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Adrian Autry is getting another year as Syracuse men’s basketball’s head coach, but there should be no guarantees beyond that. As was the case with former football head coach Dino Babers — who failed to win seven regular-season games in 2023 — there must be a predetermined preseason benchmark Director of Athletics John Wildhack sets for Autry heading into next year. And that’s to end the Orange’s four-year NCAA Tournament drought, their longest since missing six straight from 1967-72.

It takes one glance at Syracuse’s record, which was its worst since the 1968-69 campaign, to realize Autry didn’t meet the “Orange Standard” in his second season as head coach. SU’s performance was unacceptable, unrecognizable and unforgivable for a program that should be a March Madness contender instead of waiting nearly seven months for its 2025-26 opener.

Even so, Autry getting a third year at the helm — which Wildhack confirmed on Cuse Sports Talk on March 6 — is understandable. In his first year taking over for Jim Boeheim, Autry won 20 games, which his predecessor last did in 2018-19. He also has 247Sports’ 10th-best recruiting class incoming, which has an even bigger weight stemming from the off-court impact Kiyan Anthony, Carmelo Anthony’s son, brings.

Part of Autry’s 2024-25 failures were out of his control, so the decision to bring him back for next year makes sense. Though, for a program meant to be among college basketball’s best, 2025-26 should be Autry’s last crack at attempting to restore the “Orange Standard.”

​​“The goal of this program is we should be playing meaningful games in March,” Wildhack said on Cuse Sports Talk after announcing Autry would return for next season.

Joe Zhao | Design Editor

Instead of positioning itself to play meaningful basketball in March, SU faced a prolonged stretch where even qualifying for the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament was in doubt. On Jan. 6, Autry said continuity was a key difference between his first two seasons as head coach.

After winning 20 games and finishing fifth in the ACC — which isn’t the “Orange Standard” but is a step toward it — Autry saw nine players depart the program. This was headlined by leading scorer Judah Mintz turning pro, Maliq Brown transferring to Duke and Quadir Copeland transferring to McNeese State. The three aforementioned players were among the Orange’s top five scorers — alongside J.J. Starling and Chris Bell (who was in the same recruiting class as Mintz and Co.) — and were in their second year with the program.

This year, of SU’s top-five scorers, Starling and Bell were the program’s only returning players; Eddie Lampkin Jr. and Jyáre Davis transferred in, while Donnie Freeman was a freshman. It also didn’t help that Syracuse was hampered by injuries to its leading scorers, Starling and Freeman, who only played together in seven of 33 games. In contrast, Mintz, Starling, Copeland, Brown and Bell played in all 32 of SU’s games last season.

Beyond injuries and a lack of continuity — which may no longer be possible to attain in college basketball’s current landscape — Syracuse’s biggest setback was its failure to replenish through the transfer portal. While Lampkin, Davis, Lucas Taylor and Jaquan Carlos were fine additions, the group desperately lacked star power that could’ve pushed SU toward contention.

At this time last year, Syracuse was extremely unprepared for the transfer portal season. It’s unacceptable, but given the new landscape and how understaffed SU was — having only two assistant coaches because of Gerry McNamarra’s departure to Siena — Autry gets a one-time mulligan.

To no fault of his own, Carlos — whose best season at mid-major Hofstra entailed averaging 10.4 points and 6.3 assists per game — was thrust into the starting point guard role when ideally he should’ve been brought in to be a backup. To replace Mintz, Syracuse essentially slid Starling into his role but failed to replace Starling’s role as a second guard and consistent offensive threat.

Heading into next year, getting a guard to be at least a 1B alongside Starling, who the Orange desperately needs to retain for his senior year, is something Autry must do to keep his job any longer. While Freeman may potentially exit Syracuse, five-star Sadiq White, a 6-foot-8 forward, can make an impact on day one.

While White’s addition is crucial, and even if Freeman stays, adding another impact wing would be wise with Taylor and Davis out of eligibility. Yet a top priority is bringing in a new center, or tandem of centers, to replace Lampkin, who averaged 11.5 points and 9.6 rebounds in his final collegiate season.

With the addition of general manager Alex Kline, who spent eight years as an NBA scout before joining SU in June 2024 (after its 2024-25 roster was built), it’s now inexcusable for the Orange to whiff in the portal.

“I think if (Autry) gets the right personnel, and I think we will, I think his coaching ability and his leadership ability will stand out,” Kline told The Daily Orange in January.

While Kline has a proven track record of identifying talent, he said any addition must fit Autry’s system. If Syracuse brings in a talented portal class alongside a top-ranked recruiting class while retaining Starling and possibly Freeman, it’s safe to say Autry’s system is likely the problem if on-court struggles persist.

Since Adrian Autry took over for Jim Boeheim, Syracuse has a 34-31 record over the last two seasons. Angelina Grevi | Staff Photographer

To get the right players, the Orange should also be in a much better spot financially this portal season. According to syracuse.com, Syracuse had “a little over $2 million” to build this season’s roster. With SU Athletics announcing it “anticipates sharing the maximum revenue share amount ($20.5M)” with student-athletes across all sports next year, the introduction of Champion ’CUSE and additional name, image and likeness funds through collectives like Orange United, that figure should handily increase in 2025-26.

On the surface, Autry has everything in place to set Syracuse up for portal success and thus a return to March Madness. And by looking at ACC rival Louisville, which made the NCAA Tournament after winning eight games in 2023-24, there’s no reason why a team can’t go from the bottom of the conference’s standings toward the top in one year.

In the Cardinals’ ACC Tournament Championship game against Duke, every starter played for a different program the year prior. That’s not necessarily how Syracuse needs to go about it, but acquiring a collection of high-impact portal players has proven it can be the difference in rejuvenating a program.

When speaking on Cuse Sports Talk on Feb. 12, SU assistant coach Allen Griffin said the program needs to find its version of Kyle McCord in the portal. The Ohio State transfer quarterback was Syracuse football’s missing piece, leading it to its best season since 2018 while re-writing ACC records.

But for the Orange to get McCord, they first needed to fire Babers and replace him with Fran Brown — who became SU’s first first-year head coach in program history to win 10 games. Even if Autry brings in the adequate piece(s) to position SU for a successful season, it won’t matter if he doesn’t coach his team to March Madness.

And if Syracuse’s NCAA Tournament drought extends to five years, Wildhack should have no choice but to find his version of Brown — someone who can spearhead an instant turnaround — for the basketball program.

Justin Girshon is the Sports Editor at The Daily Orange, where his column appears occasionally. He can be reached at justingirshon@gmail.com or on X @JustinGirshon.

Published on March 19, 2025 at 11:11 pm
Contact Justin: justingirshon@gmail.com | @JustinGirshon