Something to consider as we look ahead to next season.
Until the mass player movement officially dies down, committing to any predictions regarding how next season could play out for the Syracuse Orange men’s and women’s basketball feels premature. With that said, ESPN unveiled its most recent bracketology update this week and both Syracuse basketball programs sit in some intriguing spots.
Starting off on the men’s side, Syracuse is currently slated as the first “Next Four Out” team on ESPN’s latest bracketology update. While the Orange are currently not one of the seven ACC teams projected to make the tournament, they’re the next program from the conference in line for a bid, according to everyone’s favorite bracketologist, Joe Lunardi.
The Orange will enter the 2024-25 season coming off a wild but overall successful first year under Adrian Autry. However, the program failed yet again this past season to clinch a spot in the NCAA Tournament, extending the postseason drought to three straight years. The pressure will be just a bit higher to return to March Madness when you blend the optimistic 2023-24 campaign with the bigger-picture hunger among fans for clear progress.
In the ACC, Duke (one-seed) and North Carolina (two-seed) sit clearly above the rest of the projected tournament teams, followed later by Miami (six-seed) and Clemson (nine-seed). As a “Next Four Out” team, Syracuse sits in the bubble right behind Pittsburgh (“Last Four Byes”), Wake Forest (“Last Four Byes”) and NC State (“Last Four In”).
If Syracuse remains around this projection by October, it will definitely be a better starting point compared to this past season, where the Orange began way outside the postseason picture and eventually climbed their way to “in position to be in position” status. Even then, it still felt like a few things had to go Syracuse’s way, and a brutal loss to NC State in the ACC Tournament quickly closed the door on what was a long-shot chance at a tournament bid.
It’s a good spot to be in for Autry and the program, especially when you consider the mass exodus of players from last season’s team. All-ACC guard Judah Mintz declared for the 2024 NBA Draft while seven additional players — headlined by Maliq Brown and Quadir Copeland — entered the transfer portal.
Even then, it appears that there is some optimism in what Autry’s building. The soon-to-be second-year head coach secured three new additions in this year’s portal and landed commitments from five-star prospect Donnie Freeman and four-star prospect Elijah Moore.
There still might be some work to do for Autry, but after a busy offseason, this latest bracketology update feels like a tiny step forward.
Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the women’s team… at least for now.
In ESPN’s latest bracketology update for the women’s NCAA Tournament, Syracuse remains completely out of the postseason picture. It’s a pretty important development for the Orange, especially coming off a season which saw coach Felisha Legette-Jack win ACC Coach of the Year and guide the program to one of the most surprising 2023-24 campaigns in the country.
Nine ACC teams are projected to make the 2025 NCAA Tournament, according to the bracketology update. Four programs from the conference currently sit as top-16 seeds — Notre Dame (one-seed), NC State (two-seed), Duke (three-seed) and Louisville (three-seed). Both North Carolina (five-seed) and Florida State (five-seed) sit in the top-25 while Stanford (10-seed), Clemson (“Last Four In”) and Miami (“Last Four In”) round things out.
Part of that comes from the significant number of departures this offseason for the Orange. All-American and All-ACC guard Dyaisha Fair is off to the Las Vegas Aces, and the program saw five additional departures (most notably, losing All-ACC Freshman Team forward Alyssa Latham to the portal). While Syracuse has secured returns from Dominique Camp and Izabel Varejão in addition to bringing in a promising recruiting class, the Orange haven’t done much yet in terms of transfer portal acquisitions.
Yet again, next season’s ACC projects as another year where the conference will boast depth across the board. Last season, Syracuse was projected to finish ninth in the ACC, but ended up in a tie for second in the final conference regular season standings. How much of this projection factors in some potential regression from the Orange? It’s tough to say, but it certainly played at least a part.
Again, it’s still early to put much stock into this. However, it’s an offseason storyline worth monitoring at very least.