Syracuse Basketball: Expert says ‘Cuse has one of nation’s top backcourts

With the 2023-24 campaign right around the corner, more and more national experts are showering preseason love upon the Syracuse basketball backcourt.

The Orange commences its first season under Adrian Autry as the team’s head coach on Monday, Nov. 6, when the ‘Cuse will host New Hampshire at the JMA Wireless Dome.

While unfortunately Syracuse basketball sophomore guard Chance Westry, a transfer from Auburn, is out indefinitely due to a lower-body injury, Orange coaches have said that they expect him to play at some point later this season.

What’s more, while losing Westry for a period of time stings, particularly since the ‘Cuse has a daunting non-conference schedule and a challenging start to its Atlantic Coast Conference docket, the Orange’s group of guards remains filled with athleticism, depth and versatility.

As such, even with Westry unavailable for the time being, national pundits continue to view the ‘Cuse backcourt as one of the country’s best prior to 2023-24 getting underway in the near future.

An expert says the Syracuse basketball backcourt is a top-notch one.

Recently, Tristan Freeman, editor of FanSided sister Web site Busting Brackets, ranked his top-25 backcourts for the 2023-24 stanza. Freeman, who is one of the top college basketball observers out there, placed the ‘Cuse backcourt at No. 17 overall.

On “paper,” I actually think that the Syracuse basketball backcourt has the talent and versatility to be in the top five or the top 10 nationally. But that’s splitting hairs, particularly since the Orange hasn’t yet played an official game.

Let’s assume (and hope) that Westry does return at some point this season. He’s a former four-star, top-40 national prospect in the 2022 class.

The Orange’s two presumer starters in the backcourt at the onset of 2023-24 are sophomore point guard Judah Mintz and sophomore guard J.J. Starling, who played his freshman year at Notre Dame. Both of them were on the ACC’s All-Freshman team in 2022-23.

In the 2022 cycle, Mintz was rated in the top 40 by ESPN. Starling, meanwhile, was a consensus five-star, top-25 overall player in the 2022 class.

Other key guys in the Syracuse basketball 2023-24 backcourt are sophomore Justin Taylor, sophomore Quadir Copeland and redshirt sophomore Kyle Cuffe Jr., a transfer from Kansas. All three of them were four-star prospects in high school.

Orange coaches say that Copeland has been terrific in preseason practices. The same goes for Cuffe. Taylor is a sharpshooter from long range, and he’s also an underrated athlete.

It’s true that within the team’s guard rotation this upcoming stanza, three guys are new to the ‘Cuse. However, all three of them – Starling, Cuffe and Westry – were recruited by Syracuse basketball coaches in high school. They know the program.

It’s also true that the Syracuse basketball backcourt is dominated by underclassmen. Yet all of these Orange guards have at least a year of experience under their belt either at the ‘Cuse or other high-major programs.

We’ll know soon enough just how good the Orange backcourt could be. To reiterate, on paper, I’d stack up the team’s guards with virtually any other backcourt nationwide.