Syracuse Basketball: This off-season, Adrian Autry a big recruiting winner

Versatility among transfer guards

How Adrian Autry will divide up the minutes is something I’m curious about, and I’m not alone in that sentiment among Orange fans.

At center, if the quartet of McLeod, Hima, Carey and Patterson can combine for, say, 10-12 points and 6-8 rebounds per game, I believe that Syracuse basketball can make up for Edwards being gone through the team’s boatload of talent at guard and on the wing.

As far as the transfers into the program, let’s not forget that Starling, like Mintz, was on the ACC’s All-Freshman team in 2022-23. Starling is also a former five-star, top-25 national prospect in the 2022 class, and 247Sports’ final transfer rankings for this off-season put him at No. 5 across the country.

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Westry didn’t play much at Auburn in his freshman season due to an injury, but he’s a versatile guard/wing who was a former four-star, top-40 overall player in the 2022 cycle.

Cuffe, known for his explosive athleticism, has barely played in two campaigns at Kansas, due to a redshirt his first year and an injury this past season. But he was a prolific scorer in high school and has been with one of the country’s best programs for the past two years, including when the Jayhawks won the national championship in the 2021-22 term.

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When I penned this column, the Syracuse basketball four-member 2023 transfer class had a national team ranking of No. 10 overall, according to the 247Sports Web site.

To reiterate, losing Edwards is tough. Losing Girard’s scoring is something that the 2023-24 roster will have to replace. But to me, on paper, the Orange’s line-up for the upcoming season has a lot of net positives, and that’s a credit to what Adrian Autry and his staff have done in recent months.