Basketball Guide 2019

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BASKETBALL GUIDE 2019

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2 BASKETBALL GUIDE 2019

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Haley Robertson EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Catherine Leffert MANAGING EDITOR

Sports Editor Presentation Director Photo Editor Digital Copy Chief Copy Chief Co-Digital Editor Co-Digital Editor

Are you anxious? sad? worried? stressed? hyperactive? depressed?

Sounds like you’re D.E.W. for a visit!

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5856 Heritage Landing Drive, East Syracuse, NY 13057 ph 877-DEW-CUSE or 877-339-2873 | fax 877-3396789 | d-e-w.net | info@d-e-w.net

KJ Edelman Talia Trackim Corey Henry Ryley Bonferraro Kaizhao (Zero) Lin Kevin Camelo Amy Nakamura

Asst. Sports Editor Anthony Dabbundo Asst. Sports Editor Danny Emerman Asst. Photo Editor Elizabeth Billman Asst. Photo Editor Dan Lyon Asst. Copy Editor Andrew Crane Asst. Copy Editor Adam Hillman Asst. Digital Editor Arabdho Majumder Digital Design Editor Karleigh Ann Merrit-Henry Digital Design Editor Eva Suppa General Manager Mike Dooling Business Assistant Tim Bennett IT Manager Mohammed Ali Advertising Manager Victoria Tramontana Advertising Representative Allyson Toolan Advertising Representative Sarah Grinnell Advertising Representative Mike Ceribelli Advertising Representative Anna Army Advertising Representative Erica Morrison Advertising Representative Katherine Ryan Advertising Representative Zach Jasmin Advertising Representative Priya Doshi Advertising Designer Diana Denney Social Media Manager Meredith Lewis Special Events Coordinator Taylor Sheehan Circulation Manager Charles Plumpton Circulation Manager Jason Siegel

Cover and inside photos by Corey Henry | Photo Editor Spread photo by Elizabeth Billman Asst. Photo Editor

Dear readers, The questions looming ahead of Syracuse’s 2019-20 season are larger than past years, but the holes provide new opportunities for six players who’ve waited to shine.

The pillars of Syracuse men’s basketball — Tyus Battle and Oshae Brissett — are gone, meaning Elijah Hughes has no choice but to be the leader it needs. Bourama Sidibe’s knees have always limited him in college, but the junior finally has his bounce back. And Quincy Guerrier knows he must make an im mediate impact in his first collegiate season.

On the women’s side, Tiana Mangakahia, the pulse of Syracuse last year, will miss this season after a battle with breast cancer. In her place is Kiara Lewis, who’s spent years waiting for a chance to be a lead guard, even though it’s not the path she imagined. Amaya Finklea-Guity is once again expected to start at the five, but she’s found solace in painting when her play strayed. And Elemy Colome, a graduate transfer from Rhode Island, needed to grow up before she could prove she’s more than just a streaky shooter.

Meet the new stars of Syracuse basketball in The Daily Orange’s annual Basketball Guide.

Thanks for reading.

KJ Edelman, Sports Editor

inside Off guard

With the departures of Tyus Battle and Oshae Brissett, this 2019 Syracuse men’s team is Elijah Hughes’ to lead.

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CENTER STAGE

ELIJAH HUGHES HAS ALWAYS BEEN A DANGEROUS SHOOTER. NOW, HE’S SYRACUSE’S MOST IMPORTANT PLAYER.

E

By Michael McCleary senior staff writer

LIJAH HUGHES STROLLED

into a mostly vacant Carrier Dome around 5 p.m. on Saturday, two hours before Syracuse’s Oct. 26 exhibition against Division II Daemen College. At 7 p.m. Hughes would pull off his warm up shirt, rustle his hair and SU’s star would showcase a remodeled version of himself — one with a three-level game and an unselfishness to get his teammates involved in a 24-point performance that SU head coach Jim Boeheim said “could have (been) 40.”

The talk around Hughes’ expanded role picked up in the months following last season. Tyus Battle left for the NBA Draft.

Oshae Brissett followed. SU coaches told Hughes he needed to “be that guy,” a leader it can rally around.

“I’ve always had a knack for talking,” Hughes said, laughing.

But Hughes doesn’t deny his lack of experience as a primary option — he hasn’t been in this position in almost five years. Three years after the redshirt junior arrived at East Carolina labeled a “steal” in the high school recruiting cycle, Hughes assumes the role of Syracuse’s most formidable offensive threat and a leader thrust into the position.

“

THEY COME TO ME RIGHT AWAY. THIS IS MY FIRST TIME

BEING A LEADER AT A HIGH LEVEL. ELIJAH HUGHES

redshirt junior guard

He didn’t receive a scholarship for prep school, entered the next year as a young role player at a mid-major and two years after that served primarily as an off-ball scoring threat on a Syracuse team that relied heavily on Battle’s isolation play. The soft-spoken guard’s ability to go unnoticed was perhaps his most dangerous skill. Now he’s expected to be the loudest, the center of attention to open up the floor.

“It really kind of took me off guard,” Hughes said. “A lot of young guys that come speak to me — they don’t know something in the zone or on a play — they come to me right away … This is my first time being a leader at a high level.”

From a young age, Hughes’ calm nature was one of his more defining traits. He blended into the halls at school, his middle school principal Brian Archer said, but remained aware of his image. He wore pink shoes. He cycled through different hairstyles. In the seventh grade, he bragged

to his eventual Beacon (New York) High School coach, Tom Powers, that he would play varsity as an eighth grader.

In his final year of high school, a few of his teammates joined in on South Kent’s annual “Thriller Dance,” where volunteers don zombie makeup and dance to Michael Jackson’s famous Halloween tune.

So Hughes, who South Kent prep school head coach Kelvin Jefferson said didn’t put himself above other students despite his basketball talent, joined his classmates in the dance.

“

I TRY TO TALK TO HIM AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. IT’S NOT VISIBLE TO EVERYONE ELSE, BUT HE TALKS A LOT.

BRYCEN GOODINE FRESHMAN FORWARD

“Well, shoot, I haven’t seen (Hughes) shy,” his South Kent and former Syracuse teammate Matthew Moyer said.

Despite his seemingly unmatched assurance, his game always exhibited a heightened maturity. He played multiple years above his grade level every season until his junior year of high school. Though his youth often led to sacrificing leading roles, Powers said, Hughes assumed a majority of the responsibility for poor team performances. In the back of his parents’ car after losses, he’d pop in his headphones and go silent.

When Hughes was in 10th grade, his team lost in the semifinals of the Boo Williams AAU tournament in Newport, Virginia.

