Two years before he was the NBA Rookie of the Year, Michael Carter-Williams had a hard time getting off the bench during his freshman year at Syracuse.
In fact, there were 11 games that season when he didn’t get off the bench at all, stuck in a deep and veteran-laden backcourt that included Scoop Jardine, Brandon Triche and Dion Waiters.
Not coincidentally, Syracuse won the Big East regular season championship and advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament.
They almost became a victim of that success though when Waiters made an early jump to the NBA, a scenario coach Jim Boeheim had not planned for in his recruiting.
The result was that the success of the 2012-2013 team would rest largely on an inexperienced, underclassman point guard. Fortunately for the Orange, that was Carter-Williams, who helped lead Syracuse to the Final Four and in the process, earned the No. 11 pick in the NBA draft.
Unfortunately for Syracuse, Waiters and Carter-Williams' early departures (relative to the timing of Syracuse’s recruiting) created a pattern that the Orange haven't been able to catch up to.
After Carter-Williams' departure, Tyler Ennis had an even heavier burden placed on his shoulders as he was the only true point guard on the roster from Day 1. Like MCW before him, Ennis not only exceeded expectations, but he stayed healthy the entire season, and so Syracuse had a successful year at 28-6.
When Ennis became the third consecutive Syracuse guard to declare for the draft, Kaleb Joseph became the second player in as many years to be the only true point guard recruited to the roster.
Syracuse has been up and down this season (and the Orange have declared themselves ineligible for the postseason). While Joseph has been solid and has continued to improve, he hasn’t been at the same level as Ennis was a year ago and has drawn his fair share of critics as a result.
The reality, though, is that he was never meant to be thrown into the fire this early. Boeheim and assistant coach Mike Hopkins recruited Joseph with the expectation that he’d be backing up Ennis for at least one but likely two seasons, giving him the same opportunity to learn on the job that Carter-Williams had in 2011-2012.
The fact Syracuse’s recruiting left its depth chart thin at the point guard position, for the third straight year, not only put Joseph in an unfair position, but the same could be said forRon Patterson and Michael Gbinije, who have often times had to play out of position when Joseph was off the floor.
Give Patterson and Gbinije (and Boeheim and his staff) credit as they’ve adjusted well and maintained a positive assist to turnover ratio (4:3). Nevertheless, they’re still playing out of position, and what is most surprising is that Syraucse looks poised to keep the streak alive next season.
No, Joseph isn’t going to be one-and-done to the NBA, but he’ll still be the only point guard on the roster as none of the four players that Syracuse signed in November is a point guard.
The closest thing is ESPN 100 shooting guard Franklin Howard, who at a relatively long and athletic 6-foot-5, is best described as a swingman. There’s no denying that Howard is an outstanding passer and has the potential to facilitate for his teammates in both the open floor and half-court. But ask him to bring the ball up the floor against pressure, especially in the ACC, and you might have a problem.
Carter-Williams averaged 35.2 minutes and played in all 40 games in 2012-2013. Ennis played in all 34 games a year later and averaged even more minutes, 35.7. This season, Joseph is one of just three players on Syracuse’s roster to play in all 25 games and is averaging close to 30 minutes per game.
For as good as Syracuse and its young guards have been in recent years, the Orange have also been incredibly fortunate. Could they have survived an injury to Carter-Williams, Ennis, or even Joseph? Are they positioned to next year?
That remains to be seen. But one thing is clear: Without an incoming true point guard in 2015, their problem of depth at the point guard spot will continue.