A group of former Syracuse men’s basketball players will get together for a chance at $2 million in the 2016 edition of The Basketball Tournament starting this Saturday. The team is fittingly named Boeheim’s Army, composed of former Purdue guard Willie Deane and nine former Orange that span a decade of Jim Boeheim’s tenure. Last year the squad bowed out in the Elite Eight against eventual champions City of Gods. This year, second-seeded Boeheim’s Army faces No. 15 seed Basketball City NYC at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday at Philadelphia University to begin its quest toward the cash prize. Follow along all week as we introduce you to the team’s players and coach ahead of the matchup.

Brandon Triche

Triche joins Boeheim’s Army for the first time this summer and will give some depth to a backcourt that mainly consisted of Eric Devendorf and Willie Deane in 2015. Triche started at shooting guard for Syracuse’s 2013 Final Four team, averaging 13.6 points and 3.6 assists in his senior season that year.

He was named third-team All Big East in his final season, capping off a career that saw him start all 147 games he played in. Over his four-year career as a starter for the Orange, Triche averaged 10.6 points, three assists and 2.6 rebounds. After graduating, he signed a one-year deal with Aquila Basket Trento in the Italian Second Division. He played for the New York Knicks’ summer league team in 2014, but was unable to latch on in the NBA before joining Virtus Roma for the 2014-15 season.

Triche was released in March 2015 and later tore his ACL and was unable to play in the 2015-16 season. Now that he’s healed and able to play for Boeheim’s Army this summer, he joins the squad as its second-youngest player behind 2014 SU graduates C.J. Fair and Baye Moussa Keita.

Meet Boeheim’s Army: 

Ryan Blackwell

Darryl Watkins

Willie Deane

Eric Devendorf

Rick Jackson

Terrence Roberts

Baye Moussa Keita

Donte Greene

Published on July 16, 2016 at 9:59 am

Contact Matt: mcschnei@syr.edu | @matt_schneidman