Syracuse basketball 2013-14 season preview

Overview: The Orange will be playing their first season in the ACC after losing three of their top four scorers, including their entire backcourt. Fortunately for head coach Jim Boeheim, they return their leading scorer and rebounder—lefty senior forward C.J. Fair, the preseason Player of the Year in the ACC. Boeheim will likely run much of the offense through the versatile Fair and use his team’s length and athleticism to make the 2-3 zone Syracuse is famous for even more formidable. Fair and the rest of the Syracuse bigs are all capable of playing tough defense and beating people up on the glass. The foundation of this year’s Syracuse team will be its physical frontcourt.

Though Michael Carter-Williams, Brandon Triche and James Southerland carried much of the load offensively for the Orange a season ago, Syracuse seems to have players ready to fill the void. Freshman point guard Tyler Ennis will be given the task of running the offense. Although Ennis will not be nearly the defensive menace that Carter-Williams was, his outside shooting and ball handling could make him yet another successful Syracuse point guard. Redshirt sophomores Trevor Cooney and Michael Gbinije—a former Duke player—will see most of the minutes on the wing this season.

With Syracuse’s offense likely to improve as the season progresses, by the time conference play rolls around, the Orange will be ready to compete for an ACC title led by a potential superstar and tenacious defense.

One thing that needs to go right: Fair takes what the defense gives him and avoids forcing the issue on the offensive end while developing into the Orange's next star.

One thing that could go wrong: Tough man-to-man defenses limit Fair and prevent the Orange from being effective in halfcourt sets.