Busting Brackets
Fansided

ACC Basketball: Preseason rankings for 2019-20 season

By Brian Rauf

DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - FEBRUARY 05: Tre Jones #3 of the Duke Blue Devils drives past Jordan Chatman #25 of the Boston College Eagles during the second half of their game at Cameron Indoor Stadium on February 05, 2019 in Durham, North Carolina. Duke won 80-55. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - FEBRUARY 05: Tre Jones #3 of the Duke Blue Devils drives past Jordan Chatman #25 of the Boston College Eagles during the second half of their game at Cameron Indoor Stadium on February 05, 2019 in Durham, North Carolina. Duke won 80-55. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
6 of 16
Next
SYRACUSE, NY – MARCH 04: Head coach Jim Boeheim of the Syracuse Orange looks on against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets during the second half at the Carrier Dome on March 4, 2014 in Syracuse, New York. Georgia Tech defeated Syracuse 67-62. (Photo by Rich Barnes/Getty Images)
SYRACUSE, NY – MARCH 04: Head coach Jim Boeheim of the Syracuse Orange looks on against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets during the second half at the Carrier Dome on March 4, 2014 in Syracuse, New York. Georgia Tech defeated Syracuse 67-62. (Photo by Rich Barnes/Getty Images) /

. Orange . 11. team. 445. . Last Year: 20-14 (10-8)

This is a weird one.

Syracuse clearly has a higher pedigree and a major coaching advantage over every school on the list to this point, and even over several schools to follow. Unfortunately, this team also seems to be devoid of the typical talent the Orange are used to having.

The departures of Tyus Battle, Frank Howard, Oshae Brissett – the program’s three best players each of the last two years – leave serious holes in the lineup that the current roster likely won’t be able to fill.

Elijah Hughes is the only returning player that averaged over seven points per game last season and he’ll be relied on to be the go-to guy offensively. After him though, Syracuse is looking to the likes of Buddy Boeheim and Marek Dolezaj to be their secondary scoring options – and that’s not a good thing. Buddy Boeheim has a reputation for being a knockdown spot-up shooter, but there wasn’t a ton else to his game as a freshman last year. Dolezaj didn’t score more than 10 points in a game last season, and he only hit that mark on three occasions.

Even Syracuse’s patented 2-3 zone is expected to take a hit because of the lack of length, athleticism, and interior strength on this roster. Jim Boeheim has even said his squad will play some man-to-man this season because of it.

The Orange also keep an extremely short rotation, but Boeheim will be forced to fill that rotation with a lot of freshmen from a less-than-spectacular class. Brycen Goodine and Joe Girard III will likely see the most time off the bench.

This is a team with more holes than answers. I think they’ll be lucky if they even get into the NCAA Tournament bubble conversation we’ve become so accustomed to having Syracuse in on an annual basis.