Syracuse has officially added another member to its 2018 recruiting class, Buddy Boeheim. Boeheim is in his senior year at Brewster Academy in New Hampshire but was raised in Syracuse, New York. In the unlikely event that someone reading this is unaware, he is in fact the son of Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim. Buddy also received offers from Iona, UMass, Binghamton and Gonzaga.
The best news for Syracuse fans is Buddy is a three-star walk-on as it was announced, along with his commitment, that he will not be taking up a scholarship (presumably because he already gets free admission to the school as the son of a University employee). While Buddy may not be considered a program-changing commit out of high school, it is not often that a school can have a three-star player on their team who doesn’t eat one of the scholarships. Considering the Orange are still on scholarship restrictions, this is only good news.
Now for the more in-depth, speculative nature of this announcement. It was announced earlier this year, after Mike Hopkins left to be the Head Coach at Washington, that Jim Boeheim had signed a contract extension with Syracuse. While the terms were not officially released, reports emerged that the contract would run though the 2021-2022 season. I am no math whiz, but I believe that the 2021-22 season would be Buddy’s final year of college (by I believe I really meant that I know it is). Of course the school vehemently denied any and all reports pertaining to the contract’s length.
This whole saga could be speculated on for hours. Was Jim every actually planning to retire after the 2018 season? If he did in fact retire after next season, he would miss the chance to coach his son by one year. His elder son, Jimmy, will be a freshman at Cornell this year. And, oh yeah, Syracuse just so happens to open the 207-18 season at the Carrier Dome with a game against, you guessed it, Cornell.
Perhaps I am just being cynical. Perhaps all of this was the plan all along. However, it has to be said, that in terms of the team, Syracuse is getting a player that would play Division I basketball on a scholarship as a walk-on. That is a big plus. In addition, it will be a great moment to watch Jim get to coach his own flesh and blood in the Carrier Dome and that is set to happen in November 2018. When it comes down to it, this is a good addition for the Orange.
