It seemed like the summer couldn’t get any sweeter for the Orange after winning the long awaited Taurean Thompson sweepstakes, but now SU could be looking at adding more star power. Former Nebraska swingman Andrew White III visited the school last week. The transfer averaged 16.6 points per game last season with the Cornhuskers and was lethal from beyond the arc at a clip of 41%. Those numbers were good enough to earn him All-Big Ten Honorable mention. White has spent the duration of his college career in the midwest. His first two seasons came with Kansas before transferring to Nebraska. It’s a good sign for SU fans, should White come to the Hill, that he played against upper-echelon talent in the Big Ten and Big 12. The 6’7 grad student entered his name into this year’s NBA Draft, but did not hire an agent. The Virginia native has also been on ACC-rival Louisville’s radar as a potential transfer.
After locking up Thompson, the Orange has two scholarships for 2016-17, and the addition of White would be putting an extra slot to good use. Guard is the thinnest position for SU with only three players expected to see considerable minutes. Tack on the fact that the Orange’s fatal flaw last season seemed to be its lack of depth. Only seven players averaged double digit minutes last season, one of them being Frank Howard who barely eclipsed the decade mark with 10.5. Couple that with the team losing three of its top four three-point shooters. White has proven his ability from range while averaging 6.2 attempts from deep last season, and his 41% success rate is good for fifth in the Big Ten amongst players with at least six attempts per game. White would be a strong candidate to lead the Orange in scoring after he finished sixth in points per game in the Big Ten.
If White were to sign with the Orange, it could create a nightmare situation for Jim Boeheim to make his starting five with so many feasible options at guard. With White, Howard, John Gillon and Tyus Battle all in the mix, it’s likely that Syracuse could experiment with various starting lineups after rolling out the same five every game last season. We could see Boeheim begin the campaign with the experienced White while Battle adjusts to the college level then let the two compete for the starting two guard.
