Syracuse an afterthought in preseason

By John Kekis You want to have a great team,” Boeheim said. “You want to get this team to be as good as they can be.”

The Orange were erratic in going 19-15 last season, the most losses in a season in Boeheim’s Hall of Fame career, and ended the year with a loss to Ole Miss in the second round of the NIT.

Syracuse, which was 10-8 in the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2016-17, is picked to finish 10th this year. The players are unfazed. “We’re definitely going to surprise a lot of people,” said sophomore guard Tyus Battle, that lone returning starter. “We’ve been working really hard over the summer. Guys have made huge strides.”

Syracuse also lost fifthyear seniors Andrew White, the team’s top scorer (18.5 points, 112 3-pointers), and point guard John Gillon (10.5 points, 5.4 assists). The most significant losses, though, were Lydon (13.2 points, 8.6 rebonds, 49 blocks, 49 3-pointers, 35 steals) and forward Taurean Thompson, who transferred to Seton Hall after a solid freshman year (9.2 points, 3.8 rebounds, 33 blocks).

Also returning are junior guard Frank Howard, 7-foot-2 junior center Paschal Chukwu, and 6-8 redshirt freshman forward Matthew Moyer. Newcomers include guard Geno Thorpe, a graduate transfer, and those four freshmen: 6-8 forward Oshae Brissett and guard Howard Washington, both from Athlete Institute Prep in Ontario, Canada; 6-9 forward Marek Dolezaj of Slovakia; and 6-10 forward Bourama Sidibe from St. Benedict’s Prep.

“Player by player, I’ve seen great improvement,” Boeheim said. “The freshmen were here for both (summer) sessions, which was very unusual. We are way ahead of where they would be (normally) because of what they’ve done.”

Notes and other things to watch with Syracuse, which opens the season at home against Cornell on Nov. 10: