Brendan Paul finishing semester with Syracuse basketball, exploring transfer options

Syracuse Orange men’s basketball player Brendan Paul will finish out the current semester with the team before making a decision on transferring, he said recently. Paul, a sophomore walk-on at SU, first talked with Jim Boeheim about the idea of transferring back in August and entered the transfer portal shortly thereafter.

“You just have to go to coach, tell him you want to enter the portal. He has to sign some stuff and then they have to put it in within 48 hours. Then your phone blows up for a couple days and then you kind of just play the waiting game,” Paul said.

Paul has received interest from multiple schools, but is still exploring options.

“It’s up in the air currently,” Paul said of his decision. “I’ve talked to a few schools about leaving for second semester but it kind of just depends what I want to do.”

Paul has been in talks with Miami of Ohio, Cleveland State, Missouri State and Appalachian State. Originally from Shaker Heights, Ohio, Paul says playing close to home would be cool so his parents could see him play, but ultimately it will come down to best fit and a chance to earn playing time.

“I want to play,” Paul said. “That’s the most important factor for me. I want to get the chance to play.”

The plan for him is to finish out the fall semester at Syracuse and then if something is available, he’ll transfer at mid-year. There’s also a chance he could finish out the entire 2019-20 season with Syracuse though.

Paul played high school basketball with Buddy Boeheim at Brewster Prep. He’s played in 11 total games in his first two seasons at Syracuse. In the preseason trip to Italy with Syracuse, Paul connected on a pair of 3s against Oxygen Bassano and Siena Select.

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