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Moses Wright was a 6-foot-8, 205-pound power forward ignored by major recruiting services when he committed to Georgia Tech on his April 2017 recruiting visit. He’d played one year of high school varsity basketball.
In his first two seasons at Georgia Tech, Wright played limited minutes and made an occasional fleeting impact. But in his last two years, the now 6-foot-9, 233-pound senior has been as dominant an ACC force as any big guy in the conference.
On Saturday, he took 25 shots, scored 32 points and grabbed 16 rebounds in the Yellow Jackets’ 84-77 win over the Orange.
Wright’s trajectory in the conference neatly fits the path most big men travel. Centers, even 4 and 5-star high school centers (of which there might be a total of 20 in any given recruiting class), seldom make immediate impact. Wright needed time to augment his skinny frame, to boost his strength, to figure out how to play college basketball. On Saturday, he leaned on years of labor to decimate the Orange.
“Our interior defense was not good,” SU coach Jim Boeheim said Saturday.
Syracuse’s forwards deserve plenty of the blame for that poor interior defense; their ball-watching and failure to anticipate along the baseline exacerbated the problem. But the development of Wright and the process it takes to turn a prospect into a player speaks to Syracuse’s position right now at the center spot.
Marek Dolezaj, the undersized forward forced to play center this season because of Bourama Sidibe’s injury, struggled in Atlanta Saturday before fouling out after 10 minutes of action. Boeheim tried John Bol Ajak in the middle to temper the effectiveness of Wright and Jordan Usher. That didn’t work. Then, the SU coach invited Jesse Edwards to audition for the role.
Edwards helped. His size (he’s 7-feet tall) and his length initially discouraged Georgia Tech in the middle. He blocked a Wright shot. He grabbed five first-half rebounds. Boeheim praised him postgame for his attempts to discourage Georgia Tech’s raging inside scoring machines.
But Edwards is a sophomore from Amsterdam with limited experience. Boeheim reiterated Saturday something he’s said before this season: Orange coaches had spoken with Edwards and his parents about potentially redshirting this season before the NCAA granted a year of immunity to every college basketball player. Edwards confirmed those redshirt conversations and said Saturday he understood his minutes this season would be limited.
The plan this year, Boeheim said, was to use Sidibe in the middle, with relief from Dolezaj. He and his staff, he said, did not anticipate dipping into a young center pool that includes Edwards, Ajak and Frank Anselem.
“We have centers, they’re just not ready,” Boeheim said. “They just have not gotten to the point where they’re ready to play. We recruited John Bol as a forward. He’s struggled a little bit there. He’s not really good at the forward position. We thought he might be able to help us at center. He hasn’t. I don’t think he can help us at center anymore.
“Our center was ready this year. Bourama was ready. But unfortunately, he got hurt and missed the season. And it’s no fault of anybody’s – Jesse’s or coaches or anybody. Jesse’s just not quite ready yet. But he’s got great potential. He’s getting stronger. He’s working hard every day. (Position coach) Allen (Griffin) is really pushing him in the gym, extra work. But as you can see when you watch him play, he’s not quite ready yet. He’s getting there. He did some things.”
Edwards represents, at this point, the most intriguing Orange option at center. His size, combined with his offensive awareness and his shooting touch make him a tantalizing possibility. He was crucial to SU’s win over Miami earlier this season, plugging into the middle to play 24 minutes when Dolezaj again was saddled with foul trouble.
He has played a total of five minutes in nine games since then.
“Whenever I can get in and help, I do,” he said. “Whenever coach calls on me, I’m ready. That’s the mindset I have going in. I’ve been talking with ex-players about how to best approach that. It’s just a situation I’m in right now.”
Whether that situation changes rests to some degree on Edwards and how he attacks the next few months. He can’t sub himself into games, but he can make himself impossible to ignore. He needs, at this point, to get heavier, get stronger and improve his hand strength. Coaches have consistently praised his game on offense; he sets good screens and rolls hard to the rim looking for a pass.
Edwards or maybe Anselem, who took a while this season to be cleared from a Covid protocol and has not played since Dec. 12, could be the answer for Syracuse at center. Big men, guys like Moses Wright, take time to develop from the promise of their freshmen and sophomore years into workable -- and in Wright’s case -- dominant options.
“I think he can be a good center at this level,” Boeheim said of Edwards. “He’s gotta get stronger. He’s up to 226, but you’re talking about playing against guys who are 240, 250. Marek can use his quickness at times, but Jesse sometimes gets overpowered. He’s developing. I never thought he would be ready this year.”
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