O’Brien: Benny Williams’ dismissal is a disappointing end to a once-promising career
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Benny Williams’ Syracuse men’s basketball career began with ample promise. Three years later, though, SU’s decision to dismiss him from the program marked the culmination of a disappointing tenure.
Williams first arrived at Syracuse in 2021 as a five-star prospect destined to lead the program once-staples like Cole Swider and Buddy Boeheim graduated. But Williams barely scratched out a spot in the starting lineup over his first two seasons, instead having a “combustible” relationship with Jim Boeheim. This season, under new head coach Adrian Autry, Williams was at the center of multiple contentious incidents, which eventually led to his dismissal.
This wasn’t Williams stepping away from the team. He was let go. Autry and his staff were clearly at a breaking point with the forward.
The move does not come lightly. The Orange now only have four forwards on the active roster — Maliq Brown, Chris Bell, Justin Taylor and Chaz Owens. The depth will be significantly hindered without his size. But when it came to Williams, Autry and his fellow decision makers didn’t hesitate to lay down the law.
Ninety minutes before SU’s second exhibition game against College of Saint Rose, SU Athletics announced Williams was suspended for a “violation of team rules.” The suspension lasted three games — one exhibition game and the first two regular games. When asked why Williams didn’t play a single minute against Cornell, Autry said he “wanted to play the guys that could help us.”
Following the Orange’s loss to Gonzaga in Hawaii, Autry didn’t offer a comment on why he didn’t give Williams any playing time. As he finished saying “no comment,” Autry looked down and slightly shook his head in disappointment.
Syracuse’s 99-70 loss to Wake Forest on Feb. 3 will go down as Williams’ final game with the program. He scored seven points and tallied eight rebounds, but also received a technical foul after a scrum with a Demon Deacons player near the end of the first half. Williams threw the ball away and immediately received the tech. He got subbed out, and as he walked back to the end of the bench, he bumped into Autry.
To further complicate matters, Williams declined to take part in the handshake line. Assistant coach Alan Griffin tried to grab Williams from going into the tunnel, but Williams was gone.
Postgame, Autry apologized to Syracuse fans and the university for his team’s performance and called the effort “unacceptable.” Autry didn’t specifically mention Williams — or anyone for that matter — in the press conference. But during the Atlantic Coast Conference Coaches Call on Feb. 5, Autry doubled down on his team playing together regardless of who was out there.
“You’re gonna fight. You’re gonna get back (on defense),” Autry said. “…I’m gonna continually watch that. So if I gotta play walk-ons, whoever I gotta play to play the way I need you to play, then that’s what’s gonna happen.”
We don’t know if Williams’ technical foul and walk back to the bench served as his last straw, but it was just one more ugly moment in a once-promising career.
Williams came to Syracuse after four years in Maryland high school basketball and an extra year at IMG Academy. During his high school career, he went from 5-foot-9 to 6-foot-8 and was ranked No. 22 in Rivals’ top 150 2021 recruits list.
In the ultimate ironic twist, Williams jumped on Syracuse’s radar because of Autry. According to a syracuse.com story from 2020, the then-associate head coach was one of the first coaches among any Power Six school to scout Williams.
His commitment to SU seemed to indicate that Boeheim, even in the twilight of his coaching career, could still attract top talent to central New York.
But this wasn’t a big-time recruit to add to an already-stacked roster. SU needed him. After a surprise Sweet 16 run in 2021, the Orange lost key forwards Alan Griffin, Quincy Guerrier and Marek Dolezaj. Williams was a piece who could lead the next generation of Syracuse stars.
While Williams had a lot of potential, he struggled as a freshman. He was stuck behind Jimmy and Swider on the depth chart and didn’t start a single game. Williams failed to record a double-digit point game until Feb. 26, 2022, against Duke.
His season-best performance didn’t build into any future momentum because of injuries. The next game after his supposed breakout performance, Williams suffered a lower-body injury versus North Carolina. He was ruled out for the year.
Even as Williams earned a starting spot in his sophomore campaign, he didn’t see an uptick in production. Over 30 games, he averaged just seven points and four rebounds. While he had a 24-point game against Pittsburgh and three double doubles, Williams’ play never tipped the scales for Syracuse.
Then there was the Virginia game.
In the hours leading up to a Jan. 30, 2023, game against the Cavaliers, Williams wasn’t seen at the JMA Wireless Dome and didn’t play. This came after the forward played a season-low seven minutes against Virginia Tech the week before.
Boeheim said Williams took a personal day. But in the 2023-24 preseason, Williams told syracuse.com that the statement made it seem like he had mental issues and that his mental health was “fine.” Though Williams said he and Boeheim’s relationship was in a good place, he acknowledged that they had “rough patches.”
The whole affair inadvertently heightened a player struggling on the court. Over a nine-game stretch between January and February, Williams averaged four points per game.
“It’s always tough when you’re not playing to your expectations or other people’s. He hasn’t played the way he would have liked to, and I think it’s bothering him,” Boeheim said of Williams on ESPN’s Radio’s Orange Nation last February.
The real shame of this dismissal, though, was that Williams finally seemed to carve out a role with Syracuse. He wasn’t starting, but he became a valuable piece off the bench. While it was a small sample size, Williams’ play during the first half against Oregon were some of the finest minutes of his college career, helping the Orange complete one of their best games of the season.
Furthermore, judging from how they reacted to the news on social media, Williams’ teammates were upset that he was dismissed. Judah Mintz, Quadir Copeland and Naheem McLeod commented with broken heart emojis under Syracuse men’s basketball’s announcement on its official Instagram page. Copeland and J.J. Starling went a step further and put a facepalming emoji.
They are undoubtedly sad to see him go. They wanted him to finish out the year. Instead, Williams now finishes his career with 368 points, 236 rebounds and 24 starts (all in 2022-23).
Williams still has a year of eligibility left and could play elsewhere. Yet he, along with his teammates, coaches and fans, all now have to ponder what could have been.
Henry O’Brien is a Senior Staff Writer at The Daily Orange, where his column appears occasionally. He can be reached at henrywobrien1123@gmail.com or on X @realhenryobrien.
