Syracuse Basketball: National expert projects starting line-up with 3 guards

I’m really curious to see what starting line-up Syracuse basketball head coach Jim Boeheim employs to begin the upcoming 2022-23 campaign.

The Orange returns two starters from last season’s group that went 16-17, rising senior guard Joe Girard III and rising senior center Jesse Edwards, who is returning from an injury that he suffered last February.

Beyond that, the ‘Cuse does have several returning players from 2021-22, along with a six-member 2022 recruiting cycle and a big-man transfer into the program, Mounir Hima of Duquesne.

College basketball insider Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports recently published an off-season piece on the Atlantic Coast Conference, and he is projecting a three-guard starting line-up for the Orange in 2022-23.

Syracuse basketball does have a deep guard rotation for the upcoming stanza.

Rothstein forecasts that the ‘Cuse projected starting five will consist of incoming freshman guard Judah Mintz, a 2022 four-star prospect, Girard, rising senior guard Symir Torrence, rising sophomore forward Benny Williams and Edwards.

On paper, this could prove an athletic starting five that would almost certainly fare better on defense than the 2021-22 Orange did in its zone schemes. However, this three-guard line-up, at least to me, might also lack a bit of length in the team’s zone defense.

Rothstein knows his stuff, but from my perspective, I could also foresee incoming freshmen Justin Taylor, a four-star shooting guard/small forward, and Chris Bunch, a four-star small forward, making a run at a starting nod in Boeheim’s rotation to kick off 2022-23.

In his pre-season ACC power rankings, Rothstein puts Syracuse basketball at No. 8. He has North Carolina, which reached the championship contest of the 2022 NCAA Tournament, at No. 1, followed in order by Duke, Virginia, Florida State, Miami, Notre Dame and Virginia Tech.

After the ‘Cuse at No. 8, Clemson is next, followed by Pittsburgh, Boston College, N.C. State, Wake Forest, Louisville and Georgia Tech.

Among Rothstein’s 15 impact freshmen in the ACC is Mintz, who was a total star as a senior this past season for the powerhouse Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va., which was a top-10 squad nationwide.

Bunch, a top-100 player in the 2022 class per multiple recruiting services, is one of 10 under-the-radar ACC freshmen, according to Rothstein.

Last but not least, Rothstein includes Williams as one of his 10 ACC break-out players ahead of 2022-23. Williams didn’t get a lot of minutes as a freshman, but Boeheim said earlier this year that he expects big things from Williams in the upcoming stanza.