On Saturday afternoon, Syracuse basketball - one of the 10 winningest programs in the history of collegiate hoops - fell on senior day to an 11-win Pittsburgh group that needed a victory at the JMA Wireless Dome just to qualify for this week's ACC Tournament.
The Orange lost to the woeful Panthers by two points in overtime, dropping the 'Cuse to 15-16 overall and 6-12 in Atlantic Coast Conference competition. Syracuse basketball had already qualified for the 15-team ACC Tournament in Charlotte, N.C., but not by much: The Orange, forecast to finish at No. 9 in the conference, per the league's preseason media poll, is the ACC Tournament's No. 14 seed, and it will battle No. 11 seed SMU (19-12 overall, 8-10 in ACC) this Tuesday, beginning at 4:30 pm EST.
Unless SU claims the ACC Tournament crown, the 'Cuse will miss the annual Big Dance for the fifth straight season. If Syracuse basketball doesn't capture at least two triumphs in Charlotte, the Orange will finish the 2025-26 term with a losing record - its third in the past five stanzas.
SU enters the ACC Tournament having lost five consecutive affairs. What's more, if the 'Cuse falls to the Mustangs in the event's first round on Tuesday, Syracuse basketball will end its 2025-26 campaign at 15-17 overall, with a mere one more win than in 2024-25, when the Orange went 14-19 overall, its worst annual performance dating back to the late 1960s.
That's not a misprint. How in the heck can this stanza's Syracuse basketball roster be nearly as bad as last season's? In 2025-26, SU retained its top two players, and it brought in numerous four-star college transfers and several four-star prep recruits.
Yet as the Orange prepares for the ACC Tournament, the team has an NCAA NET ranking of No. 85 nationally, and Syracuse basketball is a pitiful 1-10 in quadrant-one opportunities. In his three terms at the 'Cuse helm, head coach Adrian Autry is 49-47 overall.
Red won't be coming back for a fourth season, unless something weird transpires, especially with a new chancellor already on board and a new athletics director expected to be announced as soon as this week. But let me make something abundantly clear: The downfall of Syracuse basketball isn't all on Autry.
Not even close. The program's decline is years in the making. Save for its first campaign in the ACC, in 2013-14, after bolting from the Big East Conference, the Orange has been a so-so team, with a few strong NCAA Tournament runs.
The legendary Hall of Famer Jim Boeheim, who has said what matters the most is how a squad fares in the Big Dance, went a combined 33-32 in his final two campaigns on the Hill, including his first and only losing season over a remarkable 47-year run guiding SU.
Head coach Adrian Autry is kidding himself if he thinks Syracuse basketball made progress this season.
Here's what Syracuse basketball did from 2008 until 2014, which I contend was one of the program's premier stretches in its history:
2008-09: 28-10 overall, Sweet 16
2009-10: 30-5 overall, Sweet 16 (No. 1 seed in NCAA Tournament)
2010-11: 27-8 overall, Round of 32
2011-12: 34-3 overall, Elite Eight (No. 1 seed in NCAA Tournament)
2012-13: 30-10 overall, Final Four
2013-14: 28-6 overall, Round of 32 (25-0 start)
Since then, the 'Cuse has done this:
2014-15: 18-13 overall (self-imposed postseason ban)
2015-16: 23-14 overall, Final Four
2016-17: 19-15 overall
2017-18: 23-14 overall, Sweet 16
2018-19: 20-14 overall, Round of 64
2019-20: 18-14 overall
2020-21: 18-10 overall, Sweet 16
2021-22: 16-17 overall
2022-23: 17-15 overall
2023-24: 20-12 overall
2024-25: 14-19 overall
2025-26: 15-16 overall
There are plenty of factors and reasons contributing to Syracuse basketball's current state. The NCAA sanctions. Uncertainty over when Boeheim would retire. Mike Hopkins leaving for Washington. Key players getting injured or leaving early for the pros. Recruiting misses at the high school level. Transfer portal departures and busts.
And yes, Red succeeded Boeheim at a time when college sports are in an evolutionary place, given direct revenue-sharing, third-party NIL, ongoing conference realignment and other things transpiring.
Autry has cited the different landscape in collegiate athletics. I don't think he's making excuses, but at the same time, he's not the only men's college basketball head coach who has had to adjust. If others can do it, and thrive, why can't Red and the Orange?
I have a lot of respect for Autry and his staff. I wish them well in their future endeavors, assuming changes are soon made. However, at his post-game press conference after Syracuse basketball got stung at home by Pitt in the regular-season finale, Autry spewed some nonsense, and it struck a nerve with me.
Among other things, Autry, in reflecting on his three seasons as SU's head coach, said that he thinks "some progress" was made at the 'Cuse in 2025-26. He acknowledged that the Orange's record isn't good, and that "in today’s world, patience is very thin."
Yet Autry also said, "I thought this year we competed better. We were able to pull out a couple of games that we couldn't win in my first two years. ... I think we were slowly progressing in the right direction."
I'm sorry - but huh? Sure, this season, Syracuse basketball knocked off a good Tennessee team and hung tough with Houston in Las Vegas. Given the "talent" on SU's 2025-26 roster, for the Orange to be sitting here with just one more win than in 2024-25 ahead of the ACC Tournament, that respectfully, isn't progress.
It's simply the latest evidence that Syracuse basketball - a team that I root for like nobody's business and have loved since the 1980s - is continuing to become more and more irrelevant in the ACC and on the national stage.
I love Adrian Autry. I do. But what he said after the loss to Pittsburgh was utterly ridiculous.