A tough 2024-25 season for Syracuse basketball is over. Now a key off-season is set to arrive soon.
The Orange, playing in the ACC Tournament's second round from Charlotte, N.C., hung with the event's No. 6 seed, SMU, in the first half, as the No. 14 seed 'Cuse only trailed by three points entering halftime.
Yet in the second half, a familiar pattern emerged yet again. The Orange (14-19 overall) had trouble getting stops on the defensive end, and Syracuse basketball shot the ball poorly from the field and beyond the arc. For the entire contest, Syracuse basketball made just 34 percent from the field and 27 percent from deep.
The outcome was a 73-53 setback for the 'Cuse on Wednesday night, ending its brutal 2024-25 stanza. Syracuse basketball, this term, finished with its fewer number of wins in a season dating back to 1969-70.
While Orange Nation, clearly, is bummed, disappointed and frustrated with what transpired in 2024-25, I personally want to thank the 'Cuse coaching staff and players for giving it their all this season. I'm hopeful that 2025-26 will prove better for the program.
A lot of questions need to be answered about Syracuse basketball's 2025-26 roster.
Second-year head coach Adrian Autry will be back next season, according to SU athletics director John Wildhack. Both Autry and Wildhack have acknowledged the importance of the team's portal recruiting efforts this off-season, and each believes that the Orange will fare better in this regard during the upcoming cycle.
Thank you for your support all season.
— Syracuse Men’s Basketball (@Cuse_MBB) March 13, 2025
'25-26 season begins now. 🍊🧡 pic.twitter.com/a9IXILzw2w
By the way, per the NCAA, the transfer portal window for men's basketball will run from March 24 to April 22.
Of the Orange's 12 scholarship players in 2024-25, those who have exhausted their college eligibility include point guard Jaquan Carlos, center Eddie Lampkin Jr., guard/wing Lucas Taylor, center Naheem McLeod and forward Jyare Davis.
That leaves seven players: junior guard J.J. Starling, junior small forward Chris Bell, freshman power forward Donnie Freeman, redshirt junior guard Kyle Cuffe Jr., freshman forward Petar Majstorovic, freshman guard Elijah Moore and redshirt sophomore guard/wing Chance Westry.
I assume Starling, Cuffe and Majstorovic will be back. I hope that Freeman and Moore, both of whom missed time in 2024-25 due to injuries, will return. I have no idea about Bell, who went from a starter to a reserve this season. And Westry has barely played in his tenure on the Hill, so who knows? I feel bad for Chance.
The 'Cuse, at the high school level, has a four-member 2025 class that ranks in the top 10 nationally and includes a trio of four-star prospects.
Even if every player from 2024-25 does return for next season, the Syracuse basketball staff will have several scholarships available. For the Orange to succeed in 2025-26, hitting a home run, so to speak, in the transfer portal this coming off-season will prove vital.
Let's see if Syracuse basketball coaches can do precisely that.