Syracuse Basketball: Orange ranked just inside top 60 nationally – comical

I can’t wait for Syracuse basketball to prove all the doubters wrong as the 2023-24 campaign progresses over the next couple of months.

The Orange, under first-year head coach Adrian Autry, will commence its 2023-24 season on Monday, Nov. 6, when the ‘Cuse will host New Hampshire.

Ahead of the 2023-24 stanza getting underway, many national and Atlantic Coast Conference pundits are making all kinds of prognostications about the Orange as it relates to the team’s standing around the country and in the ACC.

Most, although not all, of those preseason projections aren’t overly favorable. It’s getting on my nerves. Syracuse basketball sophomore point guard Judah Mintz recently said that he and his ‘Cuse teammates are angry at the lack of respect from media members.

Good, Judah. I’m angry, too. With the Orange possessing a tough non-conference docket, the squad will have plenty of chances early on in 2023-24 to silence these so-called experts.

Another unflattering forecast is in for Syracuse basketball.

Late last month, CBS Sports senior writer Matt Norlander published his rankings of the 101 best teams ahead of the 2023-24 stanza. He’s got the Orange just inside the top 60, at No. 58.

While I readily acknowledge that the ‘Cuse has a new coach who replaced a Hall of Famer in Jim Boeheim, the Orange hasn’t made the last two NCAA Tournaments, the team has multiple new faces in 2023-24, and the Syracuse basketball roster is filled with underclassmen, I simply don’t foresee there being 57 college squads out there that are better than our boys in Orange.

This isn’t a knock on Norlander, who knows his stuff. I merely (and respectfully) disagree with him on the ‘Cuse placement in these rankings.

For what it’s worth, within the ACC, there are seven teams rated higher than Syracuse basketball in Norlander’s article. They are:
Duke, No. 5
Virginia, No. 14
Miami, No. 19
North Carolina, No. 28
Clemson, No. 40
Wake Forest, No. 55
Virginia Tech, No. 57

"Here’s what Norlander wrote about the ‘Cuse. “For the first time since the 1960s, Jim Boeheim will not be on the sidelines at Syracuse. A MAJOR shift, and it could wind up being a really good thing for SU if Adrian Autry is the right coach for the job. In terms of the ACC, the Orange will have a top-five backcourt in Autry’s debut season thanks to the return of Judah Mintz, plus a big transfer get with SG JJ Starling (Notre Dame). Mintz could be a top-10 sophomore in America. Another high-impact transfer: Naheem McLeod, the 7-4 tower by way of Florida State. It’s been many years since there was this much general curiosity around Syracuse’s program.”"

I do agree with this last statement from Matt. There is a buzz in the air regarding the start of the Autry era, and the Orange’s 2023-24 roster, on paper, looks exciting, intriguing and talented.

To be fair, Norlander is slightly more “bullish” on the ‘Cuse than other national and ACC experts, some of whom are forecasting Syracuse basketball to finish between No. 11 and No. 14 in the league race this coming term. Lol. I simply don’t get that.

In the ACC’s official preseason media poll, which was announced on October 26, the Orange was predicted to arrive at No. 10 in the conference standings during the 2023-24 campaign.

So, hey, I guess Norlander’s ranking wasn’t so bad after all, right? I’ve gone on record in stating that I believe Syracuse basketball will sport a top-six mark in the ACC. I am usually wrong about these kinds of prognostications.

Then again, maybe our boys in Orange will prove me wrong – and finish even higher than No. 6 within the ACC’s pecking order in 2023-24.