Syracuse Basketball: Don’t sleep on talented sophomore big Peter Carey

It remains to be seen how much court time sophomore Peter Carey will see for Syracuse basketball in the upcoming 2023-24 stanza, but longer term, the 6-foot-11, 205-pound center should have a promising career on the Hill.

Carey, of Sunderland, Mass., joined the Orange by way of the Northfield Mount Hermon School in Mount Hermon, Mass.

As a freshman in the 2022-23 term, when Syracuse basketball went 17-15 overall and missed the NCAA Tournament for the second season in a row, Carey only appeared in three games before suffering a lower-body injury that kept him out for the remainder of that campaign.

Earlier this month, the ‘Cuse held its Orange Tip-Off at the JMA Wireless Dome, as well as its Monroe Madness in Rochester, N.Y. Peter Carey did not play in either event.

Adrian Autry, the Syracuse basketball first-year head coach, has said that Carey has been recovering from a minor ankle sprain, but Autry has also said that his young center should be “fine” for the start of 2023-24, which begins on Monday, Nov. 6, when the Orange hosts New Hampshire.

Syracuse basketball sophomore Peter Carey is an athletic, mobile big man.

It will prove interesting to watch how Autry divides up the minutes at the center spot this coming season. Senior center Jesse Edwards, an All-ACC performer in 2022-23, transferred to West Virginia, leaving a void at this position.

At the onset of 2023-24, the presumed starting center is likely to be junior Naheem McLeod, a transfer from Florida State. Other centers on this season’s roster include Peter Carey, junior Mounir Hima and freshman William Patterson.

Additionally, Syracuse basketball coaches have said that sophomore power forward Maliq Brown, who has been playing quite well in preseason practices of late, will likely earn some minutes at center.

This is purely speculation here, but I believe McLeod and Brown will probably get the most minutes at center. Carey, it’s possible, may not play all that much in 2023-24, but don’t sleep on this talented player.

He’s an athletic and mobile big man who, to me, was severely underrated in the 2022 cycle. Carey was part of an excellent six-member 2022 class for Syracuse basketball, and I’m wondering if he’s also a candidate to sometimes get on the court as a power forward, in addition to the center position.

Several recruiting services rated him, in the 2022 cycle, as a three-star prospect. The industry-generated On3 Industry Ranking placed him at No. 208 overall and No. 39 at power forward.

The industry-generated 247Sports Composite, meanwhile, had Peter Carey at No. 252 nationally and No. 55 at power forward.

ESPN ranked him as the No. 54 center in the 2022 class, while 247Sports situated him as the No. 58 power forward.

Autry, recently, told college basketball insider Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports that all of his returning players from 2022-23, including Carey, have improved.

Allen Griffin, a Syracuse basketball assistant coach who works with the team’s centers, recently opined that this position group is perhaps underrated, and that the Orange’s centers are working hard in the gym to get stronger, while also practicing at a high level to improve their skills and come together as a cohesive unit.

I’m really high on Peter Carey as a long-term prospect with tremendous upside, and I know that Griffin will continue to develop him well, just as he has with Edwards and other ‘Cuse centers in recent years.