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Boeheim’s Army earned the $1 million prize when they won The Basketball Tournament last season. In Eric Devendorf’s last year as a player with the team (a group that expanded outside of SU’s alumni base for the first time), Keifer Sykes sank a fadeaway three-pointer to seal the win over Team 23.

The win made Syracuse, New York a host site for the one of 2022’s regional brackets. Despite this, Boeheim’s Army feels like they have a chip on their shoulder, according to general manager Shaun Belbey.

“There’s some lists and stuff that have been out and people fill out their brackets, and really nobody has us winning it this year, which is very surprising,” Belbey said.

While a starting five has yet to be ironed out, Belbey thinks Boeheim’s Army has the best roster in the tournament “by far.” The team added a flurry of younger SU alumni to round out a core of players that is largely similar to last year’s team. Boeheim’s Army begins play against India Rising on Friday night. Notably, Jimmy Boeheim signed with Boeheim’s Army on Monday after playing for the Detroit Pistons in the NBA Summer League. He’ll reunite with Matt Morgan, both of whom started at Cornell.

Only Overseas Elite has won the tournament in back-to-back years, and many alumni teams get bounced early on after winning in the regional rounds. But Belbey said the team has taken on an underdog mentality despite hosting a regional for the first time since 2019, when the squad attracted sold out crowds to the SRC Arena.

In a perfect world, Boeheim’s Army would have a roster of just Syracuse players. Belbey even thinks they’d be able to win the tournament with an all-SU squad. “There’s just not 10 Syracuse guys that are still playing basketball,” Belbey said. They’ve gone after former Orange like Tyus Battle, Dion Waiters and Wesley Johnson, but it just hasn’t worked out. Boeheim’s Army did land alumni Marek Dolezaj, Tyler Ennis and Rakeem Christmas, who are all making their TBT debuts.

Ennis should slide in as the captain of this team, and Belbey said he’s the “best point guard in the tournament this year.” The team wanted Dolezaj last year, but he was participating in NBA workouts. According to Belbey, he flew to Syracuse from Europe last week and is in the area preparing for the tournament.

Dolezaj played for the Orange for four seasons, aiding their Sweet 16 run during his senior year, in which he averaged 9.8 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. Since graduating, Dolezaj has played professionally in Ukraine and most recently in Greece.

Ennis, a former first round pick by the Phoenix Suns, hasn’t played in the NBA since 2018 and has played professionally overseas and in the NBA G League since. Christmas spent two seasons with the Indiana Pacers and has starred for six different teams overseas since 2017.

Boeheim’s Army also managed to retain Jeremy Pope as the head coach and Ryan Blackwell — who played for three years at Syracuse — as an assistant. Devendorf will also transition into an assistant coaching role. Starters D.J. Kennedy, Deandre Kane and C.J. Fair are all back as well, along with Andrew White, who typically came off the bench last year.

“(This team is) a little bit of a mix of old and young with some really good Syracuse guys,” Belbey said.

Dee Bost, a point guard and Mississippi State alumnus who most recently played professionally in Turkey, and Kyle Wiltjer, a power forward from Kentucky and Gonzaga who plays in Spain, round out the 2022 roster. Sykes and Malachi Richardson, two significant players from last year’s tournament, are not returning in 2022.

“We felt like we had a big target on our back last year as well just with the roster that we had, but especially this year after we’ve won it,” Belbey said. “We kind of feel disrespected.”

Published on July 20, 2022 at 2:02 pm

Contact Anthony: aalandt@syr.edu | @anthonyalandt