Kris Joseph
/ photo: SU Athletics
CLEVELAND, OH --
The Syracuse Orange men’s basketball team may be losing one of its star players, but another says he will be back next year for another run at an NCAA championship.
Small forward Kris Joseph, a starter on this year’s squad and a third team all-Big East selection, tells CNY Central’s Alex Dunbar and John Evenson that he will return for his senior year. He told CNY Central that he plans to come back for one more shot at a title, and be the leader of the team in 2011-12. Joseph has been mentioned as a possible candidate to leave school early and test the waters of the NBA Draft, but this announcement could put those rumors to rest.
When asked about his plans for next year, Joseph said he will "work hard, be a senior leader and lead these guys like Rick did. Without him, no telling how far we would have went."
Joseph added he was "looking forward to next year's season already."
There had been speculation that Joseph might enter the NBA Draft. At times during the 2010-2011 season www.nbadraft.net predicted that Joseph could be a mid-first round pick.
The Syracuse locker room inside Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland was emotional after the Orange lost to Marquette 66-62 in the round of 32 Sunday night. Many players felt bad for senior power forward/center Rick Jackson, who with the loss has played his last game in an SU uniform. Freshman guard Dion Waiters in particular was upset, saying he looked up to fellow Philadelphia native Jackson as a role model and said that Jackson entered Syracuse University as a boy, but left it as a man.
Waiters did his best to prolong Jackson’s career for at least one more game, scoring a team-high 18 points, but in the end it wasn’t enough to overcome the team’s 18 turnovers – including one questionable (yet painful) over-and-back pass to his cousin Scoop Jardine in the waning moments of the game.
On the ensuing possession, Darius Johnson-Odom's 3-pointer with 27 seconds left snapped a tie and gave Marquette the win, which put the Golden Eagles into the NCAA tournament's round of 16 for the first time in eight years. The 11th-seeded Golden Eagles (22-14) will play No. 2 seed North Carolina (28-7) in the East regional semifinals Friday in Newark, New Jersey. The Golden Eagles are in the round of 16 for the first time since Dwyane Wade led them to the Final Four in 2003.
This was the second straight early exit for third-seeded Syracuse (27-8). The Orange were a No. 1 seed last year and lost in the round of 16 to Butler.
Jackson now has graduation and the NBA Draft to look forward to. Most draft predictions show Jackson as a potential second round pick, for the 2011 Big East Defensive Player of the Year’s shot-blocking and rebounding skills could translate well to the professional ranks. Joseph himself concurs, saying that his teammate will “make a lot of money in the NBA” one day.
So what do you think of this announcement? Does Joseph's apparent return to the SU Hill help ease the loss of Jackson to the pros? Leave a comment below and give us your opinion.
Information from Alex Dunbar, John Evenson, and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
