SYRACUSE, N.Y. – There always seems to be so much to say about the Syracuse Orange men’s basketball program (3-0). Despite missing the last three NCAA Tournaments, the world still stops for many Syracuse fans when the Orange tip-off from the JMA Wireless Dome. Indifference hasn’t quite set in so much as interest has just waned for the celebrated program that captured the hearts of its fervid fanbase long ago.
Last season the program turned to 13-year assistant coach Adrian Autry to assume command. Following the morass of the previous decade, the rookie head coach took over a fading basketball brand in dire need of a fresh coat of paint. Autry, intent not to become just another heir to a Hall of Fame coach’s success, sought to modernize the program and bring Syracuse up to speed. He was “a new voice, a new face, with new ideas,” determined to put his handprints on the program. It’s been anything but easy.
The 2023-24 season was mostly forgettable by Syracuse standards. That is until we remember the significance of it being the first under a new head coach in nearly 50 years. Even if Syracuse’s greater ambitions fell short, the Orange nevertheless achieved a 20-win season for the first time in five years and finished tied for fifth in the ACC, its best finish since joining the league in 2013.
Numerous changes have been made under Autry’s watch. New staff members have been brought in who deviate from the traditional Syracuse family. A shift has been made in player personnel. Autry made hires to launch a new nutrition program, taking health and recovery more seriously. Practices now run longer. There’s a new defense. A new offense. Analytics have been embraced. Shootarounds were installed on game day. That’s a mouthful and it says nothing of the NIL evolution, now incumbent upon teams to embrace just to stay relevant. The adjustments won’t end there. It’s all part of Autry’s propulsive push to bring the storied Syracuse program forward, with the hope that those advancements have laid the foundation for this year and beyond.
Moving ahead, Syracuse basketball carries the burden of trying to live up to the lofty expectations set by its predecessor. That bar is not lost on Autry; the now second-year head man has invited the burden in. Although his system is a departure from Jim Boeheim’s traditions – including the 2-3 zone, among many other things – he’s still respectful of his forerunner.
“I think the one thing that I would say – and I think most of the coaches that have coached under him – the things that they’ve taken from him is the consistency,” Autry said in the preseason. “The consistency of being able to go in every day, no matter what, good or bad, and being able to push your guys and push your team to keep getting better.
“And I think that’s the one thing I’ve always taken from him. No matter what the record is, you go out and prepare for the next game and for the next week.”
Autry’s Syracuse team will need to bring that consistency along too as he continues to implement a modern style of fast-paced, positionless basketball. That includes playing with depth, pace and space in a five-out offense of versatile skill players at every position.
He’s not just another coach spinning a yarn about playing uptempo basketball either – it’s backed up by numbers (KenPom) as Syracuse is playing at its fastest adjusted tempo of the analytics era, surpassing even the frenetic pace of the 2002-03 team. Autry’s doing it with a new crop of guys as 11 of the Orange’s 12 scholarship players have committed to play with him as the head coach and it’s a different team dynamic in his second year.
“We really look forward to playing for each other,” Syracuse guard JJ Starling said. “That’s the style that Coach Red wants us to play with and we’re playing that naturally right now. It’s going to be a fun season, just making plays for each other and (to) just win.”
Asked what that story would be for Syracuse in 2024-25, Chris Bell – a third-year starter and last remaining class of 2022 recruit – gave a nod to his current head coach.
“I would say it’s Coach Red’s story,” said Bell, now a junior. “Being able to bring his team back to winning, get back to the [NCAA] Tournament. And honestly put things back into perspective. I think a lot of people forgot over the years what Syracuse is as a program.”
Autry hasn’t forgot and he knows what it means to coach at his alma mater. The wall behind the desk in his office captures the ethos above the block ‘S’ logo in hashtag form – Orange Standard. It serves as a daily reminder. But he’s doing it his way.
