2022-23 Syracuse men's basketball preview

Overview: 

Which came first? The color orange or the fruit orange? While the answer to that question remains a mystery, head coach Jim Boeheim and his Syracuse squad will pursue a different orange-related question: can the Syracuse Orange win its fourth national championship? 

The short answer? They have a long way to go. Last season, the Orange had a disappointing record and missed the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2016-17. As the No. 9-seed, their success in the ACC tournament was short-lived, as they fell short against Duke in the quarterfinals. 

Ahead of the 2022-23 campaign, Joe Girard III and Jesse Edwards are the only returning starters. Girard will look to build off his effective junior campaign: he averaged a career-high 13.8 points per game and converted on 40.3% of his long range attempts. Syracuse will, however, miss the veteran experience of three of last year’s starters (Buddy Boehim, Jimmy Boeheim and Cole Swider). But in basketball, people come and go. Seven freshmen have joined the program, of which Judah Mintz, Justin Taylor and Chris Bunch are four-star recruits. Most notably, Mintz is an elite three-level scorer that will look to boost the team’s offensive production from the get-go.