If you are looking for an escape from the disappointing Syracuse football season, your search may be nearing its end. Basketball season is nearly here, and after an incredibly busy summer, the Orange are rearing up to contend once again. Tuesday afternoon, CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein sent out a Tweetstorm about the upcoming season for Syracuse. The last tweet quoted Jim Boeheim saying hadn’t felt this good about a team in “four to five years”.
Well, the initial reaction to that has to be a positive one. If there is something Boeheim isn’t happy with or if he feels that the team isn’t up to the standard that he expects, he would let everyone know. He is not one to sugarcoat things or feign confidence or optimism. If Boeheim thinks that this team is good, the chances are that they are very good. Why might¬†they be so good? They lost their top three scorers including their two big, on-court leaders.
Well to answer that question, one can refer to Rothstein’s other comments about the Orange on Tuesday. Rothstein started things off by calling the Orange a top 15-20 team in the country citing tremendous length in the infamous 2-3 zone. He went on to compare Pashcal Chukwu’s shot blocking ability to legendary NHL goaltender’s Martin Brodeur. He also expects Frank Howard and Tyus Battle, who stand at 6-4 and 6-7 respectively to man the top of the 2-3 much like Trevor Cooney (6-4) and Michael Gbinije (6-7) did the last two seasons.
Tyler Lydon proved to be the biggest surprise of last season as he showed a tremendous amount of promise at both ends of the court. The biggest complaint about Lydon is that he was too skinny to be a truly dominant force. Well, the man put on 26 pounds this off-season. So there’s that problem solved.
Oh yeah, and the Orange added transfers John Gillon and Andrew White III.
It’s almost here Orange Nation. Get ready.