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There are few college basketball locales as iconic as Syracuse’s dome and for the first time in a while, it felt like that was true last season. Prior to Autry’s opening salvo, the Carrier Dome, the JMA Wireless dome – or affectionately by Syracuse fans as just the dome – was given a shot in the arm. New sound, lighting, and a center-hung scoreboard that boasts as the largest in college sports – a parallel move to match Syracuse basketball’s seating capacity, equipped with all-new chairback seating. But in the face of these upgrades, some things never change.
That same dome – the modest, uninspired 1980s concrete edifice without the pretense on the outside juxtaposed inwardly with a sprawling horseshoe-shaped expanse of orange-clad fans overflowing with passion, coming through your television screen in panoramic views all and at once. Even in its fifth decade the dome can still conjure up a stirring sense of place. As alluring as it ever was.
As a touched Boeheim described Syracuse basketball in his poignant sendoff speech, “It’s not me. It won’t be Adrian,” the Hall-of-Famer eloquently elaborated. “It’s the fans. They made our program.”
At its best, 30,000-plus raucous fans that still find reasons to show up during the doldrums of Syracuse winters magnify the size and scale of the Orange fanbase that few other programs could possibly muster. But at its worst, sparse crowds by Syracuse standards that jeer players current and former, desperate appeals for the Orange to reclaim former glory that poorly masks a decade of frustration. Will Syracuse ever get back to lofty heights and operate as a college basketball power again?
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If Syracuse lacked gravitas under Autry in year one, it was a team that at least proved resilient with multiple bounce-back wins following demoralizing double-digit defeats. Resilience – a trait Syracuse’s local fanbase in the American Rust Belt knows a thing or two about. Fans can certainly identify with that and get behind the effort. And still, there were signs of life from a dormant program that seemed to recapture some lost vigor.
Most notably, three celebratory home games that Syracuse fans have been clamoring for. The first, a home win over Pittsburgh in late December felt like a Big East brawl of yore. Then, magic against Miami from Quadir Copeland as his game-winning buzzer-beater continued the season’s crescendo, a masterstroke that hadn’t happened in the dome since 2020. Lastly, the zenith of Syracuse’s season – a signature win over No. 7 North Carolina that felt earned. It was fleeting but still a veritable triumph in season one – the first top-ten win in the dome since 2017 and an underlying bit of proof that the program is picking up steam on the right track.
Syracuse peaked in those moments. In spite of those new feats, old story beats came home to roost at season’s end. Out of necessity due to injuries and a player dismissal, Autry at times went back to a shortened seven-man rotation in conference play. When the situation called for it, he went back to the 2-3 zone, a reminder that Syracuse basketball isn’t too far removed from its past. Too, it was another sputtering end in conference play and a first-round exit in the ACC Tournament which couldn’t quite get the Orange back into bubble territory. The season came to an abrupt end without an invitation to the NIT.
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From the outside, Autry’s job might seem easy. It so often does when you’re not the one in charge. Beneath the countless winning seasons under Boeheim, it was perhaps hard to identify the price that was paid for success when it was taken for granted year in and year out. The challenges of those competing on the court are so often invisible to those of us observers in the stands.
In college basketball, it’s tempting to believe that teams rise to the level of their ambition. In reality, they more often default to the level of their systems. Syracuse basketball needed to modernize its system and that’s just what Autry sought to do in year one. It would be naive to suggest Syracuse hadn’t been running anything on offense previously. But it’s hard to ignore the level of sophistication with which the best offenses in modern college basketball are now run. You don’t have to be Dan Hurley or Nate Oats to understand that Syracuse’s former ball screen, isolate the mismatch and go one-on-one offense had been playing from behind. The Orange are going five out this year with new sets.
At the same time, college basketball isn’t arcane in such a way that it requires an inscrutable magician to run a successful program. Once you’ve distilled the mythos that shrouds American sports you understand that a group of highly-skilled, well-connected, and hard-working coaches can do the job just fine. Syracuse checks those boxes. With a new age group in tow that deviates from the traditional family, Autry has that in droves with his staff. It’s early days, but there’s more to the build as Syracuse is still in search of the standard – the Orange standard – that honors the spirit and legacy of the one-time Big East titan. That includes March Madness appearances.
