We haven’t seen much of Kaleb Joseph this season. As the year has gone on he’s gotten on the floor increasingly less, and now he’s going entire games without taking off the warmups. Last year’s starting point guard has become an afterthought, and while it’s unlikely that he actually won’t play another minute for Syracuse, it certainly seems like his days as a name Syracuse fans know are numbered.
It’s not like Joseph’s absence from the court this season has gone unnoticed, but when you take a good look at the numbers it really is shocking how much less he has been used.
Last season Joseph started all but one game for the Orange. He played less than 17 minutes once. This year he hasn’t started a game, and his 17 minutes against Charlotte were the most he’s played on the year. He’s only logged double-digit minutes three times, and didn’t play against Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech. In his 114 total minutes on the year Joseph has scored 16 points, while last year he scored 14 in a single game.
But is it that surprising that Joseph isn’t getting time? Last year Joseph turned the ball over 72 times, and he was constantly a step behind on defense. If you had to pick two things Jim Boeheim hates more than anything else, those would be it. The offseason was supposed to be Joseph’s chance to work on his game and perfect the 2-3 zone so he could be a big role player off the bench (I don’t think many people actually thought he’d get the start over Trevor Cooney or Michael Gbinije), but apparently Coach Boeheim isn’t impressed. Now he isn’t even the first guard off the bench with the emergence of Frank Howard, and being the fourth guard in the rotation doesn’t get you many minutes when the first two are playing 35+ minutes every game.
The future doesn’t look any better. The Orange are losing Cooney and Gbinije, but that still leaves Malachi Richardson and Howard in front of Joseph (assuming that Richardson moves to the 2). Then you bring Tyus Battle and Matthew Moyer into the mix, and there’s a lot of people for Joseph to beat out.
He probably hasn’t played his last minute for the Orange, but as time goes on it’s becoming more and more clear that the era of Kaleb Joseph being a major part of Syracuse’s game plan is over.
Posted: Nathan Dickinson
6 responses to “Has Kaleb Joseph Played His Last Minute At Syracuse?”
Kaleb is one of the worse wasted scholarships ever given out by Boeheim He was poor coming into the program and hasn’t progressed in the off season. If he transfers there will not be a sense of loss. I’m thinking there might even be a walk-on that might out play Kaleb at this point. FrankHoward will be the starting pg this fall.
Chris- you’re right about Joseph being a waste, but Howard will not start this fall. Here is our starting lineup next year if Malachi doesn’t surprise us and leave early:
Guards: Battle and Richardson. Battle will have the ball in his hands the majority of the time.
Forwards: Lyndon and Roberson. Tyler back to a more natural position will be a great move for him.
Center: Either Coleman or Chukwu will start. I lean towards Coleman starting because he’ll be a 5th year senior, and Boeheim has often started guys that are either veterans and/or have a better player playing behind them. I anticipate Chukwu to get the majority of the minutes in the middle and be out there when it matter most.
Subs: Jimmy B NEVER plays more than 8 guys – a guard sub (Howard), a forward sub (Moyer, or maybe Taurean Thompson?), and a backup center when he has it – think Jeremy McNeil (Coleman/Chukwu). Joseph will transfer at the end of this season, and Obokoh never belonged here anyway. If we land Taurean Thompson, I think he’s more of a center and backs up Chukwu the next season after Coleman leaves. Solid team for next year, especially if Tyus Battle lives up the the hype. He’s certainly going to get every chance to, and he will be the sixth consecutive new starting PG for Syracuse over the last 6 years. Pretty impressive to continue to win at this clip with a different guy bringing the ball up every year, especially in this guard-heavy, ball screen offense we run.
Howard has a much higher chance than a lot of people think at starting at the point next season. He’s probably the best passer on the team and hasn’t really had enough floor time to show us what he could really do if he was more integrated into the offense. I’m not saying it will be either Battle or Howard, but I think it’s a dead heat right now in this hypothetical competition.
It seems as though someone needs to sit Kaleb down and explain to him that transferring out might be his best chance to move himself forward in his chosen sport. It ain’t gonna be at Syracuse University.At this point its a mutually poor decision for him to be here. I really have to wonder who scored this kid? I hope it wasn’t Mike Hopkins because ouch we don’t want or need any more of the kinds of player/coach failures.
I don’t think you can blame any of the coaching staff, Joseph was a top 50 player in his class. Some guys just don’t pan out. It’s hard to predict who will be able to succeed at this level, especially in a system like Boeheim’s.
Cuse recruiting in 2013 & 2014 was not great. 2013 BJ Johnston and Ron Patterson and 2014 Kaleb Joseph. All three are really not D1 players. Around them they got 2 1 and done’rs in Ennis (great) and McCullough (hurt and didn’t contribute really) and Tyler Roberson who needs to take that step up next year similar to what Rock XMAS did. I think he will – lots of love for Roberson. Its amazing this team is as good as they are given these two classes, the investigation and the loss of scholarships. Good job Cuse.