SU leaders hired Siena's Gerry McNamara as the next head coach of Syracuse basketball on Tuesday, and now the former legendary Orange guard will get to work constructing the team's roster for the 2026-27 season.
In 2025-26, when the 'Cuse went a disappointing 15-17 overall, the Orange had 13 main scholarship players. They were:
Junior point guard Naithan George
Senior shooting guard J.J. Starling
Redshirt senior small forward Nate Kingz
Sophomore power forward Donnie Freeman
Senior center William Kyle lll
Sophomore forward Tyler Betsey
Freshman forward Sadiq White Jr.
Freshman shooting guard Kiyan Anthony
Redshirt sophomore big man Ibrahim Souare
Freshman guard Luke Fennell
Graduate student guard Bryce Zephir
Freshman wing Aaron Womack
Freshman center Tiefing Diawara
McNamara, and ultimately his full staff, will construct a 2026-27 roster that could include some Syracuse basketball returnees, existing Siena players and/or high school commits, and other college transfers. Depending on who joins GMac as 'Cuse assistant coaches, it's possible that existing players from future SU assistants' programs could also come on board at Syracuse basketball.
The transfer portal will run from April 7 to April 21, although when a head coaching change occurs at a school, a 15-day transfer portal window will also open five days after the new head coach at that particular program is hired or announced in the public domain. So we should see some player movement sooner rather than later.
So which Syracuse basketball players might stay, and which might depart?
Starling, Kyle and Zephir have exhausted their college eligibility. Kingz has said that he might apply for a waiver from the NCAA to play at least one more season of Division I hoops.
Most likely to return
I'd put Anthony, White and Kingz here. Anthony's dad won a national title at SU with GMac in 2003. Anthony and White are extremely close. If granted a waiver, Kingz would be an appealing option for McNamara, as the sharpshooter came on strong in the second half of the 2025-26 term.
Up in the air
I've got Freeman, George and Betsey in this category. Freeman, I believe, needs another year in college before trying to go pro. He was also super close with former Syracuse basketball head coach Adrian Autry and assistant coach Brenden Straughn. George had an up-and-down 2025-26 stanza. Betsey is a good 3-point shooter, but his game is limited otherwise.
Not likely to come back
This is just my gut feeling, but I don't think Fennell, Diawara, Souare and Womack will return in 2026-27. Womack took a redshirt for this past season. The rest of those guys barely contributed. Yes, Syracuse basketball will need a proven center for the upcoming campaign, but my sense is that GMac and his staff will hit the portal hard for that position.
What do you all think, Orange hoops fanatics?