Friday, I previewed my expectations for the Orange’s starting five, and now we look to the bench. Primarily, we will see a pair of sophomores (one redshirt) and a trio of freshmen (one redshirt) spelling the starters, with apologies to Brandon Reese, Matt Tomaszewski, and Nick Resavy.

1. Scoop Jardine
2. Kris Joseph
3. Mookie Jones
4. James Southerland
5. DaShonte Riley

Scoop Jardine – After battling through an ankle injury in the baby pool-shallow 2007-08 season and redshirting all of last year, Jardine is ready to play once again. Able to play either guard position, Jardine provides flexibility, solid ball-handling skills and perimeter defense. At 6′1″, 196 pounds, Jardine will be best utilized on the court against faster offenses like Villanova. This will allow him to keep quick players in check with transition defense.
2009-10 Stat Prediction: 20 MPG, 6.0 PPG, 3.0 APG, 1.5 APG

Kris Joseph – We saw inspired play from Kris Joseph throughout last season, as he saw time in 34 of the Orange’s 38 games. His minutes really dwindled once Syracuse entered “The Gauntlet,” however, and he will have greater responsibility this season with Kristof Ongenaet having graduated. Joseph is a little too small and underdeveloped at 6′7″, 207 pounds, to be trusted with extended playing time in the post, but he can slip into the gaps and finish on offense and snag a few rebounds as well.  Until Arinze Onuaku is 100%, expect Joseph to get about 20 minutes a game, and closer to 15 when AO is healthy and the depth chart squeezes his playing time.
2009-10 Stat Prediction: 18 MPG, 5.0 PPG, 4.5 RPG

James Southerland/Mookie Jones: I chose to pair these two players up because their skill sets are very similar – decent shooters whose defense is still a work in progress. Jones played in just nine games last year before surgery forced him to take a medical redshirt. In his limited time, he revealed himself to be a capable three point shooter, but didn’t show much else. He gained weight, lost weight, and now it’s sink-or-swim time because he has some competition…

Already reminding fans of Preston Shumpert, Southerland’s arrival at Syracuse was delayed a year as he finished his high school development bulking up at Notre Dame Prep School. Once he landed on campus, however, he wasted no time winning over the Orange faithful, going 5-5 from beyond the arc and sinking his only two other field goal attempts in his exhibition debut. The close nature of the LeMoyne game left Southerland only tallying two minutes, so the jury may be out on him for awhile. Southerland is on The Hill for his offense, and his defense is still coming along. He could become the Orange’s best three-point threat when Andy Rautins is on the bench, but until his defense improves, his time is going to be limited. He has a chance to bury Jones deep on the bench if he catches fire, so the battle should make for some interesting competition in the first handful of games – hopefully it brings out the best in each player.
2009-10 Stats Prediction (Combined): 12 MPG, 8 PPG, 1.5 APG, 33 3FG%

DaShonte Riley
Riley, like Sean Williams before him, is a tall but wiry (a generous 7′0″, 233 lbs.)  and raw center who doesn’t stand to see any meaningful playing time this year. A situation where three of Wes Johnson, Rick Jackson, Kris Joseph and AO are all in foul trouble may be the only one where Riley gets playing time in a non-blowout scenario. Part of me thinks that if AO’s health wasn’t such a big question mark, Riley would be an ideal redshirt candidate, but obviously that’s not the case. We may see some flashes this year, but Riley appears to be another Boeheim “project.” I would say to keep an eye on him, but you’d just be missing out on a lot of game action.
2009-10 Stats Prediction: 10 GP, 0.5 PPG, 1.5 RPG

This entry was posted on Monday, November 9th, 2009 at 7:30 am by Brian G. . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.