Syracuse Orange basketball 23-24 player profiles: Judah Mintz

Welcome to the TNIAAM Syracuse Orange Basketball player profiles. As we get closer to opening tip in an intriguing season for the men’s and women’s teams, we’ll take a closer look at each of the players on the basketball rosters. Visit our men’s basketball and women’s basketball sections if you missed your favorite player.

It’s almost a bigger story nowadays when a college basketball player decided to not join the pro ranks and remain in school for at least another season.

That can be said for Judah Mintz.

Despite second round draft projections, Mintz elected to return to Central New York for his sophomore season, capping a nearly perfect offseason for new head coach Adrian Autry. Now, with Joe Girard off to different Orange pastures, the spotlight shines even brighter on the talented guard who should be the focal point of the Syracuse backcourt attack.

It was easy to see last year why scouts were flooding to the JMA Wireless Dome to take a peek at Mintz. He has aspects of his game that aren’t easy to teach or develop at the next level. However, there were a couple of drawbacks that prevented Mintz from ever getting out of second round draft projections. Now, he returns to Syracuse to not only work on those parts of his game, but to lead the Orange back to the NCAA Tournament.

Position: Guard

Class: Sophomore

Height/Weight: 6-4, 185 lbs.

2022-23 Stats: 32 games, 32 starts, 16.3 PPG, 4.6 APG, 2.3 RPG, 44.3 FG%, 30.3 3FG%, 75.1 FT%, 77 TO, 59 STL

Strengths: Mintz’s biggest strength is his dribble-drive ability. He has a slipperiness that is combined with speed and strength that makes it tough to stop his path to the net. Mintz is also a relentless finisher at the net, fighting to make tough layups. Something that also improved as Mintz grew into the season was his passing. He slowly grew into the floor general role and got less ball hungry, spreading the rock to open up more opportunities for himself and his teammates.

Weaknesses: The biggest weakness in Mintz’s game was easy to spot last season. His jump shot was nowhere near as efficient as his finishing at the rim. In particular, Mintz’s confidence and ability behind the three-point line left a lot to be desired. That, at times, made it easy for opposing teams to guard him. In addition, Mintz sometimes struggled with ball security, especially against tougher competition. His want to score at the rim left him at times hogging the ball too long, giving opponents easy opportunities to poke the ball free.

Ceiling: Mintz’s reported shooting improvement in the offseason proves correct, as he turns into a scary efficient three-level scorer. He shines in the spotlight as the star of the team and holds on to the ball while improving his court vision as well, making the new-look Orange offense unpredictable and harder to guard.

Floor: Mintz doesn’t show improvement in his shooting, as he returns to being a one-dimensional scorer. Orange inefficiency on offense changes his mindset to a scorer first, meaning he plays a lot in isolation looking to drive to the hoop. That makes it really easy for opposing defenses to strip the ball and gain a lot of momentum with points off turnovers.

Let’s get a good look at ya:

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