Syracuse basketball tips off another season tonight against Kennesaw State.  Conferences games are not quite here yet, but the focus is on non-conference games.  This is a young team, led by Kaleb Joseph at the point. Veteran Trevor Cooney will be asked to be a much more reliable and consistent scorer than he has been in the past.
Cooney needs to add more than the three-ball to his list of tools. In the game at Boston College last season, we saw Cooney do more. He drove to the basket, used the finger roll, and had a crucial steal and a dunk. He cannot stand on the wing and wait for the catch-and-shoot.
The small forward position still might be up in the air, but it looks to be Tyler Roberson. He hasn’t shown much during his time at SU. He hasn’t helped the team enough. Hopefully he¬†grows comfortable with Joseph running the point, and perhaps he could be more.¬†Rakeem Christmas is a major question mark. He is one of the anchors of this team, being the lone starting senior. Still, we have not seen him deliver on¬†what was expected.¬†A¬†benefit for Christmas heading into the non-conference schedule is to get familiar with his new teammates, since most have left due to the draft or graduation.
Nevertheless, Syracuse basketball is back, and the Orange need to use the early slate of games to become familiar with one another before the ACC season.
Posted: Austin Pollack
