Syracuse, N.Y. – The college basketball season is right around the corner, but as the old saying goes, it’s always recruiting season.
This week’s Mike’s Mailbox offers us a reminder of that oft-used cliché with a question about one of Syracuse’s main recruiting targets.
We’ll start there, look at the prospects for one of Syracuse’s young players and then head into some history and trivia.
Q: What are your thoughts on JJ Starling? I’m kind of nervous that Duke is his last official visit.
James S.
Mike: It’s difficult to offer any insight into JJ Starling’s recruitment. He and his family have done a great job of keeping a tight lid on information regarding the recruiting process and, ultimately, his decision.
I say they’ve done a great job because even though as a member of the media I would love to have more “intel’' to offer readers, the Starlings have kept this recruitment from becoming a circus. They’ve generally put out updates when pertinent.
Starling, a 6-3 guard from Baldwinsville, currently attends La Lumiere School in La Porte, Indiana. He is now rated among the top 30 players in the 2022 class by ESPN.com.
His final five schools are Syracuse, Duke, Notre Dame, Stanford and Northwestern. He visited the Syracuse campus last weekend. He has two more visits left: At Northwestern this weekend and at Duke on Sept. 24-25.
After that, he is expected to announce a decision in October.
Yes, everyone is focusing on that last visit being to Duke. It might mean something. It might not. It might’ve just been the way the schedules worked out.
Q: What will Frank Anselem’s role be on this year’s team? Originally, I thought he was going to play center but now I’m thinking he’ll be more suited for the forward position.
Ray
Mike: Frank Anselem, a 6-foot-10 center, enters his second year at Syracuse, but it can really be viewed as his freshman year.
Anselem played in just four games last season and, thanks to the NCAA’s decision to grant all student-athletes an extra year because of the coronavirus pandemic, he still has four more years of eligibility remaining.
Anselem possesses tremendous athleticism, but he needs to learn how to harness it and use it to his advantage in the way that former Syracuse player Jerami Grant would use his quick jumping ability to snare a rebound or Tyler Roberson would get off the floor to block a shot.
Right now, Anselem would seem to be slotted in behind fifth-year senior Bourama Sidibe and junior Jesse Edwards at center. How much playing time he gets will not only depend on his own development but also the health of Sidibe, who missed almost all of last season with a knee injury.
If Sidibe again encounters knee problems, Anselem, along with redshirt sophomore John Bol Ajak, would need to step up as Edwards’ backup.
If Sidibe is healthy enough to play, then this likely becomes a developmental year for Anselem with an eye toward the 2022-23 season.
Q: You’ve told us which Syracuse player scored the most points off the bench in a game and in a season. That leaves only one thing. Who has scored the most points coming off the bench in their career?
Bill N.
Mike: I feel like Bill is taking me through a round of Jeopardy! And the category is bench points.
The question to the single-game answer appeared in Mike’s Mailbox two weeks ago, and it was ‘Who is James Southerland?’
The season answer was, ‘Who is Dion Waiters?’
Now, for the Final Jeopardy answer, the Syracuse player with the most career points off the bench was … not Dion Waiters. Which is probably the most popular answer. (Hope you didn’t wager too many points.)
I originally had Wendell Alexis as my answer. Alexis, who played at Syracuse from 1982 to 1986, started every game as a senior but only one during his first three seasons. That was a game at Canisius in his sophomore year. He had eight points in that game.
Alexis scored 718 of his 1,212 career points off the bench.
But James Southerland is the correct answer. Although Southerland only scored 880 career points, he had 734 of them off the bench. Southerland started two games as a sophomore and 11 as a senior.
Waiters, who famously never started a game in his two-year career at SU, scored 690 points.
Q: Your Mailbox made me remember a question I have often wondered. How did Tyler Cavanaugh not go to Syracuse? He seemed like a good fit. Did we recruit him or did he just want to get away from home or his position was too jammed up with other guys here?
Andrew L.
Mike: Syracuse did recruit Tyler Cavanaugh out of Jamesville-DeWitt High School. His final five schools were Notre Dame, George Washington, Davidson, Wake Forest and Syracuse.
He took just two official visits. He visited Notre Dame and then Wake Forest. On his way to the Charlotte airport, he called Wake coach Jeff Bzdelik and committed.
While Syracuse had interest, the SU coaches already had a commitment from Jerami Grant, who was in the same recruiting class. Syracuse was also in pursuit of Cavanaugh’s high school teammate Dajuan Coleman.
When Cavanaugh was a freshman in 2012-13, Syracuse’s frontcourt consisted of Rakeem Christmas, C.J. Fair, Coleman, James Southerland, Grant and Baye Keita.
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