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Jon Rothstein (now of FanRag) was in Syracuse yesterday for his annual preseason check-in and accompanying tweetstorm. So you know what that means. So much Jon Rothstein in Jon Rothstein.
So much Demetris Nichols in Andrew White....
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) October 4, 2016
Gotta say, that's a bit of a deep cut and a curious choice so I'm gonna need some explanation on that one.
Andrew White is going to remind Syracuse fans of Demetris Nichols. A big-time offensive player that gets buckets. Deep range and long.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) October 4, 2016
What else did Jon see while we was in town?
Franklin Howard has noticeably improved his jump shot. Looks like a different player. Will compete for a starting spot at PG w John Gillon.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) October 4, 2016
Paschal Chukwu is going to be like Martin Brodeur in the back of Syracuse's vaunted 2-3 zone. It's not shots blocked, it's shots altered.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) October 4, 2016
Two things that stand out at Syracuse: elite level shooting & elite length in the 2-3. Would expect one 6-4 guy & one 6-7 at top of zone.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) October 4, 2016
Palpable buzz at Syracuse regarding Tyler Lydon. Affects the game in so many ways. Shot blocker, rebounder, initiator, and bucket getter.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) October 4, 2016
Early prediction on Syracuse's starting five: Franklin Howard, Tyus Battle, Tyler Lydon, Tyler Roberson, Dajuan Coleman.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) October 4, 2016
And just in case you were worried we wouldn't have our annual "Jerami Grant Grew 27 Inches in the Offseason" tweet to give us life...
Syracuse sophomore Tyler Lydon has gained 26 pounds since last season, per Jim Boeheim.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) October 4, 2016
And he hasn't even grown Rico back in yet. That's another 2-3 pounds, at least.
Rothstein then chatted with the head honcho himself, Jim Boeheim. As Boeheim has said before, he has extremely high hopes for what could be Syracuse's best squad in years.
"I probably haven’t felt this good about a team since we had Scoop Jardine, Dion Waiters, and Fab Melo during the 2011-12 season," Boeheim said at Syracuse’s practice on Tuesday. "We’ve got size. We’ve got length. We’ve got shooting. We can play big or we can play small. We’ve got options."
"Tyus Battle is as good as any first-year player in the country," Boeheim said. "He’s a really talented player and Paschal Chukwu is going to help us on defense. He’s going to be really good in back of the 2-3 zone."
Easy, Boeheim. You're gonna have us expecting 40-0. As if we didn't already...