This morning it was announced that Jesse Edwards is out for the season with a fractured wrist, which he suffered against Boston College this past Tuesday.
Without its star big, Syracuse will be forced to start Frank Anselem at center for the remainder of the season. Losing Jesse is going to be huge for Syracuse. Edwards was undoubtedly one of SU’s most valuable plays, and certainly in the ACC most improved player conversation. This could be curtains for the Orange in the 2021-22 season. 
Edwards was sensational this season, better than any fan could’ve hoped for. At the end of last season, the Dutch big was shoved into a heightened role at the center spot backing up Marek Dolezaj, and made an immediate impact. He brought that impact into this season and was providing the Orange faithful hope for meaningful basketball past the ACC tournament. Without him, this season is likely curtains.
One of the silver linings in this largely dark cloud is Anselem’s playing time.
The young buck played well after Edwards fouled out Tuesday, and has shown flashes of solid play throughout the season. He’s not Edwards, nowhere close, but he does have a similar ceiling, and this stretch of heightened minutes should help him reach it.
Syracuse is now in a pretty brutal position.
The other effect this will have is the massive shift in responsibility SU’s shooters will feel without Edwards on the court. This year, Syracuse has been a wildly streaky shooting team. When Boeheim’s ‘best shooting team ever’ wasn’t hitting shots, it could rely on Edwards to put on some fancy moves down low, catch a lob, or find a dunk to put some points on the board. With him now gone, the Boeheims, Girard, and Swider are going to need to fill that void with 10-20 more points between them on any given night. 
The road ahead is not an easy one. Sure, on paper Syracuse still has a shot, but that road to the Big Dance just got a whole lot tougher.
