Syracuse Basketball: Judah Mintz to become star this term – Jon Rothstein

College basketball insider Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports is high on Syracuse basketball sophomore point guard Judah Mintz ahead of the 2023-24 season.

The 6-foot-4, 185-pound Mintz, who hails from the talent-rich Washington, D.C., market, came back to the Orange for a second campaign after testing the 2023 NBA Draft process following a rookie year in which he averaged more than 16 points per contest and made the Atlantic Coast Conference’s 2022-23 All-Freshman team.

Analysts, scouts and national writers have commented of late that Judah Mintz is looking good with his 3-point shot, something that he struggled with for much of 2022-23, although his perimeter shooting did improve toward the end of last season, when Syracuse basketball went 17-15 overall.

Under first-year head coach Adrian Autry, Mintz is part of a deep 2023-24 backcourt for the Orange, with him and sophomore J.J. Starling, a transfer from Notre Dame, the presumed starters when the ‘Cuse officially takes the court in early November.

Rothstein, in a recent article, listed 10 players who will become stars in 2023-24, and he included Judah Mintz in this piece, along with former Orange recruiting target Donovan Clingan, a sophomore center at UConn, which won the 2023 NCAA Tournament this past spring.

A national pundit says Syracuse basketball point guard Judah Mintz is primed to be a star.

"Rothstein had this to say about Judah Mintz. “Many people expected Mintz to remain in the 2023 NBA Draft after testing the waters, but he opted to return to college for his sophomore year. While he’s already a proven producer after averaging 16.3 points and 4.6 assists as a freshman, Mintz’s star will truly rise if he can lead Syracuse back to national relevance in its first season under Adrian Autry. The Orange are only a combined 33-32 over the past two seasons.”"

From my perspective, if the ‘Cuse returns to the Big Dance in the spring of 2024 after a two-year absence, Mintz puts up similar offensive statistics, improves his 3-point shooting, and decreases his turnovers, he will significantly contend for All-ACC and All-America honors in 2023-24.

In his freshman stint, Judah Mintz averaged 16.3 points, 4.6 assists, 2.3 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 2.4 turnovers per game, while hitting on 44.3 percent from the field, 75.1 percent from the free-throw line and 30.3 percent from beyond the arc.

Mintz, who is from Fort Washington, Md., and spent his senior year of high school at the powerhouse Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va., has been rated the No. 2 point guard across the country ahead of 2023-24 by college basketball insider Andy Katz.

As far as national preseason rankings, across all position types, Tristan Freeman of FanSided site Busting Brackets placed Judah Mintz as the No. 38 overall player, while The Field of 68 has him as the No. 52 prospect nationwide heading into the 2023-24 term.