College basketball recruiting is essentially shut down right now.
That is, except for the transfer market, which is moving ahead at an unprecedented rate.
Ed Cooley and the Providence Friars won an early battle on that front over the weekend when it was announced that former St. Andrew’s guard Brycen Goodine, would be transferring in following his freshman season at Syracuse.
While Goodine didn’t necessary live up to expectations for Syracuse this year, there’s still plenty of reasons to be optimistic about his future in Friartown.
What we know from his high school days…
Goodine had a decorated high school career at St. Andrew’s that ended in near storybook fashion. He led St. Andrew’s to the NEPSAC AA championship, was named tournament MVP, and also Player of the Year in the conference.
He also showed tremendous improvement over the course of his high school career as he first arrived on the scene with a game that was based largely upon his athleticism, but consistently developed his skill-set and shot-making ability over the course of the years.
One thing that was always apparent however, was that Goodine was not a true point guard. His EYBL career was characterized by statistical inefficiency with both a high turnover rate and low field goal percentage as BABC needed him to attempt to be a primary playmaker.
What we saw this season at Syracuse…
Jim Boeheim praised Goodine just prior to the season, after the incoming freshman was able to add 15 pounds of muscle during the summer session.
Early on, Goodine got steady minutes off the bench too, as he averaged nearly 13 minutes per game through the first 8 games. Unfortunately for him, he was never able to get himself into a great rhythm as he went scoreless in half of those games.
Goodine’s minutes declined following the holiday break as he found himself behind not only Boeheim’s son Buddy but also fellow freshman guard, Joe Girard, and junior Howard Washington.
He found a rare moment of success on a put-back game winner over Wake Forest in early February but even that didn’t do much to alter his spot in the rotation. He wasn’t alone though as Jalen Carey, another former top 100 national prospect, found himself even farther out of the line-up.
Ultimately, Goodine averaged a disappointing 1.9 points on 30% shooting from the floor in 8.7 minutes per night, adding fuel to fire of the naysayers who claim he was over-rated coming out of high school.
His reasons for leaving were clear. Boeheim and Girard, a sophomore and freshman respectively, both averaged over 33 minutes per game this season and aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.
What can we expect at Providence…
Goodine is looking for an opportunity and he should get that at Providence. He provides good size in the backcourt at 6-foot-3, a wiry frame that continues to fill-out, strong vertical athleticism, and more shot-making than you would know if you hadn’t watched him before last season.
At Providence, he’ll join David Duke, AJ Reeves, Jared Bynum, and incoming freshman Alyn Breed in the backcourt.
Bynum is the only true point guard of the group and just the pass-first distributor that the Friars seemed to be so desperately missing for the first half of the season.
While Duke has yet to evolve in the modern-day lead guard many projected out of high school, the ascension of his all-around game has been very linear over the course of the last two seasons.
Reeves didn’t have the sophomore campaign most expected but should greatly benefit from Bynum’s arrival as he really hasn’t had a true point guard to get him clean looks yet.
If he’s granted immediate eligibility, Goodine could very well find himself coming off the bench initially, but nonetheless playing a key role. He’ll add some much needed playmaking to the backcourt and a physically talented defender.
Long-term, he is a prospect that has a very high-ceiling and could really develop over the course of the next three of four years.
The fit at Syracuse wasn’t a good one, but he’s a local product from a strong basketball family loaded with physical talent and a proven learning curve.
In short, this is a commitment that could end up being a big one for the Friars.