Unable to control his own emotions from the loss, he noticed a kid on the bus who wasn’t crying. He seemed not to be upset at all. His father, Wayne, said Hughes didn’t always understand: He assumed everyone was always on the same page. For Hughes, leading became an effort to create a singular focus on winning — to make his teammates want what he wants.

“When it comes to pressure situations, (Hughes) is not as up-and-down,” Wayne said. “He has an innate ability to stay at a certain level.”

But his three Division I seasons had yet to provide him with that same starring opportunity. He struggled with injuries his freshman year at ECU and was unable to play due to NCAA transfer rules upon arriving at SU. For the Orange last season, he produced a solid 13.7 points per game.

His best offered the Orange an offensive and defensive spark, but the game rarely ran through Hughes.

His progression at Syracuse was slower than Boeheim expected. He rarely made moves to take defenders to the rim off the dribble and Boeheim even said in February Hughes “wasn’t ready” to do so. His shot blocking and shooting gave

momentum to the Orange at times, but inconsistency, a limited repertoire on drives and the presence of other stars made his performances less integral to each game’s outcome.

Though Hughes claimed the preparation for this year’s role required “a different mold,” he crafted a training regimen that highlighted his strengths. “Mommy, I got to go get the buckets,” Hughes quipped to his mother, Penny, when he returned home this summer. Wayne and Penny joked they only saw him for dinner, and much of the time was spent updating Hughes on happenings within the family that he might’ve missed.

As he worked back into a practice schedule at Syracuse, Hughes took 200 to 300 shots before and after practice. He spent a large portion of the time expanding his moves from the midrange and working to improve his handle so that he is “more aware.” On the court, where Hughes tries to echo the voice of the leaders that left the team last season, Wayne said he relies on direct, short, “two or three word conversations” with teammates. He’s not “physical” or “poetic” when he speaks on the court, so sometimes it goes unnoticed.

“I try to talk to him as much as possible,” freshman Brycen Goodine said.

“It’s not visible to everyone else, but he talks a lot.”

This past June, Hughes paced backand-forth outside the gymnasium at Beacon Middle School. Once someone who needed extra attention from teachers to ensure he filled out his planner and stayed organized, Archer said, Hughes was invited to speak to around 90 students about the importance of school and not wasting opportunities.

“I haven’t done this too often,” Archer remembered Hughes said to him. “I’m a little bit nervous.”

“The kids just want to hear what you have to say,” Archer responded. “Do your best and it will go fine.”

Hughes opened the door and a room of third, fourth and fifth graders erupted. He spoke for about 30 minutes. Sometime early in the speech, Hughes shifted his nervousness to a quiet confidence.

Students wanted him there. They wanted to listen. To them, Hughes is a celebrity. As he walked out of the building, Penny noticed Hughes’ familiar strut.

“I think I made all the points I wanted to make,” Penny remembered Hughes said to her.

Those around Hughes express an unassuming confidence about his ability to lead Syracuse — or any team. Coaches, family and friends are seemingly insulted by the questioning of his ability. The noise, the expectations, the hope — when the ball is tipped against Daemen, it’s all there. But Hughes feels no need to tune any of it out.

“Pressure?” Hughes asked when he was questioned about his expanded role. “Nah. I’m just playing basketball.” mmcclear@syr.edu | @mikejmccleary

16.2

8.6 6.7

1.6

FRANK HOWARD

TYUS BATTLE

MAREK DOLEJAZ

OSHAE BRISSETT -4.2

ELIJAH HUGHES

OF THE FIVE PLAYERS THAT PLAYED MORE THAN 700 MINUTES LAST SEASON, ELIJAH HUGHES WAS SECOND IN NET RATING (OFFENSIVE RATING MINUS DEFENSIVE RATING)

76.96% - ACC SCORING LOST 23.04% - ACC SCORING RETURNED LAST SEASON’S STARTERS SCORED A COMBINED TOTAL OF 968 POINTS IN ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE PLAY LAST YEAR. MORE THAN THREE-QUARTERS OF THAT SCORING GRADUATED OR LEFT FOR THE NBA DRAFT.

36.9

35.3

33.8

32.1 27

ELIJAH HUGHES

FRANK HOWARD

BUDDY BOEHEIM

OSHAE BRISSETT TYUS BATTLE

ELIJAH HUGHES LED SYRACUSE IN 3-POINT PERCENTAGE LAST YEAR AMONG PLAYERS THAT ATTEMPTED MORE THAN ONE 3-POINTER A GAME

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‘IT’S MY TIME’

AMID UNUSUAL CIRCUMSTANCES, KIARA LEWIS IS FINALLY GETTING HER CHANCE TO LEAD SYRACUSE

A staff writer

S SYRACUSE HEAD COACH QUENTIN HILLSMAN TOOK THE PODIUM to begin the team’s media day on Oct. 11, all 14 of his players stood off-camera to his right, unusual for a typical press conference.

After Hillsman made an opening statement and answered two questions, a reporter asked him how SU will cope with losing Tiana Mangakahia, one of the top point guards in the nation over the last two seasons.

“Not concerned at all,” Hillsman replied.

“We have Kiara Lewis.”

Immediately following Hillsman’s comment, Mangakahia reassuringly placed her hand on Lewis’ left shoulder. Lewis looked around nervously but remained stoic.

For two seasons, Lewis has watched Mangakahia f lourish into a Nancy Lieberman Award finalist — given to the nation’s top point guard. Lewis was forced to sit out the 2017-18 season due to NCA A rules following her transfer from Ohio State, then came off the bench the following year. To many, replacing Mangakahia’s production seems unattainable. For Lewis, it’s the opportunity she’s been waiting for since arriving at Syracuse in 2017 and one more step toward her WNBA ambitions.

“Many people think we can’t do it because we lost Tiana,” Lewis said. “It’s a good opportunity for the rest of us to step up. I’m excited for myself. I mean, it’s my time.”

Lewis, a Chicago, Illinois native, entered college as the No. 24 player in the 2016 class, according to the espnW 100. She took home the 2015-16 Illinois Gatorade Player of the Year Award before heading to Ohio State, where she became the backup point guard behind reigning First Team AllAmerican and Big Ten Player of the Year Kelsey Mitchell.

Once her bench role was established early in the season, Lewis realized Ohio State was a bad fit. Despite posting solid numbers for a freshman — Lewis played in all 35 games, made 15 starts and scored double-digit points 11 times — her reduced role compared to high school wasn’t enough for her. OSU head coach Kevin McGuff was supposed to “mentor” her, Lewis’ father Gary said, but they never developed a close relationship. By the end of the season, Lewis wanted to transfer.

