Recently at Orange Fizz we ran a poll on what fans expect from transfer shooting guard Alan Griffin. 
One responder had an interesting question
Buddy Boeheim certainly had his struggles last season, but he was also the second leading scorer for the Orange. If Elijah Hughes stays in the draft, Boeheim has a good shot of taking over scoring duties. 
Last season Griffin averaged around 9 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. The most promising element of his game is that he was a terrific three shooter, hitting over 41 percent of his attempts. 
Boeheim was a 37 percent three shooter but he also took over double the shots than Griffin. So, it’s tough to truly say that Griffin is the better shooter. He simply didn’t have the volume that Boeheim did, since he was Illinois’ fourth guard. 
Boeheim’s also much more familiar with the zone. Besides spending 18 years living in the Kingdom of Zone, he’s spent the last two seasons settling in at the top.
Instead, Griffin will likely slide in at Hughes’ spot at small forward. At Illinois, Griffin played positions 1-4.  While he’s undersized on the wing, SU doesn’t have any better options. He’ll also help space the floor for the Orange, just as Hughes did last season. 
Griffin has an opportunity to play significant minutes at small forward. He wouldn’t get that same amount of playing time as a shooting guard for SU.
Besides, playing Griffin at shooting guard would cripple SU’s offense. Why play just one shooter and a weaker offensive player like Quincy Guerrier at small forward? It doesn’t make sense.
Griffin is applying to be eligible next season, but he may have to sit out a year if his waiver isn’t granted. If he is declared eligible, the combination of Boeheim and Griffin gives Syracuse one of the best spot up shooter duos in the country. 
Defenders will have to be on the lookout from three quick shooters with seemingly limitless range – Girard, Boeheim, Griffin. That rotation combined with a couple of bigs down low could be promising for SU. Is he the second coming of Hughes? That’s a tough ask. But he’s a solid guard/forward combo who will help the Orange either this season or next.
One response to “Don’t Expect Alan Griffin to Take Buddy’s Spot”
Sorry but you failed to make 2 important points. 1. Buddy and Girard are both poor defenders and couldn’t stop dribble penetration at the top of the zone, s we need better defense at the top. 2. Buddy’s lack of athleticism against the elite teams showed up big time, 2 games with 0 pts. and the inability to drive the lane were glaring signs. Sure he looked good against mediocre teams but never really won games for us like Girard and Hughes did.
Common sense says that if Robert Braswell is healthy he slides into the 3 as he had good production in a limited basis and was playing the zone almost perfectly/ Griffen IMO is a major upgrade from the 2 guards who started. Don’t confuse individual scoring with overall production. What good is 15 ppg and you give up more than that b/c you’re a poor defender who doesn’t pull his weight on the defensive end.
Since JB did such a terrible job of recruiting and wasting valuable assets that are now transferring we are stuck with Girard at PG which he is terrible at, so we’re stuck with him for now. Too much dribbling and he always walks the ball up the floor…and like Buddy, not very athletic. These 2 need to split up and one needs to come off the bench, just not sure anyone could play the point.
What I see is Quincy comes off the bench with his energy,rebounding and decent defense. Buddy can provide us instant offense and provide him the opportunity to score easier and help the team better off the bench than starting.
If Sidebe and Marek continue improving, we could have a great rotation of 8 or 9 players depending on how the incoming class progresses. Griffen at the 3 makes absolutely no sense. Your article makes it seem that IYO Buddy is untouchable, which being the coaches son probably is correct. If you remember Buddy made 0 all ACC teams because he is one dimensional and having the terrible 2nd half of the ACC season doesn’t make him elite and shouldn’t make him untouchable.