Another roster spot to fill
After a series of announcements, Syracuse Orange men’s basketball now has all of their possible returning players accounted for.
While J.J. Starling and Donnie Freeman are returning to reinforce a strong recruiting class, Kyle Cuffe, Chris Bell, Chance Westry and Elijah Moore have all hit the transfer portal.
And now, Petar Majstorovic will join those four in the portal, as was first reported by 247Sports.
Majstorovic, the 6 foot 8 freshman from Serbia who joined the Orange late last offseason, was a surprise piece in Syracuse’s rotation. He served as a reserve in the frontcourt, playing in 31 of the team’s 33 contests, averaging 13.4 minutes per game.
Last week, a report from Syracuse.com indicated that Majstorovic would return, but it was quickly refuted and retracted, saying that he was undecided about returning to the Orange. Now, multiple reports said that the Serbian will not be back in Syracuse next season.
Majstorovic showed flashes in his freshman season on both sides of the ball, especially on the offensive glass, ranking third on the team with 42 offensive rebounds despite playing just the seventh most minutes. He actually had the best on-off swing on the team, with Syracuse playing 6.6 points per 100 possessions better with Majstorovic on the floor than off, but he struggled to stay out of foul trouble for much of the year, and didn’t provide much offensively aside from the glass.
The Orange will return just two scholarship players — the aforementioned Starling and Freeman — from the program’s second-worst team in the KenPom era, and worst by winning percentage since 1968-69.
Syracuse has already added UCLA transfer William Kyle to the frontcourt.