“That was her hardest year,” Gary said.

“We didn’t really understand the process.”

Lewis’ next decision needed to be right, or her dream of playing in the WNBA could be jeopardized. She considered DePaul, a Chicago school that her father preferred, and Syracuse. After reaching out to longtime friend and SU guard Gabrielle Cooper

to learn more about the Orange’s culture and style of play, Lewis committed to Syracuse in May 2017.

NCAA transfer rules meant Lewis had to sit out her first season, but “it wasn’t difficult,” she said. Lewis tore her ACL in her right knee twice, once in seventh and again in eighth grade, so she was accustomed to sitting out for extended periods of time.

Lewis said her year off allowed her to adjust to a new living environment, new team and a new system that calls for 5:30 a.m. practices — more than two hours earlier than at OSU. “She fit in real well,” Gary said. “The whole atmosphere, the whole culture was totally different [from Ohio State].”

The 2017-18 season also marked Mangakahia’s first with the Orange after she transferred from Hutchinson Community College. Mangakahia blossomed into a star while Lewis watched from the sidelines.

Lewis’ future role was in question. She left OSU to be a starter but found herself in the same situation as freshman year — backing up an All-American.

Lewis did not start a single game last season. She averaged 22.3 minutes and 8.4 points per game as the sixth woman, but Lewis wanted more. She knew the impact she could make but couldn’t get there because she wasn’t starting. Her performances started to deteriorate. Each day was harder than the last. Gary said his daughter called home every day.

“

SHE REALLY NEEDED SOME SPIRITUAL GUIDANCE.

SHE HAD LOST HER ZEAL FOR THE GAME. IT HAD TO BE RECAPTURED, THAT FIRE HAD TO BE REMADE. Darren Johnson PASTOR

“It was a year wasted, and it was damaging to my family,” Gary said. “That year could have dictated what will happen as far as her professional career.”

After Lewis’ worst game of the season, an 0-of-4 shooting performance in a 65-55 loss to Georgia Tech on Jan. 20, Lewis called her father for help. Gary said that she needed bible study to “get her back on track.” Soon, the call included Lewis’ mother, Kadijat, uncle Bryant, and Gary’s longtime friend and pastor, Darren Johnson.

During the call, Johnson read Proverbs 3:4-5: “Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man / Trust in

the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.”

“She really needed some spiritual guidance,” Johnson said. “She had lost her zeal for the game. It had to be recaptured, that fire had to be remade.”

The phone call marked a turning point in Lewis’ season. Her demeanor changed, and so did her performances. Lewis focused less on her limited role and more on her production. She played 24 minutes or more in 11 of SU’s 16 games after Georgia Tech, something she did just four times in the first 18 games of the year. Over that span, she posted five of her seven highest-scoring games of the season.

The Orange were upset by South Dakota State, 75-64, in the second round of the NCAA tournament, Mangakahia’s presumed last game for Syracuse. Hillsman and many others thought she’d declare for the WNBA Draft, and he began preparing for the 2019-20 season with Lewis as the starter. Then, on April 1, Mangakahia announced she was staying. Again, Lewis would be the backup.

“At that point, we already knew what the year was going to be,” Gary said. “So [I told her], ‘Kiki, what you’re going to do is go in there and fulfill your obligations. We have already accepted the fact that you’ve lost a year. That’s a fact. We’ve accepted the fact your opportunity to be considered a WNBA player is questionable.’”

On July 1, Mangakahia revealed she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. On Aug. 20, she announced she would miss the 2019-20 season but plans to return for the 2020-21 season for her final year of eligibility. Suddenly, Lewis would be the starting point guard.

While the news didn’t alter Lewis’ preparation for the upcoming season, it changed her outlook, she said. Because of her reduced role throughout her college career and the national media’s perception of Syracuse without Mangakahia, Lewis said she “definitely has something to prove.”

“I’m just excited for the opportunity,” Lewis said. “Each day I’m getting better at something, whether it’s being more of a leader or making sure I’m in the best shape I can be in.”

As a starter, Lewis will play alongside Cooper in the backcourt. The two have known each other since they were 11 years old when they played for the AAU club Mac Irvin Lady Fire in Chicago. At media day, the thought of sharing the court with Lewis brought a smile to Cooper’s face.

Cooper said she knows Lewis’ game so well that she can predict what she will do on a certain possession. Based on where she is looking and her pace as she dribbles down the court, Cooper can tell where she is going to end up on the court and if she will pass or shoot.

While outsiders might see Lewis as the Orange’s new ball handler, the team doesn’t consider Lewis a “new point guard,” sophomore Emily Engstler said.

Lewis is in the position she always vied for. She never got it at Ohio State, and had to wait two years, nearly a third, at Syracuse.

Her days off the bench are over.

“She has to understand that now, it’s all about playing basketball,” Gary said.

If she focuses on that and can replace some of Mangakahia’s production, Hillsman will be right — Syracuse shouldn’t be concerned at all. ddschnei@syr.edu

10.6

67.2% - ASSISTS

BY MANGAKAHIA 32.8% - ASSISTS BY REST OF STARTERS TIANA MANGAKAHIA MADE UP MORE THAN TWO-THIRDS OF SYRACUSE’S STARTERS’ ASSISTS LAST YEAR. KIARA LEWIS WAS A DISTANT SECOND IN ASSISTS ON THE ORANGE, BUT THIS SEASON, SHE’LL HAVE TO BE THE ORANGE’S PRIMARY PLAYMAKER.

POINTS PER GAME

By David Schneidman

8.6

8.5 5.8

5.5

DIGNA MAEVA GABRIELLE STRAUTMANE DJALDI-TABDI COOPER KIARA AMAYA LEWIS FINKLEA-GUITY

KIARA LEWIS SCORED THE SECONDMOST POINTS PER GAME IN CONFERENCE PLAY LAST SEASON OUT OF PLAYERS THAT ARE RETURNING THIS SEASON

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8 BASKETBALL GUIDE 2019

IN THE SP MEN’S BASKETBALL

FIRST FOUR OUT

58.1

JOE LUNARDI’S OCT. 3 BRACKETOLOGY DIDN’T HAVE SYRACUSE MAKING THE NCAA TOURNAMENT

27.5

27

5

SYRACUSE IS PLAYING FIVE GAMES AGAINST OPPONENTS IN THE PRESEASON AP TOP 25, ALL OF WHICH ARE IN THE ACC

PERCENTAGE OF POINTS LOST TO PLAYERS WH0 ARE GONE. ELIJAH HUGHES AVERAGED 13.7 POINTS A GAME LAST YEAR. HE’LL HAVE TO FILL THE VOID TYUS BATTLE AND OSHAE BRISSETT LEFT.

