Syracuse Orange: Fans dish on graduating athletes they’ll miss the most

Syracuse University will conduct its 2022 commencement ceremonies on Sunday, May 15, as ABC World News Tonight anchor David Muir conducts the commencement address, so that led me to pose a question to my fellow Syracuse Orange fans.

With student-athletes who are seniors or graduate students set to depart the Hill, I asked ‘Cuse fans on social media which student-athletes across all Orange sports they will miss the most next year.

Some of the responses weren’t so surprising at all, while other answers I found to be really cool and quite illuminating. Let’s have a look.

These are various Syracuse Orange student-athletes whom fans will greatly miss following their graduation.

Naturally, and understandably, a bunch of my fellow ‘Cuse fans will miss the Boeheim brothers, senior shooting guard Buddy Boeheim and graduate student forward Jimmy Boeheim.

Syracuse basketball, in 2021-22, didn’t have a good year in terms of wins and losses, but for me and many other fans, watching Buddy and Jimmy suit up for their dad, Orange head coach Jim Boeheim, did prove special.

Two other players for men’s basketball were named by some fans, and they are graduate student center Bourama Sidibe and senior forward Cole Swider.

I love Bourama. His hoops career on the Hill was, sadly, hurt by several injuries, but he’s a fine young man who works his tail off.

Swider, a transfer from Villanova, was one of the team’s starting forwards in 2021-22. He put forth some monster games toward the end of the season, and I’m anxious to see what professional opportunities, hopefully, await him in the future.

On the football side of things, two names that came up on multiple occasions among fans are redshirt senior defensive linemen Josh Black and McKinley Williams.

At the end of April, a cuse.com announcement said that Williams had inked a free-agent deal with the Indianapolis Colts, while Black accepted a mini-camp invite with the Chicago Bears.

Turning to Syracuse Orange softball, fans noted that they will miss graduate student pitcher Ariana Adams and graduate student outfielder Paris Woods.

In 2022, the ‘Cuse softball squad had its best season since 2018, as the Orange went 26-21 overall. This past Thursday, Syracuse softball fell to Virginia Tech, 2-1, in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals to wrap up its 2022 stanza.

The Orange men’s lacrosse team had a disappointing 2022 campaign, but two players on this squad who will be missed are redshirt senior Brett Kennedy and senior Brendan Curry.

In the recently held Premier Lacrosse League college draft, according to cuse.com, Kennedy was selected sixth overall, while Curry got chosen at No. 13.

A huge shout-out to all of the graduating student-athletes at the ‘Cuse. Orange Nation loves you all!