Over a decade ago, then-Syracuse Orange men\u2019s basketball player Eric Devendorf was donning a jersey, lacing up the sneakers and torching opposing defenses. Now, he\u2019s continuing his love for the game.<\/p>\n
But this time, it\u2019s with a dress shirt and jacket, a microphone, hours of notes and a voice ready to commentate on the game from the sidelines of the JMA Wireless Dome and other college basketball venues.<\/p>\n
TNIAAM caught up with Devendorf, who is currently embracing and growing in his newer role as a college basketball analyst for ESPN and the ACC Network. Ask Devendorf, where he got the initial interest to do sports broadcasting, and he\u2019ll give you an honest answer: it was never something that I really thought of.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe more I do it, the more I enjoy it, the more I get comfortable doing it, but yeah, it was something that, wasn\u2019t planned,\u201d Devendorf said. \u201cIt was more so starting with the local radio, and here we are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Devendorf, who played four years for the Orange and is also known for his work in the Syracuse community through the ED23 Foundation<\/a> graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in communications. The initial seeds were first planted for him away from the television screen and behind the mic.<\/p>\n Devendorf said he credits Ed Levine<\/a> \u2014 a class of \u201878 SU graduate and president and CEO of Galaxy Communications \u2014 for starting him off with local radio, then diving more into talking about the game. He eventually added on podcasting, getting some experience doing segments for The Field of 68<\/a>. Devendorf also said Matt Park<\/a> \u2014 the \u201cVoice of the Orange\u201d \u2014 asked him to do halftime hits and studio show appearances for the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.<\/p>\n Eventually, the big day for Devendorf came on January 20, 2024. Many fans know that as the \u201cQuadir Copeland Game,\u201d when he drilled a buzzer-beating three versus Miami (FL) in front of the Orange crowd.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was really the first time that I did a national television one. So, everything happened rather quickly,\u201d Devendorf said.<\/p>\n Devendorf did admit: there\u2019s plenty of work, and specifically preparation, that happens before the \u201con air\u201d light turns on.<\/p>\n For starters, Devendorf said for the games he\u2019s broadcasting for, he\u2019ll create his own scouting report. That includes looking at every player for both teams, look they play on both sides of the court and storylines. He also watches countless hours of game footage, looking at different lineups and combinations.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a lot of hours into it, but when you enjoy watching basketball and you enjoy learning about the different guys, it doesn\u2019t really get considered as work,\u201d Devendorf said. \u201cIt\u2019s something that you enjoy doing.\u201d<\/p>\n Good chemistry and energy is also fundamental to making the call even better, Devendorf said. Typically, Devendorf\u2019s broadcast partner is doing the play-by-play of the game, while he chimes in as the analyst, setting him up to break the game down.<\/p>\n Outside pure passion for the game and putting in the effort, staying up to date on what\u2019s going on in the college basketball universe is equally as important, Devendorf said. Devendorf credits the \u201cgood support system\u201d he has around him. During the middle of the 2024-25 season, he\u2019d communicate to rest of the crew around him on how other teams are going. That includes Wes Durham, Corey Alexander and\u2026 Devendorf\u2019s former coach.<\/p>\n As many in the SU and media universe know, Newhouse has maintained its reputation<\/a> as one of the best communications programs in the U.S. Where there is media, there is likely a Syracuse alum working there in some capacity.<\/p>\n But, that trend has now extended to former and iconic Syracuse men\u2019s basketball faces. Devendorf has his gig on ESPN and the ACC Network. Carmelo Anthony is joining<\/a> NBC Sports\u2019 NBA coverage as a studio analyst this season. Michael Carter-Williams is a studio and game analyst for the ACC Network\u2019s Nothing But Net show<\/a>. Ditto for Jim Boeheim, who Devendorf played under for four years with the program. Boeheim joined<\/a> ESPN as a college basketball analyst in December 2023.<\/p>\n TNIAAM had to ask Devendorf: is it weird at all? He had a straight-forward response: absolutely not.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s his (Boeheim\u2019s) basketball fix. He still gets to be around the game. He still gets to talk about it. He still gets to travel\u2026 we love the game, we love that the connections that it\u2019s made for us,\u201d Devendorf said. \u201cFor him to still be in those coaching circles, and have those dinners and talk about those stories and everything that\u2019s happened when he coached, and be able to give his knowledge, I mean, he loves it. I know he does, and same thing for me.\u201d<\/p>\n Looking ahead for what\u2019s next on the air, Devendorf said his aspiration is to consistently do more games on ESPN. Devendorf also emphasized he will continue to get more experience and comfortable. He admitted that he is still the \u201cnew kid on the block,\u201d but that he is humble, willing to learn and thankful for the reps he is getting.<\/p>\n And above all else, Devendorf said he needs to keep on keeping on. Clearly, it\u2019s worked so far, and Syracuse fans will certainly hear his name pretty frequently this upcoming college basketball season.<\/p>\n \u201cThe more games I can get, the more comfortable, the more reps\u2026 if I can keep climbing, then that\u2019s what I\u2019m going to do,\u201d Devendorf said. \u201cI just got to be myself and continue to learn and continue to be humble and be grateful and, you know, whatever happens happens. It\u2019s in God\u2019s hands, but I\u2019m just going to continue to take what they give me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Over a decade ago, then-Syracuse Orange men\u2019s basketball player Eric Devendorf was donning a jersey, lacing up the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":238733,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[402,398,400,401,99,73023],"class_list":["post-238732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-basketball","tag-basketball","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-basketball","tag-ncaabasketball","tag-sports","tag-syracuse-mens-basketball"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238732\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}