Jim Boeheim: Expect Syracuse basketball players to enter busy transfer portal - syracuse.com

Indianapolis -- Jim Boeheim late Saturday night reiterated what he’d said previously this season:

With new NCAA rules that permit players to transfer without having to sit out a year, he expects to see player movement on his team.

“First of all, I’ve seen 50 or 60 starters that have left programs in the last week to 10 days,” he said after the Orange lost to Houston 62-46 to end its season here. “I’ve seen five, six guys leaving programs. Being able to transfer and play right away means if you have any issue at all, any issue, you’re going to leave. Those guys would never have left before. But now they’re going to.

“We’ll have guys leave. ... And in the next two to three weeks, as things happen, we’re going to have to adjust to it and start recruiting in the transfer portal because we’ll have guys in there.”

The transfer portal will be busy basketball hunting ground these next few weeks.

Already, in the ACC, seven Wake Forest players are reportedly in the portal (these numbers from stadium.com); four Pittsburgh players -- including two productive Panthers who left before the season ended (Xavier Johnson, Au’Diese Toney); four Boston College players; and a five-star big man in North Carolina’s Walter Kessler.

Elsewhere, Penn State will lose seven players. Indiana will lose six, including five-star freshman Khristian Lander. Symir Torrence, a four-star guard from Syracuse, announced he would transfer from Marquette. Some of these programs had coaching changes, but some did not.

As of 2:30 a.m. Sunday, Verbal Commits listed 951 players who had entered the transfer portal.

Last season, Jalen Carey, Brycen Goodine and Howard Washington left the Syracuse program. Carey transferred to Rhode Island, where he averaged 16 minutes per game, shot .427 overall and did not make a 3-point shot in seven attempts. Goodine transferred to Providence, where he averaged 8.5 minutes per game, shot .286 overall and .278 from 3. Washington announced he would transfer to South Alabama, then elected to opt out of the 2020-21 season.

“None of those three played anywhere where they went. But that’s what’s going to happen,” Boeheim said. “There’s going to be a lot of transfers. And we’re not going to be immune to it. Anybody that’s not playing a lot or unhappy, they think -- they could be perfectly good kids, perfectly happy. But they think they should play more or shoot more, whatever it may be, and players are going to leave. That’s just the way it is, and there’s going to be adjustments that have to be made.”

Boeheim’s comments Saturday came after he was asked to assess what the future might bring for Jesse Edwards specifically and Syracuse’s center position generally.

Marek Dolezaj has a decision to make on whether he wants to return for another season; the NCAA has granted every player in 2020-21 an additional year because of the coronavirus pandemic. Bourama Sidibe, too, could come back to SU.

Edwards would seem to be the leading candidate to man the middle, but the Orange has a big man contingent that includes John Bol Ajak and Frank Anselem. Anselem has not played at all this year since observing a lengthier Covid-19 protocol in midseason.

“I’m really happy with Jesse’s development and Joe and Buddy and Kadary and Quincy, the way they played,” Jim Boeheim said. “I think we have a great player coming in with great potential. But we’re going to get somebody else and I think we’re going to lose players. And that’s reality. I mean, North Carolina never lost a player. I remember recruiting against North Carolina. They had 13 All-Americans there -- 13. And not one of them ever left. And only seven or eight of them played.

“I think somebody told me seven guys left North Carolina this year. I’m, like, really? I mean, that’s amazing. I saw guys leave this year that were starters on teams because the coach tried to coach them. You know? I mean, they didn’t punish them. Just tried to coach them a little bit. That’s what’s going to happen. It’s going to happen. It’s going to happen to every, just about everybody, for sure.”

The “great player” Boeheim referenced was Benny Williams, the five-star recruit who played at IMG Academy this season. Williams has signed an NLI to play for the Orange in 2021-22.

Contact Donna Ditota anytime: Email | Twitter

MORE ORANGE BASKETBALL

Cougar Clawed: Syracuse basketball loses to Houston 62-46 (Brent Axe recap)

What Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said after loss to Houston (transcript)

Syracuse simply can’t score and drops a 62-46 Sweet 16 game to Houston (Donna Ditota’s quick hits)

You grade the Orange: Rate Syracuse basketball’s performance vs. Houston in NCAA tournament

Buddy Boeheim has been Syracuse’s star, but Jim says he is ‘King of the Court’ in family

ORANGE BASKETBALL FANS

Face masks | Gear and apparel | Stream games on fuboTV, Sling, Hulu + Live TV

Let's block ads! (Why?)

Read Again Brow https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMigwFodHRwczovL3d3dy5zeXJhY3VzZS5jb20vb3JhbmdlYmFza2V0YmFsbC8yMDIxLzAzL2ppbS1ib2VoZWltLWV4cGVjdC1zeXJhY3VzZS1iYXNrZXRiYWxsLXBsYXllcnMtdG8tZW50ZXItYnVzeS10cmFuc2Zlci1wb3J0YWwuaHRtbNIBkgFodHRwczovL3d3dy5zeXJhY3VzZS5jb20vb3JhbmdlYmFza2V0YmFsbC8yMDIxLzAzL2ppbS1ib2VoZWltLWV4cGVjdC1zeXJhY3VzZS1iYXNrZXRiYWxsLXBsYXllcnMtdG8tZW50ZXItYnVzeS10cmFuc2Zlci1wb3J0YWwuaHRtbD9vdXRwdXRUeXBlPWFtcA?oc=5

Bagikan Berita Ini