Syracuse Basketball: Buddy Boeheim top-20 SU scorer, ‘dream come true’

Syracuse basketball senior shooting guard Buddy Boeheim deserves every accolade, accomplishment and honor that has come his way, or will before his tenure on the Hill is over.

The 6-foot-6 Boeheim, by all accounts, works his tail off. He’s humble. He’s appreciative of his teammates, his coaches, and his fans.

Even when things aren’t entirely going his, or the Orange’s, way, Boeheim by and large seems to have a smile on his face. Simply put, he’s just a likable young man. A decent, good and kind human being.

It can’t be easy playing for your father, who is a Hall of Fame head coach and built the Syracuse basketball program into what it is today.

Heck, I still see some comments from ‘Cuse fans suggesting that Buddy Boeheim only gets to play for the Orange because his dad is head coach Jim Boeheim, which is one of the most comical and ridiculous statements one could imagine.

Syracuse basketball guard Buddy Boeheim has carved out a wonderful ‘Cuse career.

Buddy Boeheim may not have been highly ranked coming out of prep school, but he had a scholarship offer from the powerhouse Gonzaga program. That speaks volumes.

What’s more, over the course of the past four years, Boeheim has admirably evolved his game and fine-tuned his craft. Known primarily as a 3-point specialist when he arrived on the Hill, he’s no longer just that.

Boeheim has shown, time and time again, that he can score at all three levels. That is, from beyond the arc, from the mid-range and in driving to the rim.

Furthermore, so far during his senior year, Boeheim is leading the Orange at 19.4 points per contest, but he’s also tallying nearly four rebounds and four assists a game, along with a steal.

Sure, some of his shooting percentages are down from his junior campaign, but let’s remember that he’s often being guarded by opponents’ top defenders. Boeheim rarely gets a wide-open look.

Over the weekend, as the ‘Cuse (10-11, 4-6) trounced Wake Forest inside the Carrier Dome, Buddy Buckets poured in 30 points, five boards, seven assists and three steals.

With that output, Boeheim is now tucked within the top-20 overall on the all-time scoring list for Syracuse basketball. He has passed one of his coaches, Adrian Autry, and tied Orange legend Roosevelt Bouie.

And, of course, as the 2021-22 term carries onward, Boeheim is going to climb up even higher on that list. The naysayers will point to Boeheim playing a lot of minutes because of who his father is, but that’s nonsense. Jim Boeheim plays the guys he believes give him the best chance to win.

It’s not as if Buddy Boeheim received 30-plus minutes of run per affair as a freshman. He earned about 17 minutes, on average, in his first season for SU.

And his scoring average has improved every year, from 6.8 points to 15.3 points to 17.8 points to 19.4 points at present. That’s pretty darn impressive, if you ask me.

Jim Boeheim, in his post-game press conference after the team’s conquest of Wake Forest, said in part that Buddy Boeheim has “worked harder than any player I’ve ever had.” I believe Jim Boeheim, 144 percent and then some.

Buddy Boeheim, in his own post-game presser this past weekend, noted that some folks still don’t think he belongs in a Syracuse basketball uniform.

Not many people thought Boeheim could do what he has done on the Hill, he said. He calls it a “dream come true.” If you work hard, you can do anything you want in life, Boeheim says, and he’s right.

While he acknowledged that he’ll take a step back and think about what he’s achieved for the Orange once his playing days in Central New York are over, for now, Boeheim is focused on continuing to improve his game, while helping his team win more contests however he can.

Buddy Boeheim is a top-20 scorer for a ‘Cuse program that is among the winningest programs in the history of college basketball. Not bad for a young man who, according to some, never belonged in an Orange uniform.