Syracuse Basketball: Top analyst heaps praise on J.J. Starling for fast start to season

Syracuse basketball will host Central New York neighbor Cornell on Wednesday night, as the Orange sits at 3-2 overall thus far in the young stages of the 2024-25 season.

While the 'Cuse has done some positive things, and also has a ton of work to do in various areas, a huge bright spot for the program through five games has proven junior guard J.J. Starling, the Baldwinsville, N.Y., native and former McDonald's All-American who played his freshman season at fellow Atlantic Coast Conference school Notre Dame before transferring to the Orange.

In 2023-24, when Syracuse basketball went 20-12 overall in Adrian Autry's first term as the team's head coach, Starling was solid, averaging 13.3 points per contest. He started to really turn things on toward the latter half of last season, and that has continued early in 2024-25.

Through five games, per ESPN statistics, Starling is averaging 37.2 minutes, 21.4 points, 4.6 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.4 turnovers per game while making an impressive 53.2 percent from the field, 31.0 percent from beyond the arc, and 66.7 percent from the charity stripe.

Syracuse basketball junior guard J.J. Starling is playing at a high level this season.

At the time of this writing on Wednesday afternoon, within the Atlantic Coast Conference, Starling was No. 2 in points per affair, No. 1 in minutes logged per encounter, and No. 6 in field-goal shooting percentage.

Now, hopefully, Starling will increase his shooting percentages from 3-point land and the free-throw line, but that also holds true for pretty much everyone on the Orange's 2024-25 roster.

Starling has produced at least 12 points in every 2024-25 contest at this juncture, and he went off for a career-high 38 points when the 'Cuse defeated Youngstown State, by nine points in double overtime at home, earlier this month.

In a piece on Wednesday, top 247Sports national analyst Travis Branham examined second-year college transfers who are stepping up so far in 2024-25. Branham wrote in part that as a junior and veteran for the Orange in 2024-25, "Starling is finding himself in a big way under head coach Adrian Autry. ... Against a weak early non-conference schedule,  the 6-foot-4 combo guard is putting up some monster numbers for the Orange this season."

I'm not so sure that the 'Cuse has faced a "weak" non-conference docket, given Syracuse basketball has played Colgate, Texas and Texas Tech - three teams likely to make the 2025 NCAA Tournament. But the larger point here is that Branham has been impressed by Starling's start to this campaign, and the Orange will need him to play like this moving forward to have any realistic shot of dancing come next March.