Notes from Day 1 of Syracuse basketball at ACC Basketball Tipoff

The ACC Monday began promoting its 2025-26 men's and women's basketball teams in Charlotte, with the women's programs first taking center stage, including an Orange appearance.

October 6, 2025; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; The stage inside the press conference room at the 2025 ACC Basketball Tipoff, at the Uptown Hilton Hotel. The annual preseason media event is being held through Oct. 8. Mandatory Credit: Brad Bierman, The Juice Online-On SI / | Brad Bierman, The Juice Online-On SI

Readying for a critical year for its men's and women's basketball programs to increase the total number of NCAA bids the league receives, the ACC will be out front promoting the conference's 18 programs, coaches, and players over the next couple of days.

Following an appearance Monday morning by Syracuse coach Felisha Legette-Jack and two of her players, guards Sophie Burrows from Australia, and grad student Lila Phelia, the men's team is slotted to hit the press conference stage on Tuesday afternoon (1:30 p.m. ET ACCN), with other various media appearances throughout the day.

Head coach Adrian Autry will be joined by the two returning roster players, senior guard J.J. Starling and sophomore forward Donnie Freeman.

An honest look at her coaching from the Syracuse women's hoop boss

It was striking to us the answer Legette-Jack, one of the best in the business now entering her fourth season guiding her alma mater, provided during the Orange press conference when asked about the lessons she drew from her team's inconsistency, especially in the second half of games last season.

Syracuse finished 12-16 / 6-12 ACC last season, certainly not up to the standards that the program expects. Legette-Jack, who has coached basketball for five decades, learned a lot during a trying season. Her biggest self-admitted fault?

"Not being an inconsistent head coach." she said Monday. "The inconsistency starts from the top, and we certainly didn't have the best coaching season last year. I take full responsibility of all the bad."

"Inconsistency was when a kid got sad, we would put her out there and let her play. We're not making that mistake anymore," she continued. "I'm going to be a better head coach and, prayerfully, a better team."

Pretty revealing.

The never-ending bid to promote the ACC evolves in changing media landscape

With a good portion of legacy media reduced for various reasons since the COVID outbreak, in turn giving way to an increase in digital-only contemporaries, it has been reflected in the total number of people who attend in-person, multi-day preseason promotional events (media days) such as ACC Tipoff.

Noticeably, there's less media turning out for multiple days, especially with much of the agenda live-streamed and then repackaged for easy on-demand future access.

Listening to feedback it has solicited from regular media attendees over the years, combined with what is going on within the college sports conference industry, the league adjusted the format this year to grab as much exposure as possible from the media members who do travel to Uptown Charlotte.

Day one had all women's programs (including SU) showcased. Day two on Tuesday is split with the remaining women's teams in the morning and men's teams (including SU) in the afternoon, and the final day on Wednesday finishes with the remaining men's programs.