The end of April is closing in, and that means this round of portal movement is wrapping up shop soon enough. Syracuse’s roster is looking completely different after its season ended at the ACC Tournament in mid-March. So far, it has lost Judah Mintz to the NBA Draft; Justin Taylor (James Madison), Peter Carey (Siena), Benny Williams (UCF), Quadir Copeland (undecided), Maliq Brown (undecided), and Mounir Hima (undecided) to the transfer portal. That’s a lot of turnover.
The Orange will add high school signees Donnie Freeman and Elijah Moore, plus Colorado transfer center Eddie Lampkin Jr., and now Delaware forward Jyare Davis. As a senior with the Blue Hens last year, Davis averaged 17.1 points per game to go along with 7.5 rebounds on 46.6% shooting, 25.6% from three, and 81.4% at the line. All of those are improvements from his junior season, or in the case of his outside shooting percentages, around the same. He provides a lot of experience throughout his career, and like Lampkin is entering his 5th year of being in college.
“Coach (Autry) talked about how much he liked my versatility,’’ Davis said via syracuse.com. “They want me to be tough around the basket. I can hit mid-range shots and I can drive to the basket. I want to become a better 3-point shooter,’’ he added. “I think I can expand my game and do some things I haven’t shown yet. I think they will help me become the best player I can be.’’
He’ll mesh with the three guys mentioned earlier, plus returnees like JJ Starling, Chris Bell, Naheem McLeod, Chance Westry, and Kyle Cuffe among others. It’s clear that Adrian Autry is taking the lead on recruiting, especially with a lot of the guys from the DC area, and Davis fits that bill from Delaware.
“They came to my house and we had a good conversation beyond what I could do on the basketball court,’’ Davis said to Mike Waters of syracuse.com. “When I spoke to Coach Red (Autry) and Coach Brenden, I felt drawn to them. Relationships are important. Relationships help you get through the tough moments of the season.’’
Syracuse’s team is going to look a lot different next season compared to this year. You would expect on the roster makeup the offense is going to be a lot more structured and less of the freestyling we saw this past season. There will be more post-ups from players like Lampkin and more spacing with shooters like Bell, Freeman, and Moore in the mix. There is still more roster work to be done, but it seems Autry has a purpose in building a roster this way, and the pieces seem to be fitting together better than in his first season when continuity was the theme of the offseason.
“Something that stuck out to me was the people at Syracuse,’’ Davis said via syracuse.com. “Every school you go to, they use the word family but on the visit I felt that everyone from the academic staff to the trainer to the nutritionist, everyone had a welcoming personality. I could see and tell there was a level of care and connection.’’
