Syracuse Basketball: Does freshman forward Petar Majstorovic deserve more minutes?

A forward from France, Petar Majstorovic has made the most of his time on the court for Syracuse basketball. In just 5.5 minutes per game, he's averaging 4.5 points and 2.0 rebounds. His per-40 minutes stats are completely off the charts, at 32.7 PPG and 14.5 RPG.

Now, we need to take that with a grain of salt. For how little time he's seen, we shouldn't expect Majstorovic to turn into (Pete) Maravich. But it's also worth noting that his game time hasn't just been at the end of games. Syracuse basketball has played two straight close games, so it's not as if Majstorovic is getting in games during blowout time. He's playing valuable minutes and making the most of it.

While his scoring ability looks to have loads of potential, I'm impressed with how Majstorovic has seemingly used his physical nature to grab a few rebounds. Head coach Red Autry has made it a point that the Orange need to improve on grabbing more boards ,and Majstorovic could help solve some of those problems.

Syracuse basketball freshman forward Petar Majstorovic should see more court time.

It's a thin frontcourt - Eddie Lampkin, Jyare Davis, and Donnie Freeman are three big boys down low. Unlike Syracuse's guard situation, there isn't a huge influx of other big men to turn to. Majstorovic is the next man up, but his court time hasn't been there.

Right now, Autry seems to have an 8-man rotation planned out. Lampkin, Davis, Freeman, JJ Starling, Chris Bell, Jaquan Carlos, Elijah Moore, and Lucas Taylor are all averaging at least 11 minutes per game. Majstorovic seems to be on trial - notably fewer minutes than the rest of the rotation players. And then there's Kyle Cuffe, who is fighting for time.

I'm not saying Autry should be forced to make room for a nine-man rotation. Jim Boeheim often only played seven or eight guys, and it's tough to have a deep roster for a 40-minute game. But when rebounding seems to be an issue, and Majstorovic has been giving a lot of effort on the glass, I wouldn't shy away from increasing his playing time and seeing if it pays off.