The 2024-25 season cannot end fast enough for Syracuse Orange fans. Head coach Adrian Autry has steered the team to a disastrous 12-18 record, with their season finale coming on Saturday, where the Cuse will welcome the Virginia Cavaliers to the JMA Dome. Despite the hot seat warming up in the early stages of the season, athletic director John Wildhack has publicly committed to bringing back Autry next year.
The Syracuse Orange Have Continued to Decline in Recent Years
The decline of the Syracuse Orange has been one of the most startling trends of the past decade. Once a perennial powerhouse under Jim Boeheim, the team has steadily regressed over the years and is now at the point where, once an automatic achievement, making the NCAA Tournament is not even expected. Once one of the many elite teams from the Big East Conference, the Orange adapted to life in the ACC with a lot of rocky moments, and in the post-Boeheim era, new head coach Adrian Autry has not experienced much success.
In the last 10 seasons, Syracuse has only been ranked for a total of 10 weeks 😳
Syracuse hasn’t appeared in a single AP Top 25 poll in the 2020s yet 😬
You just hate to see such a proud program looking like this. pic.twitter.com/8SddLrIxPm
— College Basketball Report (@CBKReport) March 4, 2025
After a decent 20-12 record in his debut season last year, Autry saw his leading scorer Judah Mintz depart for the NBA, while the majority of the remaining roster entered the transfer portal. Promising players like Quadir Copeland, who started twenty games for McNeese State this year, and Maliq Brown, who is an integral part of a championship-contending Duke team, both left the program. Autry had only two starters return for his second season, with limited rotation players as well.
Adrian Autry’s Season of Disaster for the Syracuse Orange
Autry built out this season’s roster with some key freshman, including guard Elijah Moore but predominantly 5-star prospect and projected NBA Draft pick Donnie Freeman, as well as multiple veteran transfers. Dealing with as much roster turnover as he has is certainly difficult, but the results have still been very poor.
Syracuse is just 6-13 in conference play this season and is well below .500 overall. They’ve experienced blowout losses, blown leads, and have been a sloppy team on both ends of the floor. To make matters worse, they have had several big injuries on the roster as well.
Freeman was lost for the season with a foot injury, and Moore’s debut season has been characterized by streaky performances. The two returning starters both had issues of their own. Chris Bell went a month-long stretch where he was completely anonymous, and leading scorer JJ Starling suffered a hand injury that kept him out for a long period.
The four transfers Autry brought in are all seniors and will be out of eligibility, meaning three more starters and another key bench player will be departing. Fans are left wondering if Freeman will head to the professional ranks after just 14 games played for the Orange and if players like Bell and Starling will test the market in the transfer portal. Autry will have an entirely new roster once again next season. Continuity has become more and more important in the transfer portal era of college basketball, and Autry is going to have almost none of it in his make-or-break third season.
It’s been over a month since Donnie Freeman has played for @Cuse_MBB due to a leg injury.@DanPapillo wonders if Freeman ever suits up for the Orange again with the freshman’s NBA aspirations.https://t.co/u35It4LEdy
— Orange Fizz (@OrangeFizz) February 6, 2025
What the Future Holds for Syracuse Basketball and Adrian Autry
Next year, Autry figures to have a freshman class that will provide some significant firepower. The team’s incoming class currently stands at 10th-best in the nation, giving fans plenty of reason for optimism. The class is headlined by IMG Academy forward Sadiq White, NBL Australia’s Luke Fennell, and the biggest name, Kiyan Anthony, son of Syracuse legend and future NBA Hall-of-Famer Carmelo Anthony.
Kiyan figures to draw significant attention from the national media and give Syracuse a platform on which to rebuild their program. His family heritage and raw scoring ability will both bolster the team’s chances of putting themselves back on the map.
While Kiyan will be the headline-grabbing attraction, Sadiq White is actually the player ranked highest in the Syracuse freshman class. White and Kiyan already have a great relationship from their high school days and collectively decided to go to Syracuse together. Importantly, White has voiced his support of Adrian Autry and has stated that he believes in what Coach Autry is building.
“I just can’t wait to hop on the court with him and go through the daily grind in the fall at ‘Cuse. The weight room, the laughs, the hard days in practice with Red getting on us, I’m just looking forward to it.”
Autry has a good relationship with White and Kiyan in particular, which may have convinced administration to allow Autry the chance to coach them. After inheriting a roster assembled by the previous regime in his debut season, Autry was forced to cobble together a roster of transfer players in his second year. For his third season, he figures to mostly have “his guys.”
Results Are All That Matters for Adrian Autry’s Third Season
While the administration has committed to Autry getting another chance next season, Autry has officially run out of leash for next year. The team has bolstered its NIL resources for the upcoming season, meaning they no longer lag as significantly behind other competing teams. Autry has a top-10 freshman class, meaning there cannot be a lack of talent on the roster, particularly if Freeman and Starling return for another season.
Autry doesn’t need more time – he needs to get Syracuse back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2021. The Orange have the tools to get back to the national spotlight that they have occupied for the last 50 years, and Autry has one last ride to prove he is the man to do it.
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