The Orangemen of Syracuse 2013

After losing some of their key players of 2011-2012 in Dion Waiters and Scoop Jardine, not many people thought this would be a strong Syracuse team. The Orangmen have proved all of the doubters wrong by defeating the former #1 team Louisville and once again sitting at one of the elite spots in the NCAA. They are currently 18-2 and sit at the top of the Big East division. Of course they have an excellent coach in Jim Boeheim, but a large portion of their success is due to the players on the team. First off they have Michael Carter-Williams who averages 12.6 points per game, gets 3 steals  , and leads the league in assists with nearly 9 a game. He has come up clutch in key games such as the Louisville and Cincinnati games. Williams is paired in the front court with senior superstar Brandon Triche, who is the teams leading scorer with 14 points a game. Big man James Southerland is the teams second leading scorer with 13.8 points, but for someone of his build he only grabs 5 rebounds per game. He has also proven not to be very clutch, fouling out in the game against Temple finishing with only 2 points as the Orangemen proceeded to suffer a harsh first loss. Overall he is a great talent that has helped out this team. I may be a little bias here, but C.J Fair is the center piece of this Syracuse team. He may be my favorite player in the nation, but honestly this guy can do it all. He i another one of their players that averages 13 points, but he elevates and grabs 7 boards each game. His quickness and agility are hard to match when he is out in transition. With a guy like Carter-Williams around, Fair is becoming a force when it comes to scoring the basketball. This is a team with a lot of potential and upside, but also has the chance to be upset in a few games. If this team catches fire come tournament time, it is going to be tough for anyone to stop them.

James Southerland. forward for Syracuse