Early in the 2017-18 Syracuse Orange basketball season, intrigue started to build around freshman center Bourama Sidibe. At that time, not much was known of Sidibe in Central New York before he enrolled at Syracuse. He wasn’t on any of the scouting services top-100 lists and highlights were few and far between, but after the first few games in orange the then freshman started to turn some heads.
Sidibe displayed athleticism at the center spot, and showed a precocious understanding of the 2-3 zone. He picked up four blocks in Syracuse’s first two games and by the third game he showed he could play on the other to boot, tallying 11 points against Texas Southern.