On this week’s The Juice on the Cuse Podcast, we caught up with Syracuse.com’s Mike Waters, who was just recently named to the U.S. Basketball Writers Association’s Hall of Fame.
Waters will be inducted at a ceremony at the Final Four in April in New Orleans after a career where he’s covered the Orange for over 30 years.
Of course, I used this opportunity to chat to Mike about Syracuse basketball, and we covered a wide variety of topics.
Mike tells us why he thinks Syracuse can still finish above .500 for the regular season, but it may come down to SU’s regular season finale against Miami.
“I think they can do it,” Mike says. “I think they can get to 16-15.”
He also chats about how Syracuse will be able to overcome the loss of Jesse Edwards, who fractured his left wrist against Boston College last week.
Though Frank Anselem replaced Edwards in the lineup and finished with 6 points and 15 rebounds in a loss to Virginia Tech, there’s no doubt that the loss of Edwards will play a factor in whether the Orange can avoid a losing season for the first time in Jim Boeheim’s 40+ years as head coach of Syracuse.
Looking ahead to the offseason, I also asked Mike about the possibility of Buddy Boeheim returning to Syracuse. Though Boeheim is an academic senior, he still has a year of eligibility left because the 2020-21 season does not count toward the four-year limit.
But judging from recent comments from head coach Jim Boeheim, it appears the coaching staff is ready for Buddy to move on. Jim Boeheim recently stated that he expects “two to three” freshman to start on the 2022-23 team.
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“There’s always a chance he can stay,” Mike says.
Mike lays out the factors that may convince Buddy to come back for a fifth year.
Afterward, The Juice Online Editor in Chief Brad Bierman calls in to break down Syracuse’s 71-59 loss to Virginia Tech, and discusses how the Orange can manage without Edwards.
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