Syracuse Basketball: Judah Mintz like Jonny Flynn, ‘but he’s much bigger’

When 2022 four-star prospect Judah Mintz committed to Syracuse basketball at the end of March, I read a ton of commentary from national recruiting analysts and scouts that spoke to Mintz likely making an immediate impact for the Orange in his freshman campaign.

If recent thoughts provided by ‘Cuse head coach Jim Boeheim are any indication of the potential and skill set that the 6-foot-3 Mintz possesses, then Syracuse basketball fans are in for a treat when Mintz and his teammates begin their 2022-23 stanza at home on November 7 versus Lehigh.

In a recent interview that Boeheim conducted with college basketball insider Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports, the Orange boss raved about his freshman point guard’s explosiveness.

“I think he can get 14-15 points every game and he could get 25 some nights,” Boeheim said of Judah Mintz, who had a stand-out senior term for the powerhouse Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va.

Freshman Judah Mintz is likely to start at point guard for Syracuse basketball.

Mintz was ranked as high as No. 33 nationally in the 2022 cycle by ESPN. Candidly, I think that a lot of his national ratings from recruiting services were way too low, but none of that matters now that he’s on the Hill.

Boeheim has said that Mintz, as a newbie, is likely to begin 2022-23 as the squad’s starting point guard, with senior Joe Girard III switching over to shooting guard.

The ‘Cuse has a strong and deep six-member 2022 recruiting class, and Boeheim has said that he thinks all of these freshmen can contribute in their first seasons in Central New York.

If I had to venture a guess, though, I’d expect Mintz to play the most minutes of all the freshmen, while also having the largest immediate impact.

In Rothstein’s article, Boeheim said of Judah Mintz, “He’s like Jonny Flynn, but he’s much bigger.”

That’s some pretty select company for Mintz. Flynn, from Niagara Falls, N.Y., was a five-star, top-25 national prospect in the 2007 class coming out of high school, according to some recruiting services.

The 6-foot Flynn played two years for Syracuse basketball, before getting selected at No. 6 overall in the first round of the 2009 NBA Draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves.

In 2007-08, as a freshman, Flynn averaged 15.7 points and 5.3 assists per game, and he was named the Big East Conference co-rookie of the year, per SU Athletics.

As a sophomore in 2008-09, Flynn tallied 17.4 points and 6.7 dimes per encounter, as the Orange went 28-10 overall and reached the Sweet 16. He resided on the All-Big East second team and was given an All-America honorable-mention nod from the Associated Press, according to cuse.com.

If Judah Mintz could put up stats as Flynn did on the Hill, and help guide Syracuse basketball on a deep journey or two in the Big Dance, I’d be loving that.

Interestingly enough, when the Atlantic Coast Conference recently unveiled its preseason poll, Mintz didn’t receive any votes for the league’s rookie of the year award.

I found that to be surprising, and fairly lame, but preseason honors don’t mean squat. Jim Boeheim is super high on Judah Mintz, and I can’t wait to see this young man don an Orange uniform for official games in the near future.