ACC Basketball: Preseason power rankings for 2022-23 season

It’s become a pattern for Syracuse Basketball that they face a fair amount of roster turnover each offseason, whether via the transfer portal or players going pro early. That happened with three of the team’s best players in Cole Swider, and the Boeheim brothers (Jimmy and Buddy). That’s nearly 50 ppg and 20 rpg of production gone. And the problem was that the Orange did next to nothing in the transfer portal to replace those guys.

That leaves essential two main rotation players returning in guard Joe Girard and big man Jesse Edwards. Girard averaged 13.8 ppg and 4,2 apg last season and shot better from outside the area (40%) than he did from inside (38%). He’s streaky and inefficient at times but when he’s hitting from deep, Girard can go for 20+ points in any game. But now that he’s the focal point of the offense, the attention will be on him, and opposing defenses will try to run him off the three-point line. He’ll have to not only be the top scorer but also get everyone else involved.

His likely starting backcourt partner is true freshman Judah Mintz, a top-40 prospect and combo guard. He’s a great defender and quality passer and should be an instant impact player for Syracuse. Not will he have to but so does the rest of the freshmen class. There are no returning wings on the roster to Chris Bunch and Justin Taylor will get plenty of playing time. But if they’re not ready to play effectively in the 2-3 zone, the defense could easily fall apart.

For the Orange to have any chance of being good, starting center Edwards will have to have a huge season. The 6’11 big man posted 12.0 ppg and 6.5 rpg last year on a whopping 70% field goal shooting. Edwards had eight games of at least 15 points so he’s capable of being a focal point but will have to avoid the off-nights where he does little offensively. Also in the frontcourt, look for how Benny Williams, a former top-50 recruit does as the likely new starting forward. If he doesn’t improve and become a double-digit scorer himself, the Orange will struggle overall.

You don’t want to doubt a Hall of Fame head coach like Jim Boeheim but with so many questions all over the roster, it’s hard to see how they’ll win more games in the ACC than they’ll lose. They’ll need multiple breakout players to overachieve.