26.2 24.5

20.3

19.3

ADJUSTED NET RATING

17.7 15.2

14.3

13.6 12

11.7

11.6 9.1

8.6

3.7

FLORIDA ST. N.C. STATE SYRACUSE MIAMI FL PITTSBURGH WAKE FOREST VIRGINIA LOUISVILLE DUKE NORTH CAROLINA MARYLAND NOTRE DAME VIRGINIA TECH GEORGIA TECH CLEMSON BOSTON COLLEGE

HERE’S HOW SYRACUSE STACKS UP WITH OTHER ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE TEAMS BASED ON KENPOM’S 2020 PREDICTIONS FOR ADJUSTED EFFICIENCY RATING

Nick Alvarez

NO PULP RECORD: 19-12 MVP: ELIJAH HUGHES X-FACTOR: GUARDS

Syracuse never established an identity last season. That shouldn’t be an issue this year. The Orange are going to shoot 3-pointers a lot. Freshmen Quincy Guerrier and Joe Girard III will allow SU to space the floor. Yet, how Syracuse handles its guard rotation will foretell its postseason aspirations. Jalen Carey was sporadically featured in the second half of last season and projects as a starter in 2019-20 and will take on a bigger role.

Hughes will be the go-to scorer, Buddy may be a top-tier shooter in the conference, but SU’s lack of guard depth will impede it from reaching the NCAA Tournament’s second weekend again.

Michael McCleary

BIG TROUBLE? (RECORD) 20-11 MVP: ELIJAH HUGHES X-FACTOR: INTERIOR DEFENSE

The Orange may surprise some people this year.

This team can shoot. Buddy Boeheim could be one of the ACC’s best 3-point shooters, Hughes can pull up from anywhere and Joe Girard III projects to be a good open 3-point shooter. But what this team gained in shooting it lost in an interior presence. While Paschal Chukwu never thrived as an interior defender, Syracuse will rely on the production of Bourama Sidibe. Jesse Edwards looks strong in the preseason, but Boeheim said after Daemen that Edwards is “not ready.” SU can shoot all it wants, but it can’t afford to get carved up inside.

Josh Schafer

MIDDLE OF THE ROAD RECORD: 21-10 MVP: ELIJAH HUGHES X-FACTOR: SECONDARY SHOOTING

SU will be the team we’ve seen the last few years: good but not great. The question on this roster is who are the secondary shooters and how much will they produce? If Joe Girard III, Quincy Guerrier, Jalen Carey or anyone else playing in the backcourt can contribute significant scoring then the Orange can win some games people may not expect. Jim Boeheim has said he expects this year’s team to shoot more 3-pointers. That will be the difference in whether or not this year’s team takes a leap forward. Questions still loom and it’s hard to see Syracuse being a top-level contender in the ACC.

BASKETBALL GUIDE 2019 9

POTLIGHT WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

10

FINAL FOUR

THE NUMBER OF GAMES SYRACUSE IS SCHEDULED TO PLAY AGAINST PRESEASON RANKED TEAMS

ELITE EIGHT

SWEET 16

7

SECOND ROUND

ESPN’S CHARLIE CREME PLACED SYRACUSE AS THE NO. 7-SEED IN THE GREENVILLE SECTION WHERE STANFORD IS THE NO. 1-SEED IN HIS OCT. 21 BRACKETOLOGY PREDICTION

1121

2016

FINAL

2017

2019

2015 2018

FIRST ROUND

FROM 2015-17, SYRACUSE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL LOST TO A NO. 1-SEED IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT EACH YEAR. BUT SINCE, THE ORANGE HAVE BEEN UPSET BY LOWER SEEDS THE LAST TWO YEARS.

1111 1032

967

956

935

925

923

921

920

TIANA MANGAKAHIA LED SYRACUSE IN NEARLY EVERY BOX SCORE STAT LAST YEAR, NEARLY AVERAGING A DOUBLE-DOUBLE. SHE WAS ALSO SECOND ON THE TEAM IN REBOUNDS PER GAME. THIS YEAR, SHE ISN'T PLAYING.

16.9 POINTS PER GAME

8.4 ASSISTS PER GAME

2.2 DEPAUL

FGCU

IDAHO

OHIO

BELMONT SYRACUSE SAINT FRANCIS VILLANOVA ARKANSAS STANFORD

SYRACUSE WAS 17TH IN THE COUNTRY IN 3-POINT FIELD GOALS ATTEMPTED LAST SEASON. SU WILL TRY TO REPLICATE THAT NUMBER THIS YEAR WITHOUT TWO OF ITS TOP-FOUR 3-POINT SHOOTERS FROM A YEAR AGO, TIANA MANGAKAHIA AND MIRANDA DRUMMOND.

Andrew Crane

PUZZLING PIECES RECORD: 18-11 MVP: GABRIELLE COOPER X-FACTOR: KIARA LEWIS

No one really knows how this Syracuse roster will perform once the season starts. A lot has changed since April — including Mangakahia’s breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. How Quentin Hillsman uses three graduate transfers remains to be seen, as does whether Kiara Lewis can be a dynamic ACC point guard. I think a good part of the offense will end up running through Cooper and Elemy Colome, a senior guard, especially if Lewis can’t get going right away. A 20-win Syracuse will need to beat a handful of top 25 opponents on the road, and at this point it has far too many questions to lock in that total.

Danny Emerman

BUYING IN RECORD: 20-9 MVP: KIARA LEWIS X-FACTOR: MAEVA DJALDI-TABDI

Syracuse lost half of last year’s roster. Its star player is out for the year. The Orange face three top-25 teams before ACC play. Despite all that, Syracuse will win at least 20 games for the 11th straight season. In college basketball, two things can transcend all: Coaching and shooting. There are no questions about the former — under Hillsman, SU has reached the NCAA tournament each of the past seven seasons. With athletic shooters at nearly every position, SU should have the personnel to execute his uptempo system. That alone will allow SU to hang with anyone in the country.

STEALS PER GAME

15.3 PLAYER EFFICIENCY RATING

31.3 MINUTES PER GAME

David Schneidman

ALL TOGETHER RECORD: 18-11 MVP: DIGNA STRAUTMANE X-FACTOR: FORWARDS

Simply put, Syracuse lost its two leading scorers from a year ago so don’t expect another 22-plus win regular season. It is too much to ask for Kiara Lewis and Maeva Djaldi-Tabdi to fill the stat sheet like their predecessors. Rather, it will be a group effort that includes returning starters Gabrielle Cooper, The Orange are deep at the guard position, but not so much at forward and center. That means Strautmane and Finklea-Guity will be on the court more than last year. SU should enjoy a successful season that ends with an NCAA tournament appearance, but I wouldn’t hold out for a Final Four run.

