Th 2025-26 Syracuse Men’s Basketball season officially starts tonight. With tip-off approaching, the TNIAAM staff put their season predictions on record and we’d like to read yours in the comments.
Szuba:
20-11 (11-7)
Second round (first game) ACC Tournament loss
No NCAA Tournament
This Syracuse team is talented and offensively gifted, however, the Orange program has been defensively limited in recent years. It’s hard to believe in the defense until we see otherwise. The two exhibitions give some concern for a team that is vulnerable to lapses in play and goes off script.
I think Syracuse will win the non-conference games it’s supposed to but it’s not unrealistic that they could drop four straight games in the Player’s Era and then to Tennessee. That would mean a weak non-conference showing would hold this team back from getting a tournament berth unless it performed well above expectations in conference play. The jury is still out on whether the ACC can be an improved league overall and unless Syracuse finishes in the top five or six it’ll be hard to build a résumé worthy of tournament consideration.
This team is good enough to win 20 games but ultimately I think a program with defensive limitations – and a non-conference showing without much meat on the bone – leaves this team on the outside looking in come Selection Sunday following another early exit in the ACC Tournament.
Kevin: 19-12 (9-9 ACC)
ACC Quarterfinal
NIT Quarterfinal Round
It’s a step in the right direction for the Orange, but the roster doesn’t seem to be prepared to emerge from the muddled ACC. This means I’m expecting a couple of good wins in the Dome, but struggles on the road again.
Based on what we’ve seen so far I don’t think Syracuse will be able to keep it close with Houston or Kansas, which means they need to get a good win in their 3rd Vegas game, or beat Teneessee at home to have a marquee OOC win.
19 wind means entering the ACC Tournament with a chance to get on the right side of the bubble, but Syracuse falls short of the semifinals and watches the final ACC spot go to another school.
This would also mean a very tough decision on Adrian Autry’s future. Falling short of the NCAA Tournament is failing to meet expectations, but if the team is more competitive through the year and shows growth, will a University in transition pull the plug on an alum? Buckle up because it feels like a result that’s just going to leave everyone unsure about the Orange’s future.
Dom: 21-10 (11-7)
ACC Quarterfinals
First Round Exit in the NCAA Tournament/First Four Out
Syracuse has all the makings to be in the Big Dance for the first time in years, and the pieces are there. Among them, retaining the top-two players from last year’s team, a promising freshman class that can provide depth, intriguing transfers, a tactically-made schedule and a coach who knows it’s likely the bar for him to stay as head of the program.
Off the bat, defense and rebounding are this team’s biggest concerns. Syracuse is certainly athletic across the positions, but can be quite small in certain lineups, and there’s really only one true three that has played before in Betsey. It’s going to come down to the guards holding up and the frontcourt rebounding bigger than its size.
That said, there’s not just offensive versatility, but multiple players who can put the ball in the basket and go get a shot up. That wasn’t the case last year and was the other big reason why last year’s Orange were unsuccessful: if Starling had a bad night, there wasn’t a clear second scorer to step up unless someone else got hot from three or Lampkin had an easier matchup inside.
The schedule is the biggest reason why I’m the most optimistic. The orange will have plenty of non-con wins to pile up, and the path is there for them to get 15- to 20-point wins with those for the metrics, but there’s also a chance to pick off at least one valuable Q1 win in Vegas. In the ACC, there’s a clear top 4-5 teams (IMO: Duke, Louisville, NC State, UNC and I’ll throw in Virginia), but outside that, it’s a matter of being the sixth-best team in the conference, and we’ve seen this program do it before.
Ultimately, I pick improvement in record and on-court performance that will have Orange fans watching Selection Sunday with the program sitting either just in or out of the tournament bubble.
Sam: 17-14 (8-10 ACC)
Declined NIT bid
Last season, I had the lowest win total prediction for Syracuse men’s basketball of anybody on our site or the other Syracuse-based outlets. I was five wins too high. Through his two years at the helm, Adrian Autry has proven nothing. Thus, I do not feel has has earned the benefit of the doubt in terms of figuring out how to make this group’s talent mesh together.
For as talented of a group as this year’s Orange team is on the surface, and as much as the athleticism improved on the roster, I still think there are clear deficiencies. Building around JJ Starling — a poor-shooting, poor-defending, on-ball guard — has a ceiling, and building around him with another on-ball poor-shooting guard makes it difficult to put lineups together. One path to success for this team is Starling and George improving as outside shooters, but with a non-shooting center, will the spacing be there?
The best version of Syracuse is a team where Donnie Freeman is the best player, taking a defensive leap and a shooting leap that would put him in pretty high draft conversations. It would open up the spacing, allow for Starling to attack downhill, and take the pressure off of the guards so they can commit more defensively.
A shooting leap for Freeman also makes it easier to play him and Sadiq White together, especially if White shoots the way he did during the exhibition against Pace. It allows you to deploy your athleticism in the frontcourt and play better defense.
However, for as many talented players as Syracuse has, I don’t think there’s enough diversity of skillset on the roster, and lineup construction becomes lineup constriction. There will be plenty of combinations that will be unplayable together, whether it be for lack of playmaking, lack of shooting, lack of defense, or something else, that’s something that concerns me.
There’s no doubt in my mind that the Orange will be better than last season. At the very least, George is a massive upgrade from Carlos, the rim protection will be much improved, SU will force more turnovers, and get out in transition more. But that’s really the bare minimum. A tournament appearance is possible, but a lot of things that Autry and his staff haven’t figured out over the first two years have to be figured out in order to achieve it.
Now it’s your turn
