Syracuse men’s basketball: the Orange have arrived on campus

and we have most of their numbers….uniform numbers that is

The majority of the 25-26 Syracuse Orange men’s basketball roster has arrived on campus to begin preparations for a pivotal season.

Adrian Autry hasn’t added any new coaches (more on that this week), but he has a new strength and conditioning coach in place for the new arrivals. Robert Harris was hired from Austin Peay to take over the role in Syracuse. Prior to that, Harris was Kentucky’s S&C coach for eight seasons, with his departure coming after a 21-22 season when the Wildcats had some injury woes. It’s hard to put all that on a coach, but Harris has some experience with basketball and football, so maybe he’ll help the Orange look a bit stronger on the floor.

The freshmen, except for Luke Fennell who is preparing for the FIBA U19 World Cup, arrived in Syracuse over the weekend and we have their jersey numbers (except for late signee Tiefeng Diawara).

Kiyan Anthony passed on #15 and #3 to go with #7- the number his Dad made famous with the Knicks. We assume this will be a hot seller this Fall.

Fennell went with #9, a jersey last worn in 1950 by Carmine Deer (thanks to Orange Ray’s great site). Sadiq White, Jr. takes over the #0 that Kyle Cuffe wore last season. Aaron Womack chose #14, which was worn by Niko Ruffin in 23-24 and before that Jesse Edwards.

For the transfers, four players will keep numbers that were active last season. Nate Kingz wears #4, which was worn by Chris Bell. Tyler Betsey chose #5, which was taken by Jaquan Carlos. Ibrahim Souare will assume the #10 worn by Naheem McLeod and Naithan George takes #11, last worn by Chance Westry.

William Kyle III picked #42, which hasn’t been seen since Ryan Cahak in 2007-08 and Bryce Zephir will don #55, last won by Mounir Hima.

Returners Donnie Freeman (1), JJ Starling (2) and Noah Lobdell (24) keep their numbers and we’ll see what Diawara will take.

We should get some news about the new-look Orange when Boeheim’s Army shows up and scrimmages them before next month’s TBT.