Even after quality blowout victories, Jim Boeheim continues to harp on how young this SU team is. College sports often work in cycles. Bad teams are young, good teams are experienced. Once a few years go by and players graduate, the roles are reversed. The team that was young is suddenly seasoned and ready to win.
Where does Syracuse fit into this equation? For the sake of a 5-4 start, Orange fans hope the team is comparatively young. I ran the numbers.
There’s no use in calculating the average experience for entire rosters. Most teams play about seven players prominently, so I kept it to the top-7 in average minutes played. Redshirt years do not count as experience. The minimum a team could get is a 1.00, if every player were a freshman. The max would be 5.00, if every player were a graduate student.
This is the ACC in order of average class standing.
| Team | Average Experience |
| Louisville (9-0) | 3.71 |
| Notre Dame (6-3) | 3.29 |
| Wake Forest (5-5) | 3.29 |
| North Carolina (6-3) | 3.00 |
| Boston College (5-5) | 2.86 |
| NC State (7-2) | 2.86 |
| Virginia (8-1) | 2.71 |
| Clemson (5-4) | 2.71 |
| Pittsburgh (4-2) | 2.57 |
| Miami (5-3) | 2.57 |
| Florida State (8-2) | 2.29 |
| Georgia Tech (4-3) | 2.14 |
| Syracuse (5-4) | 2.00 |
| Duke (8-1) | 1.86 |
| Virginia Tech (6-3) | 1.71 |
This table legitimizes Coach Boeheim’s early-season sentiment, that the team is far too young to enjoy success against top teams. Only two teams are younger than the Orange. Virginia Tech had a massive senior exodus last season. Duke is traditionally the youngest team in the conference, with a high rate of one-and-dones. This is Louisville’s year. Their entire roster is comprised of upperclassmen and it’s looking like the best team in conference. For Syracuse, expect things to get better before they get worse.
