Flynn’s decision a crushing blow to Syracuse
By all accounts, the 2009-10 Syracuse Orange basketball team was poised to be a top-5 preseason club next year and the team to beat in the Big East assuming everyone who was eligible to return did. But all that optimism rested mostly on the fact that star point guard Jonny Flynn had said during this season’s Big East Tournament that he was returning to school next year.
College kids tend to change their minds, and Flynn has done just that: He is headed to the NBA and has hired an agent, so his college career is over and so are all those national title dreams of Syracuse – bet on NCAA futures on WagerWeb.com.
“It really was hard to leave Syracuse, the city I’ve grown to love and fans I’ve grown to love but at the end of the day I had to do what was best for me and my family and what you feel is best in your heart,” Flynn said Wednesday.
The sophomore is projected a possible late lottery pick at best, but his stock rose in the postseason. He was certainly the biggest reason the Orange broke a two-year streak of missing the NCAA Tournament this year, leading Syracuse to the round of 16 before a loss to Oklahoma. SU also reached the Big East Tournament championship game.
Flynn led the team in assists and scoring, at 17.4 points per game, and set an Orange record by playing 1,418 minutes in his sophomore year. He ranks seventh in career assists (439) at Syracuse.
Flynn’s teammates, Paul Harris and Eric Devendorf, also are planning to declare for the NBA draft, at least according to the school, but have not said whether they will hire agents.
If those two leave school, that means SU’s top three scorers from this year will be gone and the Orange probably drop to a middling top-25 level team as opposed to top 5. Scoop Jardine, who missed all of last season as he nursed a leg injury, probably would have the leg up for the starting point guard job next season.
Underclassmen have until April 26 to declare for the NBA draft. Athletes have until June 15 to withdraw, if they do not hire an agent.
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