10 BASKETBALL GUIDE 2019

dailyorange.com

TOUGH LOVE FRESHMAN QUINCY GUERRIER’S RIGID TRAINING HAS HIM POISED FOR A LARGE ROLE

By Nick Alvarez

Q

senior staff writer

UINCY GUERRIER HELD HIS WRIST AT THE FREE THROW LINE. It was winter 2017 and moments earlier, Guerrier drove the lane against Woodstock Academy, hoping to add to his team-high 45 points. A defender knocked him to the ground and sent Guerrier to the line.

“Stop holding your wrist,” Ibrahim Appiah, Guerrier’s coach at Thetford (Quebec) Academy, remembered instructing from the sidelines. “That’s going to be your excuse.”

Guerrier missed one of two free throws and turnover-prone guards cost Thetford the game in overtime. Appiah waited for Guerrier by the bus afterward. “It’s your fault we lost,” Appiah said to no response.

When they returned from the six-hour drive back to Canada, Guerrier apologized to his coach.

Appiah didn’t actually think Guerrier had cost Thetford the contest, but he wanted the Division-I recruit to feel the blame. It was a motivational tactic.

Much of Guerrier’s game developed

this way: Appiah or another member of Guerrier’s inner circle would critique his skillset, and true or not, Guerrier would immediately adjust. It started in 2013 when Guerrier transferred to Thetford and hasn’t stopped since. Appiah, Kolia Konan, a former Thetford teammate and close friend, and a couple others comprise Guerrier’s support group. Each of them has a story about the first time they saw him play, and the first time they saw his talent. The two usually coincide.

“I think the beauty about him is the fact that I don’t even think he knew how much potential he had,” Appiah said.

Guerrier’s five years at Thetford bridged the player he was to the one people thought he could be. Syracuse awaits the results.

The 6-foot-7, 220-pound forward projects to crack the Orange’s starting lineup, replacing Oshae Brissett, another Canadian wing who came to the Orange with a lanky frame and NBA aspirations.

In his summer months on campus, Guerrier attempted 38,000 shots. Yes, he kept track — to the point that SU coaches told him to slow down. He didn’t want to.

“I know there’s a lot of high expectations for me this year,” Guerrier said. “I just keep working hard. There’s no pressure. If I’m

“

THERE’S A LOT OF HIGH

EXPECTATIONS FOR ME THIS YEAR, I JUST KEEP WORKING HARD. THERE’S NO PRESSURE. QUINCY GUERRIER FRESHMAN FORWARD

working hard and doing what I need to do, I’ll be fine.”

Guerrier first appeared as a blip on SU’s recruiting radar when Syracuse associate head coach Adrian Autry powered on his computer one morning in 2016. A Thetford coach emailed Guerrier’s most-recent highlight tape to Autry. Autry knew to temper expectations, but he still grew enamored with Guerrier’s talent: Long arms, effective shot and mature playing style. Some of his dribble moves weren’t fluid, but to even attempt them showcased Guerrier’s

“upside,” Autry said. After he watched one workout in Thetford’s gym, Autry told Appiah that he envisioned Guerrier at SU. By then, Guerrier had grown from a 6-foot-3 high school freshman who didn’t know how to run properly, according to Thetford assistant coach Oscar Lerebeson, to a volume scorer. Guerrier thrived as the best player on an otherwise smaller program.

While larger prep schools in Ontario flew teams across North America for tournaments, Guerrier scheduled lunchtime shootarounds with Appiah. Meanwhile, other coaches told Appiah that if Guerrier attended a U.S. school, he’d be a top-25 recruit, not his 247sports No. 122 national ranking.

Larger schools approached Guerrier to transfer and he turned them away. He believed in Thetford’s system and Appiah’s coaching. Appiah grew up with SU alum Kris Joseph, and quickly drew comparisons between their play styles. This allowed Appiah to identify the parts of Guerrier’s game that needed work.

“Especially mentally and physically,” Guerrier said, “(Thetford) really helped me.”

He also grew close with Konan, who

see guerrier page 14

BASKETBALL GUIDE 2019 11

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GROWING UP

ELEMY COLOME WANTS TO PROVE HER IMMATURITY IS IN THE PAST AFTER TRANSFER TO SU

By Danny Emerman

E

asst. sports editor

LEMY COLOME’S WORDS COULDN’T BRING HER HEAD COACH’S JOB BACK — that was gone — but they still gave Daynia La-Force a sense of closure.

“I wish I had listened to you,” Colome told La-Force in early October.

“I wish we all listened to you. It’s not you, coach. It was us.”

Over La-Force’s five years with the program, her players never bought in, she said.

The Rams went 3-13 in the Atlantic 10 in 2019, leading to her firing.

When La-Force made the team run sprints, Colome, URI’s most talented player, would often jog through them or even refuse to run altogether. She liked to play more than practice, and La-Force said she and Colome “butted heads” as the coach sensed her point guard’s attitude decline.

“It wasn’t because she was selfish, she just wanted to win so badly that she thought she needed to do it her way,” La-Force said.

Her way didn’t work. She transferred to URI from James Madison after one season of barely playing. Then, Colome wasted her redshirt season with the Rams amid

off-court distractions.

Now, Colome has acknowledged her past shortcomings. She said she’s grown up and after deciding to spend her last year of eligibility with Syracuse, Colome has a “totally different mindset,” La-Force said. She craves the same adversity that once caused her to “fold,” she said. For one year at Syracuse — at her third program in five years — Colome has her best chance to prove she’s matured enough to fully display her skills on the court.

“I was just mentally weak,” the graduate transfer said. “I would just break down easily. Now I’m a fifth year, so I don’t ever see me going back to that.”

Colome began her collegiate basketball career at James Madison after graduating from Proctor (Massachusetts) Academy in 2015. But her immaturity hurt her playing time at JMU, Colome said, and she only played three total minutes as a freshman, leading her to transfer.

Colome wanted to be closer to her family and hometown of Lawrence, Massachusetts, and reconnected with La-Force, who had recruited her out of high school. The two met years prior while Colome hosted La-Force and her son, Martin Mann, on a school tour at Proctor. La-Force has always believed in Colome, and said the guard’s unquestionable talent made the decision a “no-brainer.”

“She knew she was kind of taking a risk with me,” Colome said.

