Syracuse Basketball: Joe Girard III will give Orange a new dynamic in 2019-20
After a disappointing ending to a solid year, Syracuse Basketball will now look towards life without Tyus Battle. New recruit Joe Girard will be integral to this.
Losing to Baylor in the opening round of the 2019 NCAA Tournament didn’t feel like the ending that the Syracuse Basketball season deserved. A stellar regular season campaign from Jim Boeheim’s team showed that the Orange are a legitimate threat in the ACC. They have plenty of pieces to do the same next season. With Tyus Battle declaring for the draft, Frank Howard and Pascal Chukwu (Seniors) leaving and Oshae Brissett undecided on his future, we will be entering a whole new era of Orange basketball in the 2019-20 season. 2019 New York State Mr. Basketball, Joe Girard III headlines Syracuse’s recruiting class for the upcoming year.
The shooting guard, from Glens Falls High School is a four star recruit. And, as his already impressive resume suggests, has huge potential. The Orange signee had various other offers from different schools, and plenty of interest, including that from the likes of rival ACC giants, Duke. However, Girard made the decision to sign with ‘Cuse way back in October. The young guard averaged 49 PPG during this his final year in high school – on his way to becoming the highest scoring high school basketball player in NY State history, finishing his high school career with an astounding tally of over 4,000 points.
Girard is exactly the type of player that ‘Cuse needs, following the loss of Battle. He’d be a viable first option on this offence, as a volume scoring guard. There’ll be a large amount of scoring duties to be picked up going into the season, and perhaps even more, if Brissett does choose to pursue the NBA Draft. With the likes of Quincy Guerrier, also in this recruiting class, there’ll be plenty of ability to score coming into this Syracuse team. Buddy Boeheim will, expectedly, get a more prominent role in ‘Cuse’s offence, and players like Marek Dolezaj and Jalen Carey will pick up bigger leading roles.
To start his freshman year, Girard will likely be watching a lot of basketball from the Orange bench. But, his time could come sooner rather than later. If, an already struggling, Syracuse offence continues to do so – causing results to slip, early on in the season, it wouldn’t be surprise to see the guard, who can score so efficiently, step up to the plate and deliver on the college basketball stage so early on in his career.
Next. Early ACC power rankings for 2019-20. dark
Boeheim will love having the freshman guard on his team for many different reasons. Girard will have the opportunity to help turn this offence around. He has the ability to help it become an efficient one. He can score the rock systematically from many different spots on the court. He’s also got his free throw shooting pretty much locked down, shooting 87% from the strike in high school.
Anybody who wins Mr. Basketball, specifically in New York, will obviously possess some level of talent. But, Girard has the opportunity to really make a name for himself in the NCAA with this Syracuse team who is calling out for a star to make them contenders over the next few year. Girard III is a great pick up for the Orange, and it’ll be very intriguing to see what he brings to the Carrier Dome.