Syracuse Basketball: Quadir Copeland deciding to transfer really stings for the 'Cuse

By and large, Syracuse basketball guard/wing Quadir Copeland blossomed as a sophomore during the recently completed 2023-24 season.

After averaging around nine minutes per game as a freshman a stanza ago under then-head coach Jim Boeheim, the 6-foot-6, 200-pound Copeland, who hails from Philadelphia, became a key cog in 2023-24 for first-year head coach Adrian Autry.

Copeland would prove the first reserve off the bench for Autry, and Quadir as the season moved along often found himself on the floor when it was crunch time for the 'Cuse. Copeland may not have started for Syracuse basketball this past term, but he basically played starter minutes.

On Monday night, multiple recruiting analysts reported that Copeland would be entering the transfer portal, which opened on Monday for 45 days. The news on Copeland came not long after word broke that fellow sophomore guard/wing Justin Taylor had entered the portal.

More than anything else, I'm wishing Quadir well wherever he next lands. He's got an infectious smile and wonderful energy. In his two years on the Hill, as far as I could tell, he seemed like a beautiful teammate, always cheering on and encouraging his fellow Orange players. That will be missed.

The Syracuse basketball 2024-25 roster is going to get a sizable makeover.

In 2023-24, when the 'Cuse went 20-12 overall and 11-9 in Atlantic Coast Conference competition, Copeland appeared in all 32 games. Per ESPN data, he averaged 22.3 minutes, 9.6 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.5 steals and 2.0 turnovers per contest.

Copeland connected on 47.8 percent from the field, 25.0 percent from beyond the arc, and 68.3 percent from the free-throw line. While he would be a bit turnover-prone in some games, Copeland also put forth some tremendous performances, including a buzzer-beating, game-winning 3-pointer versus Miami in January at the JMA Wireless Dome.

For his sophomore-season output, Copeland finished at No. 2 in the voting for the ACC sixth man of the year. I'm a homer, but I thought that he should have won that award.

Regardless, Copeland's decision to transfer is a huge blow, in my humble opinion. He impacts the game in so many ways. Plus, it's entirely possible that he would have been a starter in Autry's rotation during the 2024-25 stanza, depending on what other developments transpire with the current Syracuse basketball roster this off-season.

In the 2022 recruiting cycle, Copeland was a four-star prospect who hovered around the top 100 nationally, per Rivals.com. He spent his senior year alongside Taylor playing for the post-grad team at the powerhouse IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla.

Copeland, part of a strong six-member 2022 class for Syracuse basketball, committed to the Orange over other schools such as Maryland, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Miami, Penn State, DePaul and La Salle.

As I noted in another column on Monday, with two 'Cuse guards/wings going into the portal, the Orange coaching staff may be on the lookout to bring in another guard for 2024-25, particularly if sophomore point guard Judah Mintz pursues a professional career (or transfers, which would stun me).

Therefore, Syracuse basketball has reached out to high-scoring guard Dakota Leffew of Mount St. Mary's, who averaged nearly 18 points per game as a senior and is entering the portal as a graduate transfer.