By transferring, Colome had to redshirt for a season, her second consecutive on the bench. She became distracted. She’d often arrive to practice as it was beginning instead of 15 minutes early like her other teammates. Colome didn’t know why LaForce and other coaches criticized her — she wasn’t allowed to play that year, anyway.

“She’s the type of kid that just wants to play, play, play,” La-Force said. “She didn’t understand the importance of practicing to get to that level.”

But when she returned to the court as a redshirt sophomore, she starred. The shifty guard had scoring outbursts of 25, 19, 18 and 17. After starting 12 of URI’s first 17 games that year, she appeared exclusively off the bench in the final 15 games.

Off-court issues persisted, and Colome’s goofy, immature side flashed. Once, she impulsively bought a bicycle at Wal-Mart and rode it everywhere for three days, even joining a campus biker club, before La-Force told her she’d have to stop to prevent injury and soreness. She’d record trick shot videos and wear “completely unmatched” outfits featuring clothes three sizes too large, said Nicole Jorgensen, a former teammate.

As losses continued to pile up last season,

Colome realized she had to buy in and set a better example for her teammates. She wasn’t ready to be a leader until her final year, Jorgensen said, but a realization after a team meeting led to her accepting the role.

She was URI’s top scorer at the time.

“I started realizing how vital I was to the team, and I matured,” Colome said. “I had to hold myself accountable. I had to start coming in early. Do the extra things, be more disciplined.”

After Colome graduated from URI, LaForce called SU head coach Quentin Hillsman and asked him to take the same risk she had taken. She remembers telling Hillsman that Colome is “a great kid, she loves the game, she wants to compete, she wants to win, and if you get her in an environment where she’s surrounded by genuine people who allow her to be her...she’s going to be a huge asset.”

Hillsman accepted her recommendation.

When Colome announced her transfer to Syracuse on May 6, 2019, SU’s starting point guard Kiara Lewis did what she always does with transfers: Googled her statistics.

She found a dynamic guard who led Rhode Island in scoring in her final season in 2018 with 14.1 points per game.

“I was like, ‘Oh, this is going to be a good transfer,’” Lewis said.

see colome page 14

12 BASKETBALL GUIDE 2019

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AFTER 2 YEARS OF BATTLING INJURIES, BOURAMA SIDIBE FINALLY HAS HIS

BOUNCE BACK

By Josh Schafer

S

senior staff writer

YRACUSE FANS HAVEN’T SEEN THE BOURAMA SIDIBE THAT THEY EXPECTED. They haven’t seen the player who can drive to the basket from the top of the key or jump around the gym. That Sidibe, the four-star recruit, disappeared before his freshman season when he was diagnosed with tendonitis in his left knee.

While Sidibe never missed more than seven games in a season, the injury has impacted his play for the past two years.

It’s limited his explosion off the ground and sometimes even prevented him from running up and down the floor. Sidibe, who hasn’t averaged more than 12.4 minutes in a season, likely would’ve rested more during his freshman year had the team possessed another option for a big man, he said.

Now like the two seasons prior, Syracuse has little choice but to use Sidibe in the rotation. Paschal Chukwu, the man Sidibe spent the last two years spelling time for, graduated, leaving Sidibe as the oldest among a center group which includes two freshmen. Despite surgery after his freshman season and two years of balancing rehab and gameplay,

Sidibe’s still not 100% healthy. Perhaps, he never will be. But if the 6-foot-10-inch big man from Mali can flash the skills which brought him to SU, the Orange may have an answer to their perplexing front court situation.

“There’s a Bourama you guys haven’t seen yet that’s going to unleash real soon,” said Mark Taylor, Sidibe’s high school coach at St. Benedict’s Preparatory (New Jersey) School.

Before coming to the United States, Sidibe learned to play basketball in Spain at the Canterbury School, an English-language school located in the Canary Islands.

At 13, Sidibe arrived in Spain at 6-foot-6, 147 pounds of raw talent. He couldn’t shoot well then, often using two hands and struggled to handle the ball.

Santiago Lopez Hernandez, the head coach at Canterbury, trained Sidibe to play from anywhere on the court. Sidibe learned the traditional post moves a player his height could use and also how to play facing the basket.

Canterbury’s offense was fluid, often interchanging the traditional four and five positions. This allowed Sidibe to drive to the basket from near the 3-point line, run the fast break and sometimes even hit shots from beyond the arc.

A highlight tape from Sidibe’s flaunts him

as a stretch four. The first section of the tape, titled “Fast break,” shows Sidibe repeatedly running the length of the floor and flushing dunks or layups. On some plays, he even dribbles by opponents in transition before pulling the ball up close to his body and carrying forward with a step or two toward the basket.

“That’s how I grew up in basketball,” Sidibe said. “Actually moving around, not standing in the zone waiting for somebody to give me the ball then finish it.”

Sidibe was known for his athleticism at St. Benedict’s, too. Taylor recalls Sidibe’s speed as his most impressive attribute including his ability to recoil on a jump, often tipping in his own missed layups. It’s a skill few big men have, Taylor said.

St. Benedict’s didn’t do any official measurements of speed. Still, Sidibe’s explosiveness was evident in drills. In one exercise, coaches ricocheted the ball off the backboard and players chased after it. The first player to the ball wouldn’t run extra. Sidibe rarely ran.

“He can drive by guys, especially big guys,” Taylor said. “When he catches the ball at the elbow, he’s very quick to the rim.”

Sidibe flashed his abilities sparingly at Syracuse. In his freshman season, he scored 18 points and snagged 16 rebounds in a January game against Pittsburgh. His 28 minutes would remain a career-high across

the next two seasons.

“Bourama’s a junior, he’s never played here,” head coach Jim Boeheim said. “Two years he didn’t play. Played one game, two games maybe in two years. So he’s just starting out.”

Sidibe played through pain for all of his first two seasons, he said. Some games, he’d look down the court knowing he couldn’t make it back without lumbering in agony.

Tendonitis often spawns from overuse and is known as jumper’s knee, most often occurring in sports where athletes jump repeatedly on hard surfaces, like basketball, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Sidibe squats every other day now, often doing leg extensions and curls as well. All are meant to strengthen the muscles around his knee. But the best remedy may have come this summer when he returned to Mali for two months and barely touched a basketball.

He arrived back to Syracuse in July and felt rejuvenated. The trainers noticed he moved better on the court. Teammates acknowledged he could attack the rim better. In Italy, albeit against inferior opponents, he tallied a 17-rebound game and finished another with a double-double.

