Nate Kingz was one of Syracuse’s leading scorers last season. (Doyon, Limited)
This week, the Big 12 became the first Power Four conference to sign agreements with the College Sports Commission, the agency that oversees NIL payments; forward Milan Momcilovic, who overcame injuries to become the top player in this year’s portal, finally opted to transfer from Iowa State to Kentucky after eschewing the NBA draft; and guard Jahseem Felton has transferred to Alcorn State. Other college basketball stories we’re tracking include…
Syracuse Loses Its Kingz
Two years ago, the Syracuse Orange went 14-19, its worst mark since the late ’60s. They made modest progress last season (15-17), but their streak of missing the NCAA tournament reached five years, the school’s longest drought in over half a century.
The good news is that Syracuse is projected to be a top 45 team this season as former Orange star Gerry McNamara takes over as head coach.
Unfortunately, he’ll have to navigate the ship without the team’s two leading scorers from last season – Donnie Freeman (who left for St. John’s) and Nate Kingz, who remains in the transfer portal pending the 5-in-5 eligibility rules.
A redshirt senior, Kingz appeared and started every game for Syracuse after spending the previous season at Oregon St. His bucket count rose, and while his accuracy from downtown waned, he attempted and sunk more treys last season as one of team’s best deep shooters (see video below). Kingz’ work from the line regressed, but he did average more points, boards, blocks and steals.
The 6’5” swingman is not exactly an NBA draft hopeful, but there’s definite offensive talent here as evidenced by his play down the stretch when he scored at least 14 points in each of the final four games including a team-best 25 in the first round loss of the ACC tournament.
We definitely know that Kingz is better from downtown than he showed last season. Consider that he canned 44.6 per cent of his deep shots in his lone season as a Beaver. He was supposed to add an element of perimeter shooting that was lacking for Syracuse, but the team improved only marginally in this regard (32.9 per cent vs. 32.8 the season before).
Minnesota Will Be Missing Its Top Scorer
The Minnesota Golden Gophers showed some progress in 2023-24 when they won 19 times, but have been held to just 15 victories in each of the last two seasons, stretching their NCAA tournament drought to seven years.
Clearly, this team is a long way from being a contender (currently +15000 to win the National Championship next season as per FanDuel), and it won’t get any easier now that leading scorer/rebounder Cade Tyson is gone.
In the College Basketball Crown quarterfinal loss, he was held to 19 points, but still contributed seven boards, two blocks and a steal to cap a major breakout campaign.
Tyson spent his first two college seasons at Belmont, showing enough to garner interest from UNC, where he was a major flop as a reserve. He transferred again, finishing his career with the Gophers in style as his bucket count rose, he enjoyed his best shooting season ever and racked up points from the charity stripe. Even Tyson’s rebounding work – especially on the offensive glass – bounced back nicely. Here’s a look at his season highlights.
The younger brother of Denver Nuggets forward Hunter Tyson, the swingman emerged as one of the top shooters in the nation last season. If everything breaks right, he could ultimately have Fantasy value for his efficient shooting and ability to light it up from downtown.
Tyson plays a smooth game (think Duncan Robinson) that should translate to the pros. Getting picked in the draft is a longshot, but Tyson will likely be signed as an UDFA and should be given every opportunity to stick as a sharpshooter off an NBA bench.
RotoRob Tune of the Day
American R&B singer Don Julian had plenty of experience churning out tunes in the ’50s and ’60s, but among his masterworks was penning the soundtrack for the 1973 blaxploitation film Savage. From this comes “My Favorite Beer Joint.”