The Syracuse Orange are off to a perfect start after taking care of business in its first two non-con games at home, coming away with a 28-point victory over Binghamton and 40-point win over Delaware State
most recently.
With the new season fully underway, it’s time to check in on if the numbers are feeling any different about the Orange through a pair of games.
KenPom
One of the biggest jumps so far from the metrics out there, ‘Cuse is now in the top-60 in KenPom. The Orange began the year ranked No. 68 in KenPom’s initial preseason rankings. The team now sits at No. 57 overall, good for eighth in the ACC.
The key takeaway, albeit against inferior competition, is the defense for Syracuse. The Orange currently sit at No. 61 in adjusted defensive efficiency. That’s 39 spots higher compared to when it started the 2025-26 season at No. 100. Its current ADE is still 10th in the ACC, but it’s at least remarkably better than the preseason expectation (keeping in mind it’s a small sample size of two games). Fans will have to see how that holds up once the schedule beefs up more, especially after the Players Era Tournament in Las Vegas.
Offensively, the Orange are still in the vicinity of its preseason projections. Their adjusted offensive rating sits at No. 56 overall, down just seven spots compared to KenPom’s initial numbers.
Something of note: Syracuse is definitely embracing the whole “schedule easy non-con opponents to boost the NET when it comes out in December” strategy. Through two games, KenPom has the Orange’s strength of schedule rating at No. 345. As of Sunday afternoon, only Washington has a lower rating among the P4 conferences plus the Big East.
Bart Torvik
Syracuse is slightly down now compared to the preseason in the eyes of Bart Torvik, which currently has the team at No. 54 overall compared to No. 50 in late-October. That’s also good for eighth in the conference. Bart Torvik still has Syracuse as a top-40 on offense (No. 36) and top-100 on defense (No. 89).
Interesting note: Syracuse is first in the country in defensive effective field goal percentage, second in defensive three-point percentage and 20th in defensive turnover percentage.
The three-point percentage is especially intriguing. Providing some context, neither Binghamton (1/13) nor Delaware State (1/14) took or made their threes against the Orange. Both those opponents aren’t high-volume perimeter shooting teams. This is also a small sample size, and the efficiency especially will regress to the mean. That said, the Orange are, broadly-speaking, limiting the volume and forcing opponents off the line, or at least pressuring enough for opposing players to at least think about taking a three-pointer.
Obviously, all of those numbers aren’t realistically going to hold up for the whole year, but again, the defense is clearly much better against this type of competition compared to where it was last year.
ESPN’s College Basketball Index
Turning now to ESPN’s rankings, Syracuse also sits above the top-60 at No. 56.
This time, ESPN’s College Basketball Index has ‘Cuse ranked higher among its conference compared to KenPom and Bart Torvik. The Orange sit as the sixth-best ACC team in the index, two spots higher that BT and three higher than KP. That said, there’s a giant pack of programs in the ACC right behind Syracuse, including Notre Dame (No. 57), Virginia (No. 61), Pittsburgh (No. 62), SMU (No. 63) and Miami (No. 65).
ESPN currently has the Orange with a projected overall win-loss record of 18.3-11.7 and essentially a .500 record in conference play, as of Sunday. Going forward, Syracuse will have a remaining strength of schedule that ranks No. 66 overall.
Checking in on the ACC
Checking in with the rest of the conference, it’s been mostly smooth sailing so far, a early sign of good news that maybe the conference can get a little bit back to its usual form. In total, 17 of the 18 teams are 2-0; only Boston College dropped one of its games (to Florida Atlantic in overtime). North Carolina and Duke had double-digit wins over Kansas and Texas, respectively.
If the conference as a whole wants to keep the early-season momentum going, it will need to deal with some more tough tests this week. Among them, Florida State plays Florida in Gainesville, Louisville hosts Kentucky for a top-11 matchup, Wake Forest has ranked Michigan in Ann Arbor, and both Pitt and California play P4 opponents on the road later this week.
