Will they return in 2025?
Syracuse Orange basketball fans will not have an alumni team to watch in this summer’s The Basketball Tournament.
Boeheim’s Army will not field a team this summer as reported yesterday by Donna Ditota of Syracuse.com. The reason why we won’t see Boeheim’s Army this summer came down to commitments from former Orange players, according to GM Shaun Belbey
“That’s kind of where we came up short this year,” he said. “We just weren’t able to get six or seven good Syracuse guys to commit.”
Many of you have pointed out that interest in Boeheim’s Army and TBT hinges on having former Syracuse players involved, so it seems like the Belbey brothers recognize that too. It will be disappointing not to have Boeheim’s Army involved in an event that has brought some Orange to our summer sports calendars.
Belbey said the plan is to try again next year, so if the magic number is six or seven Syracuse alums, who would you like to see involved in 2025?
Thank you to all of our fans who supported us this past week. Not the result we imagined but it always feels great putting on the while representing Syracuse University and Coach Jim Boeheim.
Thank you for another year @thetournament. See you soon pic.twitter.com/eWw9gSsdQy
— Boeheim’s Army (@BoeheimsArmy) July 31, 2023
Here’s what I’d toss out for a projected roster (which would hinge on contract status, etc.):
G: Tyler Ennis, Joe Girard, Tyus Battle, Elijah Hughes
F: Chris McCullough, Andrew White, BJ Johnson, Jimmy Boeheim
C: Jesse Edwards, Pascal Chukwu
That’s not a championship roster, but if you wanted to get a mostly Syracuse group involved it would be a start. Who would you select?