Syracuse basketball combo guard Kadary Richmond is having a stellar freshman season to date in the 2020-21 campaign, but unfortunately, he got snubbed by Atlantic Coast Conference officials when they announced their award winners for the league on Monday.
The 6-foot-5 Richmond, whose hometown is in Brooklyn, N.Y., received one vote for ACC Freshman of the Year. Florida State’s Scottie Barnes captured that honor, and deservedly so.
However, I did find it at least a tad surprising that Richmond wasn’t on the conference’s All-Defensive team or the league’s All-Freshman squad.
Now, these awards are somewhat subjective, and you can say that I’m biased toward Richmond and his fellow Orange players. That’s fair enough.
Plus, the members of the ACC’s 2020-21 All-Defensive and All-Freshman groups are all really, really good, so it would prove challenging to determine which guy should get left off for Richmond to make the cut.
For reference, the All-Defensive team is comprised of Georgia Tech’s Jose Alvarado, N.C. State’s Manny Bates, Virginia’s Jay Huff, Duke’s Jordan Goldwire and Georgia Tech’s Moses Wright.
The All-Freshman unit features Barnes, Duke’s DJ Steward, North Carolina’s Day’Ron Sharpe, Louisville’s Jae’Lyn Withers and North Carolina’s Caleb Love.
‘Cuse sophomore forward Quincy Guerrier made the All-ACC third squad, with junior forward Alan Griffin getting an honorable-mention nod. Guerrier also collected three votes for the conference’s Most Improved Player recognition.
Syracuse basketball freshman guard Kadary Richmond was left off two All-ACC teams.
Richmond was a four-star, top-100 prospect who suited up for the Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, N.H., prior to joining the Orange (15-8, 9-7). Although he’s averaging about 22 minutes per contest in 2020-21, the positive influence that he has on the ‘Cuse when he’s on the floor is huge.
Other players for Syracuse basketball and throughout the ACC may put up bigger numbers, but Richmond is tremendous in the 2-3 zone, creating deflections and steals that lead to easy transition buckets for the Orange.
On offense, Richmond has excellent court vision, he thrives at driving to the rim, he’s a strong facilitator, and Richmond clearly makes his teammates better.
As of games on March 7, Richmond is No. 3 within the ACC in steals, No. 5 in assist/turnover ratio and No. 9 in assists, according to data provided by the conference.
Per ESPN statistics, Richmond is averaging 6.8 points, 3.0 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.9 steals per encounter, while connecting on 43.9 percent from the field and 72.1 percent from the charity stripe.
To reiterate, for me, it’s not just about the basic numbers when we talk about Richmond. I understand that his minutes played a game probably led to him getting left off these All-ACC teams.
How Richmond performs on the floor for Syracuse basketball, however, is All-ACC in my book.