Syracuse Basketball: Buddy Boeheim could be first-rounder after senior yr.

Syracuse basketball junior shooting guard Buddy Boeheim said in a recent Zoom call with media members that his focus for now is on enjoying the Orange’s current Big Dance run and helping his team knock off Houston in the Sweet 16 on Saturday night.

Boeheim has been on a tear for weeks now, including the latter part of the 2020-21 regular season, in the ACC Tournament, and now in March Madness.

He’s playing as well as anybody in the 2021 NCAA Tournament, and as the No. 11 seed ‘Cuse gets set to battle No. 2 seed Houston in the regional semi-finals, Boeheim is garnering some NBA Draft buzz.

Eric Bossi, the national basketball director for 247Sports, published an article on Boeheim in which he polled NBA scouts and front-office executives.

Bossi said that many of these NBA folks told him that Boeheim, were he to test the NBA Draft waters after the present term, “would likely be taken in the late second round or maybe not even picked.”

However, Bossi added, many of these pro scouts and executives “mentioned that he could move into the first round with a big senior year.”

Pretty cool stuff for Boeheim, considering that he wasn’t a highly rated recruit when he departed the powerhouse Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, N.H., for the Hill.

Syracuse basketball junior guard Buddy Boeheim absolutely has NBA potential.

As Boeheim has played a massive role in leading the Orange to the Sweet 16, he simultaneously has landed on the NBA radar, according to a bevy of articles that I’ve read about him since the NCAA Tournament commenced.

Boeheim’s head coach at the Brewster Academy, Jason Smith, told Bossi that he isn’t surprised by this development. “Only from the standpoint that he’s a worker and an absolute gym rat. He’s always in the gym. He’s a great teammate and people loved playing with him,” Smith said.

The general consensus is that Boeheim, even with this tremendous performance in March Madness, probably should return to the ‘Cuse for his senior stanza to build upon what he’s doing now.

But Boeheim has come a long way from his freshman stanza. His growth as a player is evident. Boeheim is not just a 3-point specialist. His mid-range game is solid, he can knock down contested shots at key moments, and Boeheim is getting better and better at driving to the basket and finishing around the rim.

"In Bossi’s story, an executive in the NBA’s Western Conference said in part about Boeheim, “It’s always about what have you done for me lately and while you have to take what Buddy has done over the past few weeks with a grain of salt in the grand scheme of things, it also reflects his growing confidence and his ability to put a team on his back on the biggest of stages and win.”"