Next year’s Orange roster is going to look a lot different than the one that took the floor at the ACC Tournament. On Friday freshman Brycen Goodine announced his intentions to transfer. While that was somewhat surprising, the news paled in comparison to what followed the next day.
Syracuse is losing guards Jalen Carey and Howard Washington as well, according to Adam Zagoria. To make matters worse, The Athletic is reporting sophomore Robert Braswell could also decide to enter the transfer portal.
If the Orange lose all four of those players, as well as star Elijah Hughes to the NBA draft, what will their depth chart look like next year? This is what Jim Boeheim has to work with (scholarship players only) when incoming freshman Kadary Richmond and Woody Newton are included?
PG: Joe Girard
SG: Buddy Boeheim, Kadary Richmond
SF: Richmond*, Woody Newton*
PF: Marek Dolezaj, Quincy Guerrier,
C: Bourama Sidibe, Jesse Edwards, John Bol Ajak
*While it’s too early to say exactly where Richmond and Newton will lineup, neither of them project as true small forwards. Let’s put them their for now with the understanding that the Orange have a shortage at that position.
Unfortunately for SU, it’s looking less and less likely that graduate transfers Seth Towns or Patrick Tape will be wearing Orange next fall. The addition of either of those players would drastically change the outlook for next season. At this point, there’s not much depth on the roster. While Richmond and Newton are promising players, the program is all too familiar with what happens when freshman are expected to carry a significant amount of the load.
What’s going on?
First off, it’s never good when players decide to transfer from your program. With that said, it appears most of these decisions were made based on playing time. Carey knows the starting point guard role is occupied, while both Goodine and Washington were never given an extended period of time to prove themselves on the floor. Players know when they come to Syracuse that coach Boeheim doesn’t hand out minutes like lollipops. Still, the Goodine loss is concerning. He appeared to be coming into his own toward the end of the season and could have been a great bench piece for the Orange next year.
We’ll see about Braswell. While it sounds like he’s on his way out, it’s not a done deal yet. If healthy, he could have a big impact during the 2020-21 season. There’s not much reason to think next year’s team will be better than the one that finished 18-14 this year.