“Just being able to get to that tournament,” Junior guard Kyle Cuffe said of Syracuse’s goal. “Being able to help them in any way I can whether that’s cheering them on or (competing) on the court.”
Last year’s team ultimately fell short of that benchmark. It was an inexperienced group that hadn’t necessarily been through a lot together and acted accordingly. That’s not to say that Syracuse didn’t have some success around the edges. But at its core, a team comprised of mostly sophomores ran rife with youthful indiscretions. Many times, it showed in the form of on-court arguments and flare-ups.
Said the sharpshooting forward Bell said after a January game against Boston College, “Being an older team is about being mature and calm. Not panicking.”
He might as well have been talking about the approach for this season.
The Syracuse coaching staff addressed those shortcomings in the offseason by adding more experienced players, four seniors via the transfer portal that provide selfless playmaking in Jaquan Carlos, rebounding and defense in Jyare Davis, and a bona fide low-post presence in Eddie Lampkin – aspects Syracuse lacked a season ago.
“Everything he wants me to do I feel like I can do,” Colorado transfer Lampkin said of Autry’s offense. “I don’t have too many weaknesses. My weakness is more on defense. Offense has never been a problem for me. But just being able to pass the ball to my teammates, get my teammates open.”
The Orange added shooting beyond just Bell, too by bringing in Lucas Taylor. With the transfer portal, college basketball has leaned more heavily into talent acquisition as opposed to talent development and retention, the latter of which Syracuse had traditionally done well. But this is a new era and the 2024-25 Syracuse group is decidedly older.
“They’ve been through some wars. They know this is an opportunity for them and they’re happy. They want to be here as much as we wanted them here,” Autry said of his transfer class. “These guys are all mature. They have a good IQ for the game. They understand what it takes to be successful on and off the court. Their maturity and togetherness has been a really good surprise.”
Next comes team chemistry. While the Orange advertise two returning starters in Starling and Bell, cohesion can take time, which might be an uphill battle for a team without the luxury of multi-year players. It’s a team with seven newcomers and Autry sought to get out in front of that. With less time spent thinking about taking over the program and more time to address his team this offseason, Autry made sure to focus on team-bonding with his guys away from the court.
“Just really spending more time with our guys and as a team outside of basketball I think was important,” Autry said. “Last year it never even crossed my mind.”
That included a trip to Autry’s home in New York City for museum trips and a New York Yankees game. There were also local community events, bowling, and a team softball game on campus. Players don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.
“I really believe that matters,” Autry said of team bonding. “Being able to have different conversations – not just solely basketball conversations – because I coach my guys hard and they need to know that [I care]. When we’re in the gym I’m going to push them.
The best teams in college basketball understand that it’s not so much about the individuals fulfilling their needs through basketball, it’s more about losing the self and playing together as part of a collective. That’s not to say players shouldn’t care for their individual success, so long as they’re also showing concern for their programs. Getting those two seemingly divergent goals to work in concert with one another is tough work. We’ll see if a more coachable team with mature players at Syracuse can not only identify the price of success but be willing to pay it.
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Among the many aspects that have changed around the Syracuse program, the press conferences have been sanded down. Don’t expect histrionics; Autry is inoffensive even when he’s at his most intense and exudes a certain calm when speaking. When he has words to spare, pressers end with thank you’s and after demoralizing defeats they begin with apologies. Autry, typically solicitous and mild-mannered, grappled with his newfound power and typically less confrontational approach during his first year. After Syracuse was silenced in a humiliating road defeat at Wake Forest, he sobered up to the responsibility of the head coach’s seat and spoke like a coach ascendant.
“I would like to apologize to our fans, our University for that performance,” Autry began. “Unacceptable. Won’t be tolerated. Won’t be allowed. Won’t allow it.”
