The men’s college basketball transfer portal is absolutely crazy this season. Syracuse has already had its fair share of players join the portal, including Woody Newton, Kadary Richmond, John Bol Ajak, and Robert Braswell. The Orange are no strangers to losing a couple of guys from season to season.
Last year, three players left SU to go and play elsewhere. Brycen Goodine went to Providence, Jalen Carey transferred to Rhode Island and Howard Washington made his way to South Alabama. Two of those three guys, Carey excluded due to an injury, were decent role players for Syracuse in 2019-2020. However, they are all guards and saw the writing on the wall that said in big bold letters “Jim is sticking with Girard and Buddy.” So, they moved on to greener pastures.
Now that this year is over and all of those guys have a season under their belts at their new homes, let’s take a look at how they fared.
Brycen Goodine – Providence
Goodine had a very mediocre season. The Massachusetts-native moved closer to home, but only played in 16 of 26 games for an average of 8.5 minutes. He scored a total of 26 points all season, which is 1.6 points per contest. Goodine also only averaged one rebound per game and had more turnovers than assists on the year. All of those numbers are pretty much even with what he did as a true freshman at Syracuse.
Goodine was the fifth guard on the team this past year and it doesn’t get much better next season. Only one of the guys above him on the depth chart won’t be back. Plus, Providence added grad transfer Aljami Durham, who was a three-year starter and two-year captain at Indiana. So, unless he leapfrogs some of his teammates next season, his minutes don’t look like they will be going up.
Jalen Carey – Rhode Island
Carey actually did a little better for himself. Now, he wasn’t anything crazy at URI, but he played in all but two games, making two starts and averaging 16 minutes. He put up four points and three rebounds per outing, but went 0-7 from deep on the year and averaged two turnovers per contest. Carey only played two games at SU in 2019-2020 due to injury, but his URI numbers are pretty similar to his freshman year on the hill.
Carey is in a similar situation as Goodine for next year. He is towards the bottom of a guard-heavy roster and was losing playing time towards the end of this past season. Next season, Rhode Island is losing its top guard in Fatts Russell, who is going to Maryland. However, URI is bringing in two-time All-MAC guard Ishmael El-Amin. So, the minutes Carey could have earned are now probably going to go to El-Amin.
Howard Washington – South Alabama
Washington opted out of the 2020-2021 basketball season. There was little explanation as to why, however, his preexisting health conditions may have played a factor in the decision.
South Alabama has had quite a busy offseason. The Jaguars have lost eight players to the transfer portal and brought in seven new guys.