“The way he was moving, the way he was

see sidibe page 14

BASKETBALL GUIDE 2019 13

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PAINTING A PATH HOW AMAYA FINKLEA-GUITY MESHED 2 ‘NICHES’ TO BECOME A COMPLETE DIVISION I CENTER

By Andrew Crane

H asst. copy editor

ALF OF AMAYA FINKLEAGUITY’S IDENTITY still hangs inside the Noble and Greenough (Massachusetts) School admissions office. Eight adjacent portraits of her classmates fill the wall, pieces of her project detailing the underrepresentation in social media for African American females. Art was a talent that Finklea-Guity had always used to relieve stress. After a poor basketball practice or rough day at school, she’d retreat into her room and search for paper or a canvas.

The other half hangs on the walls of Rappaport Gymnasium, overlooking the school’s basketball court. She led Nobles to

“

SHE WAS TRAINING SO MUCH AND ALWAYS PLAYING BASKETBALL AND ALWAYS STUDYING, THAT SHE FELT LIKE IT WAS HER RELIEF TO PAINT

Paula Guity

AMAYA’S MOTHER

four straight Independent School League championships, made the jump from bench player to starter her sophomore year and became a primary offensive option.

When Finklea-Guity began boarding at

Nobles her junior year, she needed both hobbies to adjust. Living on campus was the first extended time she spent away from her single mother. The two FaceTimed every night — “best friends,” high school head coach Alex Gallagher called them — and Finklea-Guity would make the 20-minute drive home on weekends.

“The first few nights were tough,” Finklea-Guity said.

She turned to art. Her senior year, she began to draw one portrait. Then, a second.

Eventually, Finklea-Guity formed a collection of eight that stemmed into the larger project. But for years, she kept her talent hidden. Her dorm friends and basketball family were virtually the only people who Finklea-Guity let see her art.

Finklea-Guity’s AAU coach Kim Benzan didn’t see Finklea-Guity’s work until she found a stray doodle lying around. For

Syracuse head coach Quentin Hillsman, it wasn’t until Finklea-Guity showed him a bald eagle her second year at SU. Art was always a stress reliever, not a method to attract attention.

Since high school, she’s become more outgoing off the court and more vocal on it. She frequently uses an Instagram page to promote her work, and showcases it to her SU teammates. As SU turns to Finklea-Guity to take on an even larger role in 2019-20, she still leans on her other half.

“It’s getting busy and hectic,” FinkleaGuity said at media day on Oct. 11, “and I just feel like I need something to calm me down.”

She listed off her team’s recent stresses: losing their top two scorers from last year, bidding farewell to assistant coach Tammi Reiss, preparing to face low expectations after major roster turnover.

A smile stretched across Finklea-Guity’s face.

“And I look to drawing.”

••• Paula Guity sat nervously in the bleachers as her 10-year-old daughter stepped toward the scorer’s table.

Finklea-Guity’s blue and white Jordan sneakers toed the sideline, her 5-foot7 frame stood out and hid her limited knowledge of basketball. It was time to check into a game less than a week after the Boston Showstoppers reached out needing a center.

During one of the first sequences, Finklea-Guity hovered in the paint as an opponent drove. “Amaya, put your hands up,” a coach shouted. She did and blocked the shot into a teammate’s arms.

But Finklea-Guity didn’t sprint down the sideline in transition offense. She stayed in the paint on the defensive end, her hands still raised. “Amaya, you have to

see finklea-guity page 14

14 BASKETBALL GUIDE 2019

from page 10

guerrier was two years older than Guerrier. Konan mocked Guerrier’s rigid jump shot that always seemed to slip through twine.

Feeling that a bond had been built, Appiah and Konan decided to tweak Guerrier’s development plan in his junior year.

They held meetings in Appiah’s office and challenged Guerrier to improve.

Shoot better? Guerrier was in the gym the next morning. Be a better leader? He’d communicate more in practice. Even his strengths were questioned. As Guerrier received offers from Oregon, Syracuse and other programs, he saw the potential future Appiah, Konan and others laid out for him.

Guerrier regimented his training, constantly shooting alone in the gym. If team meetings ran long and Guerrier had a set time for an individual practice, the high schooler asked to cut them short. Whenever Thetford traveled for road games, he’d ask Appiah for an advanced copy of the itinerary.

When Guerrier arrived at Syracuse on May 18, he brought with him a notebook — another motivational tool from Thetford.

To keep track of his progress at SU, Appiah suggested Guerrier document each day.

So far, Guerrier has logged every practice, weight-training session, and individual shootaround, even tracking practice free throw percentages. `The initial results didn’t show in Syracuse’s Italy Tour in mid-August, from page 13

finklea-guity run too. Just run,” her coach yelled again.

Paula began to worry from the stands as her daughter sprinted around aimlessly. Maybe she’d get hurt. Maybe she’d embarrass herself even more. But maybe, Paula thought as Finklea-Guity banked in her first points, she’d finally found the right sport for her daughter.

“I know it was funny and everyone was chuckling because here’s this tall girl with glasses and she’s not sure where to go,” Paula said.

It was supposed to be an experiment, just like cheerleading, dance, soccer, swimming, track and field and volleyball — a decadelong process to discover Finklea-Guity’s “niche,” a physical activity to complement her art and studies.

Finklea-Guity didn’t like being the tallest dancer by a handful of inches, didn’t like to get her head wet while swimming, didn’t like to play soccer outdoors in the rain. Even though she hardly knew anything about basketball when she first started, her height gave her a natural advantage.

Following her first game, Finklea-Guity and Paula began nightly practice sessions at local Boston parks. Paula poured through YouTube and dissected videos of Hakeem Olajuwon teaching LeBron James spin moves, Shot Science Basketball tutorials explaining post play and Blake Griffin’s rebounding guide.

Paula would toss the ball off the backboard to practice boxing out and put-backs and play defense while Finklea-Guity spun on the blocks or drove through contact. After her daughter mastered each move, Paula stood to the side as Finklea-Guity scored on an invisible defender.

“I’m getting old, and I’m out of (shape), and she would just overpower me,” Paula said. “It’s something to see, because I’m not really a basketball player.”

Her commitment to Finklea-Guity’s development allowed her daughter to quickly mold into a Division-I center. When Finklea-Guity suited up for four years at Nobles, Paula often arrived after practice to rebound for her daughter while other players finished up. At times, it was just the two of them in the gym.

Paula, who separated with FinkleaGuity’s father before marriage, had longed to be a fashion designer growing up. Eventually, she switched paths toward human resources, but still helped Finklea-Guity trace shapes or finish drawings. Finklea-Guity grew to love her mother’s passion.

dailyorange.com

though. In four games, he averaged 11.8 points and 9.3 rebounds, focusing on his rebounding instead of 3-pointers. Once back at SU, coaches wanted him to shoot more, tucking in his elbow and readjusting his hand placement.

