What does the future hold after the Final Four?
Looking past the question marks surrounding Syracuse’s fate in the Final Four, fans are looking to the questions about next season. Having talented freshmen and two senior leaders is a double edged sword for the Orange. Strong offense performances by Malachi Richardson and Michael Gbinije, along with an overall defensive effort has helped Syracuse reach the Final Four.
It was already known that Seniors DaJuan Coleman, Trevor Cooney and Gbinije would be departing after the season. Over the second half of the season, and more so in this tournament run the biggest question is: where will Tyler Lydon and Richardson be after this season. Richardson has seen his draft stock shoot up during Syracuse’s tournament run. Richardson has averaged 14.5 points per game in the tournament. Lydon has been a strong presence in the paint all season for the orange, but during the last three games this has been furthered, since he is averaging 5.6 blocks per game.
This run has Syracuse fans bursting with excitement, but the strong performances from Lydon and Richardson worry fans as well. Richardson has risen as high as the seventeenth overall pick of the draft in the nbadraft.net mock draft. Lydon has also been talked about as a player who could potentially be drafted after the season.
The potential for next year’s Syracuse with Lydon and Richardson would most likely have Final Four expectations from the start of the season. Along with that Frank Howard and Tyler Roberson will be returning to team up with a highly ranked recruiting class that features Tyus Battle and Matthew Moyer. The two are 35th and 53rd respectively in ESPN’s top 100 recruits. Regardless of the draft outcome next year’s team will have potential, but the atmosphere around Syracuse fans is that Lydon and Richardson coming back would set up another potential Final Four run.
Lydon has been on the radar for certain mock drafts with a possible second round pick. Similarly to with Richardson the draft stock fluctuates almost constantly and the Final Four could decide their fate in the eyes of NBA teams. A strong performance could potentially push them up high enough to where the feel they need to test the waters of the NBA.
Tonight ‘Cuse fans will be on the edge of their seats as the team tries to reach the championship game, but come Sunday or Tuesday morning the focus is going to switch to what the roster will look like next season.
