Syracuse Basketball - Influx of International Players (Update)

 The Syracuse Orange have five players born internationally on this year's squad, making it twenty consecutive seasons since 2007 that the team has had at least one international player on the roster.  In 126 years of Syracuse basketball, there has been an international player on 59 of the teams.  

I last wrote about the influx of international players back in October 2018, with a squad that was going to have a school record six international players: Antonio Balandi (Chad), Oshae Brissett (Canada), Paschal Chukwu (Nigeria), Marek Dolezaj (Slovakia), Ky Feldman (Israel), and Bourama Sidibe (Mali). 

That record was broken only two years later when the Orange had seven international players: John Bol Ajak (Sudan), Dolezaj, Jesse Edwards (Netherlands), Shane Feldman (Israel), Quincy Guerrier (Canada), Frank Anselem (Nigeria), and Sidibe.

The record for most combined minutes for international players at Syracuse is actually 2017-2018 when Chukwu, Brissett, Dolezaj, Feldman, and Sidibe combined for 3,825 minutes.  It is also the season with most starts by international players with 91.

Here's the top five squads with the most international player minutes:

1. 2017-2018: 3,825 minutes - Chukwu, Brissett, Dolezaj, Feldman, Sidibe
2. 2018-2019: 2,835 minutes - Balandi, Brissett, Chukwu, Dolezaj, Feldman, Sidibe
3. 2011-2012: 2,386 minutes - Kris Joseph, Baye Keita, Fab Melo
4. 2020-2021: 2,154 minutes - Ajak, Dolezaj, Edwards, S.Feldman, Guerrier, Anselem, Sidibe
5. 2010-2011: 1,939 minutes - Joseph, Keita, Melo

The 2025-2026 squad has a good chance to crack the top five with Donnie Freeman (Bahamas), Naithan George (Canada), Luke Fennell (Australia), Tiefing Diawara (Mali), and Ibrahim Souare (Guinea).  Freeman and George are predicted to start, and the others should get playing time.  I'll predict they'll fall into the #2 position.

The first Syracuse team with two international starters was 1917-1918 with John Barsha (Russia) and Joe Schwarzer (Austro-Hungary).  That team went 16-1 and earned recognition with the Helms Foundation National Championship.

The first international player of note in the modern era was Leo Rautins (Canada) from 1981-1983. The 1984-1985 team was the first with three international players:  Joel Katz (Puerto Rico), George Papadakos (Canada), Rony Seikaly (Lebanon & Greece).