It’s hardly new for Syracuse fans to be angry at a national media member, but it’s not Joe Lunardi drawing the ire right now. Rather, Jeff Goodman called the Orange one of his top five offseason losers on an episode of the Field of 68 Podcast on Monday.
The Orange joined Kentucky, Texas Tech, Alabama, and Kansas in those rankings. Syracuse fired Adrian Autry and hired Gerry McNamara, then retained Kiyan Anthony and Sadiq White while adding Gavin Doty, Tasman Goodrick, Francis Folefac, Garwey Dual,
Aiden Tobiason, Luke Wilson, Mark Morano Mahmutovic, Abdramane Siby, and Ryan Moesch.
Goodman’s criticism stems from an “underwhelming” roster.
“I don’t know, Rob, tell me. But Garwey Dual as your starting point guard?,” Goodman said. “I don’t know man. I don’t think Syracuse is huge money either, so I think people were probably expecting them to do a little more in GMac’s first year. I think it’s going to be a ‘can they take a step forward and be a little bit better than they were last year and then make a jump in year two?’ But I was a little bi tunderwhelmed…. but maybe not, just judging by the money.”
Goodman admitted that he essentially had to grade on a curve, but Syracuse, with a first year head coach and likely much less money than anybody else in his top five losers feels out of place. I’m not going to call out Goodman for singling out the Orange, but even if you’re disappointed in SU’s roster, I don’t know how you can call them offseason losers.
In an unrelated note, Goodman did report in March that Bryan Hodgson turned down the Syracuse job — when it has since been reported by multiple sources that Hodgson was never offered the job, nor did it ever truly come close to that.
“Alabama doesn’t have 20 million or anything close,” Goodman said. “Syracuse, maybe divide 20 million by two and that’s probably what you’re dealing with. So there’s a reason that we’ve got those teams on the list.”
His co-host, veteran journalist and UConn fan Rob Dauster, came to the Orange’s defense.
“I think it’s a little harsh to put Syracuse on that list,” he said. “Bringing in GMac, to me, that’s probably the move you wanted to make to see if you can get this thing going in the right direction. And if it’s not, then you’ve got bigger problems at Syracuse than just who the basketball coach is.”
Do you think that Goodman’s criticism is too harsh? Or were you also disappointed by Syracuse’s offseason?
