It’s an athletic roster, but is it lacking size?
The Syracuse Orange have added four transfers thus far and the new additions have added length and athleticism to a Syracuse team which lacked those elements last season.
The 24-25 Orange ranked 339th in the country in steals (161) and 297th in blocks (83). Team leaders in those categories were Jaquan Carlos with 36 steals and Eddie Lampkin with 16 blocks. Only two other players (Jyare Davis and Chris Bell with 13) were in double-digits for blocks as stopping players from getting to the rim was an issue.
Both incoming Georgia Tech transfers exceeded those numbers last season as Naithan George had 37 steals and Ibrahim Souare had 17 blocks. George also finished the year with 15 blocks from his point guard spot. Even in a bench role at UCLA, William Kyle III recorded 20 blocks and while he was sought after in the portal for his shooting, Nate Kingz recorded 25 steals and 14 blocks at Oregon State.
I’m not going to pretend that I know how each of the transfer additions do playing man-to-man, but you have to be encouraged that this group was better at creating turnovers last season. Add to them Sadiq White, known as one of the best defenders in his class and there’s reason for optimism that the defense can improve.
The increased athleticism can also help the offense at the rim. Syracuse was credited with only 56 dunks this past season, which put them 178th in the country. Lampkin had the most with 13 followed Davis with 12 and Donnie Freeman with 10. Of the incoming transfers, Kyle had 28 and Souare had 19, The newcomers don’t bring Lampkin’s post-up game but are more explosive in pick and roll situations.
Where it does look like the Orange need more help would be in adding another frontcourt player who can rebound. Under-sized centers offer more flexibility against five-out offenses, but you’d like Syracuse to have a player who can hold up against post players and offer more strength inside. If you can find a player who can do that on defense and step outside on offense, that would be the ideal pairing.
We’ll see what else Adrian Autry and staff can do before the fall, but so far they appear to have addressed an area of weakness from this past season.