Syracuse Basketball: Are you not entertained by the Orange's transfer portal moves?

Oh so you thought Syracuse basketball was just going to accept what happened last season and not adjust? You spent all your time angry, wanting Syracuse to fire head coach Adrian "Red" Autry after one bad season and some even blaming him for the end of the former head coach Jim Boeheim's years because he was an assistant coach on that staff.

And even when him, his staff, Coach Boeheim and the athletic director John Wildhack took the media rounds saying they were unhappy too and expected things to be different next season giving justified reasons why, you used your social media to cuss everyone and vow to not go to any more games.

The season is over now and if you follow this site or social media, you now see that maybe what they said was possibly accurate and they aren't just resting on their laurels. They recruited a top 10 class and are being active in the transfer portal almost as if they maybe saw what was going on too and had a plan. By the way, as of right now, 24/7 Sports has Syracuse ranked 8th in both recruits and transfer rankings, which my brother Neil Adler covers here.

Now I am not writing this to feed the trolls or to brag or say you are a bad fan and I am better. I am writing this to point out a couple of things. For instance, this may shock you but I fully understand the disappointment and even a certain level of anger after a season filled with loss and struggle.

This may shock you but I wasn't happy and neither were people on the staff and in the program. Heck, even the staff themselves multiple times said they understood the disappointment and wanted to be better. I am a fan just like you but have been through so much in my life that I try to be open-minded and not overreact based on one game or one season.

Syracuse basketball is faring well in the transfer portal this off-season.

Like you, I want what is best for the school and the program. I love Syracuse and have said multiple times that when my time comes, take me to Crouse but please let me get one last look at the Dome on my way there.

But here is the thing, losing sucks but the Syracuse basketball program has people who knew that too. They knew something wasn't right last season but it helps absolutely nothing to call out everyone too much and lose morale before the season is over.

The pieces the team had though were playing hard and didn't show any signs of not caring...things just didn't work out as they hoped. Players who were meant to hit outside shots regularly didn't, injuries to two important players took up a huge portion of the season and unfortunately oftentimes there wasn't an equal balance to the scoring even when they went deep in the bench to try different players.

And fans said, we need point guards, we need centers and we need defense and they agreed and addressed it. People said Syracuse needed to address the NIL disparity that aided the Big East and SEC conferences where some in the Big East don't have football programs and the SEC schools oftentimes have more substantial donors and Syracuse is trying.

Syracuse recognized last year they could use some help recognizing factors like this and hired a general manager with NBA experience to help them address those issues. I personally have seen enough already to see that they saw the same concerns we as fans had and are at least attempting to address them and I am satisfied as a fan that they're trying.

Now there are still scholarships open and basketball still being played so I don't expect we have even seen everything this program has planned. And I don't expect everyone is happy even now and I get it, I truly do. However it looks like this staff is filling out the roster the best that they can and if they do and everyone is healthy and this team still struggles like they did last season, your concerns will be more valid, I will likely say you were right and I am sure it will be highlighted for qualified eyes to see.

But if they do put it together to become a tournament team or at least a bubble team, not only will we see that some of the overreactions last season were a bit hasty but it could be something to continue to build the program on and we all benefit as fans of the program.

It's year three....THREE of the Autry era and if you have ever been given the opportunity to be promoted to a new position, you know that often it takes time to establish yourself and make it yours. He now has players he recruited to play for him and is utilizing the portal to address concerns so this will be a better baseline to judge and at the end of the 2025-2026 season, we will know better about the future.

But I will say this, I am glad they gave a former Cuse guy who cares about winning like we do the opportunity that Coach Boeheim himself thought was qualified for the job. So I say enjoy that they are trying, be patient to see how the whole season plays out and one year from now we can fairly assess the state of the program. But as for how it looks today, in regards to how this staff is handling the disappointing season, yes, I am entertained.