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BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Syracuse is meant to be heralded alongside college basketball’s blue blood programs. Yet, over the last four seasons, SU has looked nothing like the program that has won the sixth-most games in the sport’s history.

The Orange were uncomfortably mediocre across Jim Boeheim’s final two years at the helm. Boeheim had one losing season in 47 years as SU’s head coach — a 16-17 2021-22 campaign. He followed that up with a measly 17-15 2022-23 season before retiring.

It was just the third stretch where the Orange failed to make the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back seasons under Boeheim. As the program changed hands over to Adrian Autry, he preached Syracuse was striving to return to the “Orange Standard.”

“I think we all know where we want to be as a team, what we want to be as a program,” Autry said of the “Orange Standard” at his introductory press conference on Oct. 13, 2023.

But 11 games into Autry’s second year as a head coach, SU is the furthest it’s been from the “Orange Standard.” After missing the NCAA Tournament for the third straight season, Syracuse’s longest drought since missing the tournament each year from 1967-72, the Orange have started 2024-25 5-6. It’s their fewest wins through 11 games since 1968-69.

Entering the Barclays Center to face Maryland on Saturday, Syracuse was 0-3 in Quad 1 games while also dropping a Quad 2 game to Notre Dame — where it failed to make a 3-pointer for the first time in over a decade, a telling sign of where the program is.

The bout against the Terrapins was a must-win if the Orange wanted to start building an NCAA Tournament resume.

Nearly two-and-a-half hours after the opening tipoff, Autry sat at the podium postgame talking about his team getting its butt kicked after suffering a wire-to-wire 87-60 loss — SU’s largest of the year.

“This is the worst,” Autry said when asked where the loss to Maryland ranked since becoming SU’s head coach. “This is the most disappointing loss that I’ve had since I’ve been here.”

Syracuse is currently ranked No. 108 in KenPom’s rankings. The Orange have only been ranked below 100 in KenPom’s final season rankings once, No. 118 to conclude 2022-23, this century. Solange Jain | Photo Editor

Autry then shouldered all of the blame. He said he needs to make changes and look deep down inside, adding his players need to do the same.

In the locker room, five-star freshman forward Donnie Freeman said Autry “dug into” his team. Freeman, Jaquan Carlos, Eddie Lampkin Jr. and Jyáre Davis all insisted the players were responsible for SU’s poor play.

No matter who thinks they’re the problem, one thing is clear: Syracuse has no immediate solutions to righting the ship back toward the “Orange Standard.” Losing star guard J.J. Starling was the first thing Autry cited in SU’s struggles over the last month, and his absence has uncovered the program’s biggest weaknesses — its lack of ball handling and porous shooting.

Carlos has shouldered most of SU’s ball-handling responsibilities in Starling’s absence. However, his strength as a pass-first point guard has been negated by the Orange’s 28.9% 3-point percentage, which ranks 327th in the country.

No SU player with a minimum of five attempts is shooting over 33% from 3 except for Elijah Moore (35.9%). Chris Bell, who Syracuse needs to be a threat from distance after shooting 42% from 3 last year, has lost his touch and confidence from beyond the arc, making 23.4% of his triples.

Bell is the lone player from SU’s 2022 recruiting class still with the program. Following Boeheim’s worst season at the helm, it was a class that was meant to rejuvenate Syracuse’s program alongside veterans Joe Girard III and Jesse Edwards.

Instead, they went out sad in the ACC Tournament when a buzzer-beating 3 from Wake Forest’s Daivien Williamson ended another mediocre season. Following Boeheim’s bizarre ending as head coach, Autry all of a sudden had the keys.

Despite getting dealt a measly pre-flop hand, Autry won 20 games in his first year at the helm — something Boeheim last did in 2018-19. The road to get there was bumpy. In January, SU suffered a 103-67 bludgeoning to North Carolina. Less than a month later, the Orange were crushed 99-70 by Wake Forest.

“I want to apologize to our fans, our university for that performance,” Autry said after the loss to the Demon Deacons. “Unacceptable, (it) won’t be tolerated, (it) won’t be allowed.”

It was the lowest point of Autry’s first season. And it should’ve been the furthest SU was from the “Orange Standard” throughout Autry’s time running the program. Because of poor roster construction, Autry is back to having the same feeling he had in Winston-Salem 10 months ago.

While Autry retained the entire 2022 recruiting class originally, it was clear the sophomores last year didn’t have a strong connection with the coach despite spurts of success. So, Judah Mintz took his talents to the G-League, Maliq Brown is now an unsung hero at Duke and Quadir Copeland transferred to McNeese State. The Orange lost arguably three of their four best players.

To replace them, Autry brought in Lampkin, Carlos and Davis through the transfer portal and talented freshmen Freeman and Moore. But from the start, even with Starling healthy and Bell back, the group hasn’t clicked.

Syracuse is 0-4 in Quad 1 games thus far into the 2024-25 season. Solange Jain | Photo Editor

Following the loss to Maryland, guard Kyle Cuffe Jr. said Autry told the Orange they needed to do some soul-searching. That’s something that should’ve been handled in July, not an ongoing problem as conference play looms.

A roster full of players who don’t mesh is an unsolvable problem. But that doesn’t excuse Autry from the job he’s done thus far, either.

In every game, it feels like Autry is a scientist continuously mixing the wrong chemicals. No matter what combinations he tries, nothing seems to work.

For as long as Starling’s out, I’m not sure — and I’m not sure the program even knows — what Syracuse can do to get back to the “Orange Standard.” The Orange have a second-year coach amid a sophomore slump while rostering arguably the program’s worst team this century.

Even when Starling comes back, Syracuse might already be in too deep of a hole to turn its season around. SU may be competing for a spot in the ACC Tournament — which will include 15 of the conference’s 18 teams — instead of the NCAA Tournament.

When the Orange got blown out in their first game without Starling against Tennessee, Autry said, “This is not Syracuse basketball.”

But maybe it was. The closest the program has been to the “Orange Standard” in four seasons was being a fake bubble team last year. Meanwhile, SU hasn’t been ranked in the AP Poll since Dec. 10, 2018.

Losing to good teams has become the norm. And at least until a star-studded 2025 recruiting class headlined by Sadiq White and Kiyan Anthony joins Syracuse, it’s a trend there’s no reason to believe won’t continue. It’s only something the Orange hope doesn’t get worse.

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 December 21, 2024 at 9:26 pm