Syracuse Basketball: Buddy Boeheim top rivals for ACC POY, Jerry West

As the 2021-22 season inches ever so closer, the pre-season accolades continue to flow in for Syracuse basketball senior shooting guard Buddy Boeheim.

Already, the 6-foot-6 Boeheim has garnered a ton of love from national pundits. For example, he is deemed a top-10 returning player and a top-25 overall player, and Boeheim has landed on multiple pre-season All-American teams.

The Atlantic Coast Conference pre-season media poll, unveiled a few days ago, places Boeheim on the All-ACC first squad. He also received the third-most votes for the pre-season ACC Player of the Year.

According to an article on ncaa.com, Boeheim is one of 20 players on the pre-season watch list for the 2022 Jerry West Award, which every year honors the nation’s premier shooting guard.

Syracuse basketball senior guard Buddy Boeheim will contend for many national awards.

Boeheim averaged nearly 18 points a game last year, and he crushed things in the post-season. That’s on top of the more than 15 points per contest that he averaged as a sophomore.

With the ‘Cuse boasting a roster that features several excellent long-range shooters, Boeheim should get some open looks in 2021-22, and I believe he will pace Syracuse basketball in scoring during the upcoming stanza.

Will Boeheim capture the ACC Player of the Year honors or the prestigious Jerry West Award? That remains to be seen. He does, however, face some stiff competition for both accolades.

Joining Boeheim on the pre-season All-ACC first team are Virginia Tech redshirt senior forward Keve Aluma, Duke freshman forward Paolo Banchero, North Carolina junior power forward/center Armando Bacot and Miami sophomore guard Isaiah Wong. Those guys all have a legitimate shot at winning ACC Player of the Year.

Others to keep an eye on include Georgia Tech junior guard Michael Devoe, Virginia senior guard Kihei Clark, Notre Dame senior guard Prentiss Hubb, Duke sophomore center Mark Williams, Duke junior forward Wendell Moore Jr. and North Carolina sophomore point guard Caleb Love.

For the Jerry West Award, I do think that Boeheim could be considered one of the favorites, although the season hasn’t even started yet.

Some other nominees for this honor to watch out for are UCLA junior Johnny Juzang, who helped guide the Bruins to the Final Four this past spring, Miami’s Wong, Baylor junior Adam Flagler, Kansas senior Ochai Agbaji, Gonzaga freshman Hunter Sallis, Texas senior Andrew Jones, Purdue sophomore Jaden Ivey, Maryland senior Eric Ayala, Memphis redshirt junior Landers Nolley and Michigan graduate student Eli Brooks.