Syracuse looks to rebound from last year in the third season under Adrian Autry

Syracuse paid a steep price last season after going through a lot of roster churn in the previous offseason without being fully prepared for it. Adrian Autry’s Orange basketball program was not ready for the effects of the transfer portal and NIL. Their record last season was the proof, as they finished at 14-19 and 7-13 in the ACC after assembling a roster that was not complete until a lot of top talent had already settled on new destinations.

Increasing the level of difficulty last season were injuries to their top two players, J.J. Starling and Donnie Freeman. Starling missed all seven games in December, then returned to action to play a single game with Freeman before he went on the shelf for the final 19 games of the campaign.

SU managed to win just eight of those games without Freeman, failing to beat any team that finished with at least a .500 record in the ACC. The highlights of the season were winning three of their last four home games and avenging a regular season loss with a 66-62 upset of Florida State in the first round of the conference tournament.

SMU routed Syracuse in the next round to end their season, sentencing the Orange to overturn almost their roster again. This time, however, SU was more prepared, having hired general manager Alex Kline in late June. The results were significantly different.

The roster rebuild was a tough task, but ended with strong results

While only Freeman and Starling remain on the roster, a full 13-player roster was assembled with most players quickly on board. Four of their five recruits from high school had already committed to the program with Tiefing Diawara being added in late May. That followed the addition of six transfers to the program, four of them added prior to last season’s national championship game on April 7. That roster:

The Orange have a series of tough tasks laid out in front of them to get back to the NCAA Tournament

That group has been assembled to face a schedule that offers a little bit of everything. The ACC portion of the slate has been reduced to just 18 games after being a 20-game schedule for the last six seasons, save for the COVID season where canceled games were not rescheduled. The conference offers its usual landmines with five teams getting votes in the preseason AP poll and a deep middle class to navigate. Syracuse, who was voted to finish ninth by the media, is smack dab in that group.

The non-conference slate includes a return matchup with #18 Tennessee in the ACC-SEC Challenge, this time at home. That game is on the heels of the Orange making their first appearance in the Players Era Men’s Championship. It is a tough debut for SU, who will have games against #2 Houston and #19 Kansas to go with a third game against an opponent to be determined from a very stacked field. There is an added degree of difficulty tacked on, as all four of those games are within a nine-day span.

While Syracuse should be expected to be improved, their success this season will ultimately depend on their defense. The roster is almost overflowing with offensive talent, but there will be off nights shooting, just like there always are. Ultimately, their ability to rise toward the upper echelon of the ACC, and a potential return to the NCAA Tournament, will depend on their defense.

That schedule gets underway tonight when the Orange host Binghamton at 7:00pm Eastern.