With vets gone, Syracuse basketball next term will be young, more athletic

Syracuse basketball head coach Jim Boeheim recently said on his radio show that three of his five starters on the current roster will be gone after the 2021-22 campaign.

Now, let’s wait and see if senior shooting guard Buddy Boeheim and senior forward Cole Swider ultimately don’t elect to take advantage of an optional fifth term due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Graduate student forward Jimmy Boeheim would have to apply for an extra campaign, and his father recently declared that the Boeheim brothers and Swider are leaving.

If those three are gone, along with graduate student center Bourama Sidibe, it leaves seven scholarship players, with six spots open, assuming no one else on the present roster transfers out in the off-season. Syracuse basketball has five commits in its 2022 class and is pursuing four-star guard Judah Mintz in this cycle.

I think it’s safe to assume that, with the explosion of the transfer portal due to all student-athletes being able to transfer once and retain immediate eligibility, the Orange could see one or more players within the 2021-22 line-up bolt Central New York.

A frustrating 2021-22 stanza could give way to a relatively young roster in 2022-23, but the ‘Cuse also would seemingly boast a line-up that might possess more athleticism and quickness.

Let’s take a look at what 2022-23 might appear as for Syracuse basketball.

Next year, the seniors would be point guard Joe Girard III, guard Symir Torrence and center Jesse Edwards. Center Frank Anselem and guard/forward Chaz Owens would be juniors. Big man John Bol Ajak will be a redshirt junior, while forward Benny Williams will be a sophomore.

The five incoming recruits are four-star shooting guard/small forward Justin Taylor, four-star small forward Chris Bunch, four-star point guard Quadir Copeland, three-star power forward Maliq Brown, and three-star power forward/center Peter Carey. Let’s assume here that Mintz happens to pick the ‘Cuse.

In 2022-23, Syracuse basketball would return two starters, although one of them, Edwards, missed the tail-end of 2021-22 due to injury. Overall, the roster would have three seniors, two juniors, one redshirt junior, one sophomore and six freshmen.

Seven of the 13 scholarship players would be underclassmen. Presently, Girard is a starter, as is Edwards, and Anselem is getting more run because Edwards is injured. Torrence’s minutes are decent but not substantial.

Owens rarely plays, and I won’t even get into the minutes that Williams has received in 2021-22. Ajak also doesn’t play much. My point here is that this group in 2022-23, if we’re talking about experience-wise, will be quite young.

In a recent article from CBS Sports college basketball insider Jon Rothstein, Jim Boeheim characterized next season’s squad as “really young.”

Yet on his recent radio show, Boeheim floated the idea of possibly playing some man-to-man defense in 2022-23, along with the zone, because the freshmen coming in are quick and can move.

So there may be some growing pains during the next season on both ends of the floor, given the young line-up, but the roster will also have more athleticism, which should be a welcomed sight among the bevy of Syracuse basketball fans.