Syracuse men’s basketball: Villanova F Cole Swider announces he will transfer to the Orange

The Syracuse Orange roster turnover continues as the Orange look to retool the roster after a Sweet 16 run masked a difficult regular season. Jim Boeheim picked up a notable transfer through the portal on Saturday night, as Villanova forward Cole Swider announced on Twitter that he’s committed to Syracuse.

Swider is known for his outside shooting as he shot 35.7% from three during his time at Villanova. His accuracy has improved every year in college as he shot 40.2% from beyond the arc during the 2020-21 campaign. Swider played in all 25 games for the Wildcats as a bench player last season, making two starts for Jay Wright.

Swider was a hot commodity coming out of St. Andrews School in Rhode Island where he was a teammate of former Syracuse guard Brycen Goodine. He was a four-star recruit, ranked the No. 44 player overall and the No. 9 power forward in the 247Sports composite rankings. Syracuse did submit an offer for him during his initial recruiting process along with a multitude of Power Five schools, including ACC foes Boston College, Duke, Miami (FL), Pittsburgh, and Wake Forest. Swider was reportedly considering Rutgers, Indiana, and Arizona, among others, during the transfer portal process.

With Swider’s addition, the Orange get a front-court player that helps relieve the spot left by Robert Braswell after he entered the transfer portal. John Bol Ajak and Kadary Richmond are the other Syracuse players confirmed to be in the portal. The Orange may need more players with the returning status of front-court options such as Quincy Guerrier, Marek Dolezaj, and Bourama Sidibe, to name a few, still in question. Swider’s acquisition at least somewhat alleviates the depth questions that Syracuse needed to answer heading into the offseason.