Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Syracuse basketball was set to enter hibernation, but all of a sudden back it vaulted to the front of the news for all the wrong reasons, as reports surfaced that Dion Waiters may not return to the Orange.
Oddly enough, it was Jim Boeheim himself who put his program under yet another unkind spotlight. You’d think The Per’fesser would be sick of this after the migraine of a season he just endured.
- Listen to a Fresh FizzCast on Dion leaving, Spring Game & SU lax
The coach told Jon Rothstein Saturday that Dion’s status for next season is “up in the air.” The Fizz’s Steve Neikam caught up with Rothstein after the CBS Sports writer broke the story, and you can hear their conversation on this week’s Fresh FizzCast. Rothstein tells Neikam that based on his conversation with Boeheim, he believes the chances of the Philly guard leaving SU are “in-between 80 and 85 percent.”
With Dion having done nothing specifically wrong (that we know of), Steve thinks that Boeheim may simply prefer incoming freshman guard Michael Carter-Williams.
“It seemed as though Carter-Williams might just be pushing Dion out. Because you know Jim Boeheim doesn’t like to play that many guys. So to see him using four guys in the backcourt would be unlikely. It almost seems as though Dion ends up being the odd man out.”
D.A. made a rare in-studio FizzCast appearance after spending the weekend in Syracuse. The King Fizzster wondered why The Per’fesser opened the can of worms in the first place.
“I was surprised just by the timing of it. What does Boeheim have to gain by discussing openly a guy like Dion Waiters not coming back, when it’s April? We’re so far ahead of the basketball season that the timing of it seemed odd.”
I also discussed the Dion situation on the FizzCast, as well as an up close look at SU’s lax weekend in New England. I break down an adjustment Coach Desko made at halftime that led to a second half Orange offensive explosion, and a 13-3 victory over Big East bottom-feeder Providence. Desko called for his team to move more without the ball.
“Although they have a couple pretty dynamic dodgers, they’re a team that’s not really built off of one player this year. They need off-the-ball movement to succeed.”
Check out the FizzCast for analysis of Saturday’s Spring Game. Team Fizz gives you the good, bad, and ugly of the program‚Äôs first split-squad Spring game in almost 20 years.
Posted: Andrew Kanell
