of best ACC backcourt.

Long-time ESPN analyst Dick Vitale is getting in on the Buddy Boeheim and Girard praise. Some ‘Cuse fanatics aren’t buying the hype. That’s fine. We all are entitled to our opinions.

For me, if both Boeheim and Girard can step up their defense in the 2-3 zone, that’s a huge facet to their growth from the last term. I assume that Boeheim will average at least 15 points per game again and shoot at a strong clip from 3-point land. He’s shown that he can score in a variety of manners.

Girard is exquisite from the charity stripe, but he has to up his percentages from the field as a whole, and from downtown. Multiple other guys in the Syracuse line-up have an additional stanza of experience under their belts, and that could provide Girard with higher assist totals if he lessens his unnecessary dribbling around the perimeter a bit.

It’s a big question mark how well the Orange can fare in the ACC during the next campaign, but it’s clear that the ‘Cuse backcourt could rise above its league peers should Boeheim and Girard continue to expand their skill-sets.