Taking stock of the new and familiar faces for next season.
The dust is finally settling on the offseason for the Syracuse Orange, and there’s certainly plenty to talk about with the state of the roster as the countdown to next season continues.
This offseason and the upcoming 2025-26 will mark a key new chapter for the Felisha Legette-Jack era. Most of the departing players were the last remaining members of the 2023-24 team that earned a six-seed in the NCAA Tournament. Some of those familiar faces, like Georgia Woolley and Saniaa Wilson, came with Legette-Jack from her last stop at Buffalo.
Syracuse had 20-win seasons in FLJ’s first two years, but notably took a step back this past year. The Orange ended with a 12-18 overall record and just 6-12 in the ACC. Now, FLJ and the Orange are hoping for a bounce back in 2025-26.
That context leads to an interesting fourth season approaching for Legette-Jack and the program. Here is the current state of the roster after another offseason with plenty of changes.
Who’s in, who’s out
All five of Syracuse’s departures (Woolley, Wilson, Kyra Wood, Dominique Camp and Izabel Varejão) came via graduation. Interestingly, Syracuse did not lose a single player to the transfer portal.
In terms of additions, seven new players will be joining the Orange. Syracuse added three recruits, headlined by four-star wing Jasmyn Cooper. Guard Camdyn Nelson and forward Justus Fitzgerald are the remaining names who make up the Orange’s recruitment class.
On the transfer front, Syracuse most recently landed its biggest portal acquisition — former Texas guard Laila Phelia.
Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images
The rest of Syracuse’s portal additions include former Auburn center Oyindamola Akinbolawa, former USC guard Dominique Darius and former Miami forward Aurora Almon.
All those additions will be joining the 2025-26 roster alongside at least seven returning players: Sophie Burrows, Shy Hawkins, Madeline Potts, Olivia Schmitt, Keira Scott, Journey Thompson and Angelica Velez (writer’s note: Lexi McNabb is eligible to be back for what would be her senior year. Her return was last described as “unclear” according to syracuse.com. I personally haven’t seen any new update on that front).
Roster based on eligibility
Here is where the roster now stands, listed based on eligibility remaining:
1 year left: Laila Phelia, Journey Thompson, Dominique Darius and Oyindamola Akinbolawa
2 years left: Sophie Burrows and Angelica Velez
3 years left: Keira Scott, Shy Hawkins, Olivia Schmitt, Madeline Potts and Aurora Almon
4 years left: Camdyn Nelson, Justus Fitzgerald and Jasmyn Cooper
Similar to last year, the roster remains on the younger side. Eight of the 14 players currently on the team are either new recruits or have just one year of experience. Three of the Orange’s four transfer portal additions (Phelia, Darius and Akinbolawa) will also enter the 2025-26 season as the most experienced players on the roster.
Projected depth chart
Based on current positions listed, the depth chart currently looks something like this (writer’s note: players listed in no particular order):
Guards: Laila Phelia, Dominique Darius, Sophie Burrows, Angelica Velez, Olivia Schmitt, Madeline Potts, Camdyn Nelson
Forwards: Journey Thompson, Keira Scott, Shy Hawkins, Aurora Almon, Justus Fitzgerald, Jasmyn Cooper
Centers: Oyindamola Akinbolawa
Phelia is easily the biggest wildcard on the team, purely because of her ceiling and what she can be. Phelia notably averaged almost 17 points per game and earned an All-Big Ten first team selection in 2023-24. She would play just eight games and took a medical redshirt last year.
Based on some of the highlights, she’s a go-to scorer off the catch or with the ball in her hands, but Phelia is more of a two than a one. That being said, I imagine both Phelia and Burrows (12.2 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 1.9 APG and 1.3 SPG) start at the two and three, respectively, to give the Orange extra spacing on the perimeter. That would mean the starting point guard spot likely goes to either Schmitt or Potts.
Photo by Rich Barnes/Getty Images
The frontcourt will be the biggest x-factor considering all three of Wood, Wilson and Varejão are all gone. Scott feels like the starting four and had a great beginning to 2024-25, but really saw a reduced role in the new year. Hawkins (former four-star recruit) versus Cooper is an interesting position battle to watch as well. Regardless, both feel primed for big roles factoring in what Syracuse lost at the forward spot.
At center, Akinbolawa started 14 games with Auburn and certainly projects to start, but mainly not play a high-minute role necessarily. Scott or Thompson are currently the projected backups.
Throughout the summer, we will continue to highlight team strengths and weaknesses, some of the potential lineups FLJ could go to and depth chart analysis. All that being said, there will certainly be plenty to monitor heading into the next women’s basketball season.