Players to watch in the Syracuse TBT Regional

With the Syracuse TBT Regional a couple of days away we thought it might help to point out one player from each team that Syracuse Orange fans might want to keep an eye on over the weekend. You already are familar with Boeheim’s Army but here’s someone from the other seven teams playing at OCC that you might remember as these teams compete to advance to Dayton to play for the $1 million prize.

Blue Collar U- CJ Massinburg

The former Buffalo shooting guard was MAC Player of the Year in 2019 and shot almost 40% from 3 in his career. He’s the kind of player who can get on a run in this format and combined with Nick Perkins he gives the Blue Collar squad a good inside-out duo.

Friday Beers- Josh Perkins

Perkins was the starting point guard for Gonzaga for four seasons. He was an All-WCC selection in 2019 when he led the league in steals and was second in assists.

The Nerd Team- Paul Atkinson

It was tempting to go with Prentiss Hubb who had his battles with Joe Girard but Atkinson scored 20 points and had 17 rebounds against the Orange last season while at Notre Dame. How will he fare against Rakeem Christmas if these teams face one another?

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Brown and White- Courtney Stockard

The former All-A10 shooting guard averaged 14.2 points and 5.9 rebounds per game in two seasons for St. Bonaventure. He had a 36 and 10 game against Dayton in college so he’s a player you don’t want to see get going in a single-elimination tournament.

Mental Toughness-Isaiah Johnson

The 2017 MAC Player of the Year while at Akron, the 6’10 Johnson averaged 16.6 point, 7.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game as a Senior. He did this while shooting 63% from the field.

NG Saints- Scoop Jardine

The former Orange point guard joins up with Rick Jackson to play for their high school alma mater. You know that Scoop and Rick want to put on a show for the Syracuse crowd and while he drove fans crazy with some of his decision-making, we all know that watching Scoop was never dull.

India Rising- Josh Sharma

The 7’ center from Stanford is going to provide a strong test for Boeheim’s Army in the opener. Sharma averaged 10.2 points and 7.1 rebounds per game in his final season in college and he might force Boeheim’s Army to double him in the post. An interesting note about Sharma is that he’s a product of the same prep school (Northfield Mt. Hermon) as incoming Syracuse center Peter Carey.

The Syracuse regional starts Friday at Noon. Tickets for the games at SRC Arena are available here.