Men’s College Basketball 2021-2022 Season Preview: Syracuse Orange

The college basketball season is just over two weeks away — time is just flying by. To get you ready for the season, I’m previewing the season in men’s college basketball, team by team. In these previews I will highlight key departures, additions, returners and overall DFS viability for each team. These previews will be heavily focused on DFS and fantasy in general, so keep that in mind when I’m talking about the relevancy of a player or team rotations.

We kick things off with the ACC, a conference that severely underperformed in the pandemic-impacted season last year. While the conference will inevitably have a handful of DFS staples for us to use each slate, it still seems like the ACC lost more talent than it was able to gain. With the transfer rules changing after March Madness ended it ultimately led to what was essentially free agency in CBB. There were coaching changes as well which I will talk about throughout this breakdown because new philosophies will mean new strategies for our DFS builds. 

In this one, Syracuse.

(Check out our full college basketball season preview!)

Syracuse Orange 2021-2022 Season Preview

2020-2021 record: 18-10 (9-7 ACC), eighth in ACC
Postseason: Lost in NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen

Key Departures | Syracuse Orange

• Alan Griffin (left for NBA)
• Marek Dolezaj (left for NBA)
• Quincy Guerrier (transferred to Oregon)
• Kadary Richmond (transferred to Seton Hall)
• Robert Braswell (transferred to Charlotte)
• Woody Newton (transferred to Oklahoma State)

Key Additions | Syracuse Orange

• Benny Williams (top 40 recruit)
• Cole Swider (transferred from Villanova)
• Symir Torrence (transferred from Marquette)
• Jimmy Boeheim (transferred from Cornell)

Returners | Syracuse Orange 

• Joe Girard (9.8 PPG/2.9 RPG/3.5 APG/1.4 SPG)
• Buddy Boeheim (17.8 PPG/2.6 RPG/2.6 APG/1.3 SPG)
• Jesse Edwards (1.9 PPG/2.6 RPG)
• Bourama Sidibe (1.5 PPG/0.5 RPG)
• John Bol Ajak (.2 PPG/0.4 RPG)

Syracuse Orange Outlook for 2021-2022

‘Cuse has been one of my favorite teams to target in the ACC for years. Jim Boeheim runs one of the shortest rotations in all of D-1, which makes for very safe DFS targets. He has been known to put guys in the doghouse though, which can lead to the occasional hair-pulling tilt, but other than that it’s a profitable situation. ‘Cuse are losing a ton of production from last year, especially in the front court, so there are some question marks about how the new rotation will look heading into the new season. One thing that won’t change is the backcourt duo of Buddy Buckets and Joe Girard. Buddy Boeheim has always been known as a shooter, but he established himself as truly elite from long range last year. He shot right around 39% on 201 attempts. His shot rate was 27.5%, which was highest on the team as well. There was an 11-day stretch in March where Buddy scored 40-plus fantasy points four different times, which was just insane because most of it came from making three-pointers. 6-foot-11 Jesse Edwards will see his role increase with Guerrier off to Oregon and he showed promise as a role player off the bench in 2020.

It’s a family affair in Syracuse as Jim Boeheim’s other son Jimmy has transferred from Cornell and will now play for his dad. While at Cornell, Jimmy scored 16.7 PPG and grabbed 5.6 RPG. He is a career 29% three-point shooter, so that’s obviously something he will need to improve on playing for his pops. He is making over 52% of his two-point field goals though, and I expect him to be an impactful fantasy player. I’m most excited about freshman Benny Williams, another player I’ve invested heavily in during my various dynasty drafts. Writers around the country have been in awe of his playmaking ability and high basketball IQ which makes him an ideal fit in Boeheim’s system. He is going to have to hit the weight room and really put on some muscle before he can make serious moves in the paint, but I think he will be a stat sheet stuffer quite quickly. Cole Swider and Symir Torrence were role players with their previous teams and may end up being interesting value plays at some point. Bourama Sidibe decided to take advantage of the extra year available to him after missing most of 2020 with a knee injury. Sidibe averaged a respectable 6 PPG/7.6 RPG/1.4 BPG in 2019 so he will certainly be viable if he returns to his previous form.

(Check out our rankings of the top 100 teams and top 100 players for men’s college basketball in 2021-2022.)

Summary

Coach Boeheim has both of his sons playing for him this year, which is a cool story in its own right. The Orange are always good for DFS because of the tight rotation they typically run, and they’ve got an experienced backcourt that should do serious damage. I’m excited to see what Benny Williams can do in his freshman season as a player that could fly way under the radar early on. The front court rotation will be tricky at first, but I do expect the starting five to eventually all play 30-plus minutes when the dust settles.