If Autry spoke loud after the defeat at Wake Forest, the decisions that followed spoke louder. What could’ve been a dramatic dismissal of a former player was deliberately handled with care and given a measured response. It was a rite of passage – a dignified moment defined by a head coaching breakthrough. Still nice, just no more Mr. Nice Guy. He had the difficult conversations and made the tough decisions with heft, giving weight to his head coaching bid
and credence to the future direction of the program. The tail won’t wag the dog. Not at Syracuse. He’s moving with greater intentionality in year two.
“The one thing is you get more convicted in your whys,” Autry shared. “Why I chose to do this. Why I recruited this player or why I’ve done that. I think the first year I’ve been more convicted in my whys and understanding a little bit more of what I want to do and how I want to do it.”
Which brings us to where we are now. There were glimpses of what Syracuse could be again under year one for Autry, but there’s still plenty of room to run. Make no mistake: college basketball always has been and always will be about winning. Good programs also make observers both think and feel. The best college basketball brands have clearly defined playstyles, rich narratives, deft in-game strategies, and personnel that create interesting storylines. They’ll give you reasons to keep tuning in as you sit on the edge of your seat wondering what will happen next. What could that be for Syracuse? In the current environment of the uncertain college sports world, that’s hard to know.
Freed from the yoke of NCAA amateurism, players are now free to make a mint on the game everyone else had already been playing. Contracts and pay are coming down the pipeline, also putting the onus of responsibility on the money-making institutions in addition to the fans’ and boosters’ pockets who already serve them.
College basketball, once a sport known for its legendary coaches and distinguished brands, is now a sport known for NIL and the transfer portal. Syracuse has enough in its coffers to compete and keep fans engaged. Even still, a quick glance around the current landscape leaves weighted questions unanswered. Take a look at the Big Ten and SEC, and where does that leave a conference like the ACC, and more, Syracuse’s place in both it and the college sports mosaic? Is Syracuse historically a great basketball program or did it just have a great coach? Can its past success be recaptured or will it falter and subside under the current demands like so many other decorated programs before it? While it was a necessary move, was sacrificing part of basketball’s success for football money ultimately worthwhile? You can be the judge. Either way, the past is gone and there’s no going back.
Going forward, Syracuse athletics will attempt to accommodate both its money-making programs while trying not to get left without a seat at the power table. Basketball differs from football – true. But basketball still needs football, at least for the time being. It doesn’t take a wild imagination to conceive a reality where even Syracuse’s best shot isn’t quite enough. This is the knife’s edge the Orange continues to walk toward a potential college sports irrelevancy cul-de-sac. The stakes are high and the dissolution feels inevitable. Whether or not it has the power to actually change the outcome, Syracuse knows it’s worth fighting for anyway.
All this to say that in spite of these circumstances, apathy never quite set in for the Syracuse fan base. For the time being, the world still gets put on hold in Syracuse when its basketball team takes the floor.
“The one thing I’ll say,” Autry began at last season’s final presser, “I was proud to have this team. I was lucky to have this team. This was the team that I needed.”
Unbeholden to those needs, Syracuse is free to attempt something more. Autry brought stability and a breath of fresh air to Syracuse in year one as the tectonic plates of the college sports landscape continued to shift. But Syracuse has yet to return to form. The staff and players have put in the hard work during the summer months, but now its immediate future hinges on whether the current group can get its act together.
“Everything is good until you get in the ring and get hit in the face, right?” Autry, invoking Mike Tyson, asked rhetorically. “That’s kind of the next step.”
With greater conviction and a bolder vision, Autry is putting his stamp on the program. It would be impossible to overstate the toll that was taken implementing the necessary changes in his first year. With a man-to-man defense, five-out offense, new nutrition program, NIL considerations, a general manager hire, an embrace of analytics, shoot-arounds on game day, and a pleasantly refreshing nod of fan-service by donning the script Syracuse jerseys full-time, Autry’s work has Syracuse fans willing to be patient. For now.
He went wide in year one. Syracuse needs to go deeper in year two.