Off the court, Guerrier and Konan spoke daily. Konan intentionally didn’t ask about basketball, instead discussing the best cities from the trip. He knew as the season neared, Guerrier would handle the prep.

After a string of days in the gym during the offseason, Guerrier’s wrist ached and Orange coaches recommend he take a break, Appiah said. Guerrier complied, but returned to his schedule once he felt better.

Syracuse — with four new starters and a five-player freshmen class — needs Guerrier to be an Atlantic Coast Conference-caliber player sooner rather than later. Knowing he’d operate out of the post, Guerrier watched highlights from Carmelo Anthony’s lone season at Syracuse, trying to pick up anything he can.

In the first half of the Orange’s first exhibition against Daemen, Guerrier scored two of his eight points on a turnaround-jumper from the elbow. But after the Oct. 26 game, head coach Jim Boeheim chided Guerrier’s play. A pair of missed layups. Poor rebounding. Defensive lapses.

“He’s got a lot of work to do,” Boeheim said. “But he’s got a lot of talent.”

Sitting in his locker minutes later, Guerrier acknowledged the same issues. Before he left the locker room, he already knew what he had to work on next. nialvare@syr.edu | @nick_a_alvarez

“She was training so much and always playing basketball and always studying, that she felt like it was her relief to paint,” Paula said.

During the summer entering her senior year in high school, Finklea-Guity settled into a Carmelo K. Anthony Center viewing-room chair and turned her head toward a screen. Paula and Hillsman sat on both sides as highlights of former SU basketball player Kayla Alexander began to roll, the final stage of an official visit to Syracuse.

Senior Bria Day hosted the pair, walking them through campus locations and accompanying them at a Prime Steak House dinner and Funk ‘n Waff les breakfast. Day, along with twin sister Briana, were the two backbones of an SU team that Finklea-Guity was slated to replace, should she agree with Hillsman’s pitch and commit. Hillsman listed the similarities between Finklea-Guity and Alexander: both quiet, both 6-foot4, both life-long drawers — Alexander illustrated her own book, “The Magic of Basketball.”

Finklea-Guity and Paula also realized that Hillsman was the only coach who asked what she wanted to work on most during her senior year. She responded with “fouling less.” The courting was nice, Paula said, but Finklea-Guity’s college decision came down to that meeting. “(Other coaches) didn’t appeal to her wanting to improve, and they just kept saying you’re going to be this, you’re going to be that,” Paula said.

In Finklea-Guity’s first two years at Syracuse, she’s started 64 of 65 possible games, averaging 6.5 points, 4.8 rebounds and nearly a block per game in the center of SU’s 2-3 zone. This season, she’s primed to take on a bigger offensive load without Tiana Mangakahia and Miranda Drummond, multiple coaches and players said.

“She’s talking more on defense, talking more on offense, she’s being more aggressive, she’s playing outside of her comfort zone,” senior Gabrielle Cooper said, “and that’s what we need.”

The eight portraits hanging in the Nobles admissions office were painted by a different version of Finklea-Guity, Paula said. For all the drawings Command-hooked to her South Campus apartment wall since then, for all the Jay-Z and SpongeBob portraits revealed, for all the different colored nail-paintings before games, two specialties started to converge.

Drawing had always come naturally. It just took a decade for basketball to mesh. arcrane@syr.edu | @CraneAndrew

from page 11

colome Colome scored from everywhere on the court: catch-and-shoot threes, pull-ups from the elbow, hesitation drives into floaters in the paint. On defense, the 5-foot-7 guard can stay in front of opposing ball-handlers 90 feet from the hoop, Jorgensen said. But that was in the Atlantic-10. This is the ACC, and Colome knows she’ll have to transition into a new role in a new system for a faster game.

To prepare, Colome worked with her longtime trainer TJ Thompson over the summer. Thompson specializes in individual skill development, but they also worked on conditioning. Monday through Friday, they completed workouts so intense, she said some nearly brought her to tears.

Thompson, whom Colome considers a mentor, kept stressing accountability. A “locked in and focused” Colome only missed one training session in the best summer she’s ever had, Thompson said.

“I always knew she could play at that level,” Thompson said. “I knew the thing that would hold her back wasn’t anything to do with basketball or skill level, it would be more so the off the court stuff as in accountability and discipline.”

During conditioning runs at SU, Colome consistently finishes in second place — behind only former track runner Lauren Fitzmaurice. She always gets to practice from page 12

sidibe rebounding it was just like, ‘wow this is a different guy, different player,’” Syracuse guard Elijah Hughes said.

In Syracuse’s final tune-up before the regular season, Sidibe showed flashes of the player he can be. He finished putback opportunities off rebounds — sometimes from the paint, others following the shooter down the lane. He swung his legs past defenders and finished layups when teammates dished him the ball. And when it came time to run the court, he barreled down the middle of the paint and snagged a missed 3-pointer.

early, studies plays with her teammates and watches film on her iPad. Though she said she still has silly moments, she’s traded off-court distractions for naps. Without star point guard Tiana Mangakahia, the 2019 season may hinge on the Lewis-Colome backcourt — Lewis being an all-around playmaker and Colome a pure scorer.

“Everyone wants to see me succeed,” Colome said of SU. “I’d say it’s like a winning culture. And I’ve never been around a winning culture before.”

In August, Colome reunited with La-Force at her former coach’s wedding. In front of over a hundred people, Colome made a speech about their “amazing journey” together.

Without La-Force, Colome may never have blossomed into a go-to scorer. She might’ve not made it through three seasons at URI, might’ve not had the chance to transfer to Syracuse for one final year of college basketball. Without La-Force, she might not be the person she’s trying to become.

“I want to thank you for allowing me to have the opportunity to play basketball,” Colome said in the speech. “You took me in when I was struggling at my first school, and the fact that I can say that you are the reason why I am so much more mature and a grown woman now. And now I’m going to Syracuse because of you, and it’s honestly a blessing.” dremerma@syr.edu | @DannyEmerman

He still didn’t move enough on the court at times, Boeheim said after the scrimmage. The Syracuse system is different than ones Sidibe has played in the past. Entering his third season, the center is still learning his place with the Orange. He doesn’t get the ball as often and needs to create for himself off the offensive boards rather than the possession running through him.

“I feel like I’m not fully there yet but like it’s a process I’m on my way,” Sidibe said.

Sidibe may never be the player he could’ve been before tendinitis. It’s too hard to tell if his aggravated injury will return in full force once more. At least for now, he has his bounce back. jlschafe@syr.edu | @schafer_44

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