Up until Tuesday night, the transfer portal had taken quite a bit from Syracuse, but it hadn’t given anything yet. Justin Taylor, Quadir Copeland, Peter Carey, and Maliq Brown out (and Benny Williams). Adrian Autry and company finally have a new guy in the mix now. Enter Eddie Lampkin Jr., a 6-11, 265 LB big man from Colorado.
The timing of everything was certainly interesting. Lampkin posts an Instagram story about him being in Central New York on Monday, and Brown enters the portal the same day. Donnie Freeman is a lock to start next season, so if Brown wanted to stay at SU, he was either going to have to come off the bench at the four or start at the five, and he’s made it clear he has no interest in playing the vibe. Moving on is best for Brown, even more so now that Lampkin will be donning Orange.
There’s now little doubt about who the starting big man will be come November. Naheem McLeod will shift to the backup role, which in all honesty is probably best for him and the team. If injury issues arise again, raw 7-2 redshirt freshman William Patterson sits in waiting. Despite losing Brown (and Carey), Syracuse’s big man depth is so much better now than it was during the season. No disrespect to Brown, Lampkin has the size needed to be an effective big man in the ACC.
So what exactly is Autry getting in his new big man? Syracuse will be Lampkin’s third destination. The Houston native spent the first three seasons of his collegiate career at TCU before heading to Boulder a year ago. Lampkin had his best year yet for Colorado, averaging 11 points and 7 rebounds per contest across 28 minutes per game. With his frame, bully ball is his MO.
DJ Burns has proven that having a bruiser like that down low can be lethal, provided that he has good footwork and is a versatile defender. Burns has taken so many strides in both those areas this season, and that is what will make Lampkin successful or a bust at Syracuse. Does he have post moves that will work against bigs like Cooper Flagg at Duke, the Diaz Graham brothers at Pitt, or Ian Schieffelin (and potentially PJ Hall) at Clemson? And (perhaps more importantly), can he lock them up?
This is a fantastic pickup, but there is still plenty of work to be done both on and off the court. Hopefully for Orange fans, Eddie Lampkin Jr. is the first of many offseason wins.
