Devendorf’s Injury a Big Blow to Syracuse
by Pat DiSalvo
Prior to this college basketball season, Syracuse boasted a deep, talented backcourt. The Orange brought in two stud recruits, and returned guards Andy Rautins, Eric Devendorf and Josh Wright. But now, more than half of that formula is gone.
Rautins tore his ACL in August playing for team Canada in the FIBA Championships. Senior Josh Wright appears to have left the team after missing a week of practices. And lastly, Eric Devendorf tore his left ACL on Saturday in a blowout win over East Tennessee State.
The remaining scholarship guards are now point guard Jonny Flynn and shooting guard Scoop Jardine. Both are freshman. With such a thin, inexperienced backcourt, the rest of this season is going to be a great test for Jim Boeheim to show all of college basketball why he’s a Hall of Fame coach.
The Orange struggled to start off this year, as the team dropped three early contests, including two non-conference games at home. But the young squad showed promise of gelling late in the year to become a dangerous team. That being said, the rotation was limited to seven or eight players. With Wright gone and Devendorf out for the season, the rotation just got dangerously thin.
Boeheim is now looking at these players for playing time: Flynn, Jardine, SF Paul Harris, PF Donte Greene, PF Rick Jackson, C Arinze Onuaku and F Kristof Ongenaet.
Ongenaet, a junior college transfer, has seen very limited time and has failed to contribute. He’s logged only seven minutes per game, and most of that time was against weak opponents.
The Orange received a bit of good news on Saturday, though, as sophomore Mike Williams joined the team and could see some time in the backcourt. Williams, an outstanding athlete, was one of the lone bright spots for an abysmal Syracuse football team this past fall. The wide receiver set the SU record for consecutive games with a touchdown reception at nine (and the streak is still going). On Saturday he netted seven points in limited time.
But any way one looks at it, the rotation is going to consist of six or seven players. For some depth up front, the team might have to reconsider redshirting freshman center Sean Williams. It’s clear the Devendorf injury has thrown a wrench in an already slender lineup.
Personnel aside, the Orange will miss several things Devendorf brought to the table. First off is seniority. This team is tremendously young – from here on out, four or five freshmen will see the majority of minutes. Devendorf already had two successful seasons under his belt. He also was one of the team’s best shooters. Thankfully for the Orange, despite the losses of Rautins and now Devendorf, SU still can shoot from deep as Greene and Flynn have established themselves as legitimate threats. Devendorf also provided great finishing skills that resonated in his 17.0 ppg average – good for second on the team. And there’s also that swagger that any Big East fan equates with Devendorf, for better or worse.
The Orange were already facing challenges with such a young and inexperienced team. This injury only compounds that uphill battle. From here on out the team will likely insert either Jardine into the starting lineup at the two-spot, or will move Harris to the two and throw Jackson into the lineup at the four. Either way, Jackson and Jardine, who were high school teammates at Neumann-Goretti in Philadelphia, will see more playing time.
The injury greatly hurts the Orange in terms of offense, experience and depth. But it will help to provide great learning experiences for the young players for next season. Devendorf also was a bit lackadaisical on defense, and the zone could be shored up without him up top. That being said, this injury clearly does more harm than good to the Orange. Any illness, academic trouble or injury would now be crippling.
It’s going to take all of Boeheim’s wits to guide this team successfully through the Big East. After missing out on the NCAA tournament last year, no one in Syracuse wants to see the NIT again this season. It’s now going to take quite an effort to avoid such a fate.
