Syracuse Basketball: Be careful setting expectations for the Orange's next season

So as the Syracuse basketball season has come to an end, I considered writing an end-of-season wrap-up. I watched the men's and women's seasons respectfully with enthusiasm and high expectations for both. It was a long season filled with close games, some good wins, some really hard losses and some impactful injuries. It didn't end as I hoped and it didn't end as anyone hoped, including those in the program itself.

So as you can see, nobody is happy with how this season played out and everyone wants better for next year and expects it. And many like Ashley Wenskoski are saying the think it might be tournament or bust. And I respect Ashley and love the Orange Zone podcast her and Samantha host, and I know she is not alone in that expectation and I get it.

People are disappointed and want more. Fans are upset and blowing up comments on social media posts how unhappy they are. But having said that, I do have a belief that setting expectations before seeing how things play out can be dangerous.

Syracuse basketball will soon enter a critical off-season for the program.

Dino Babers lost the Syracuse football coaching job because he did not meet expectations even though the team had major injuries throughout the season including playing several games with a tight end as their quarterback. And while I love Fran Brown and the season the Orange had and think the program is seeing some brighter days ahead, there was also a chance they swung and missed and things could have ended up worse.

Now, I am NOT saying lower your expectations either. I want Syracuse basketball to win. I am a fan myself and when Syracuse wins, life is better and social media is more tolerable. I am just saying let's see how things actually play out and make a fair assessment at the end of next season based on what we see.

This past year, Syracuse basketball also saw its fair share of injuries especially on the men's side and for substantial games that included the team leader JJ Starling early in the season and promising big man freshman Donnie Freeman in the later portion. I think we set a dangerous precedent when we only look at wins and loses without looking at the bigger picture that caused them.

As we know it now, Syracuse is more prepared for the transfer portal and NIL. Syracuse brought in former NBA New York Knicks scout Alex Kline to help manage those issues and others to help bring in the right players. Alex was hired in June which was too late to impact much for this past season but will likely offer some very insightful input for the next season including scouting players potentially headed to the portal.

And let's be honest, it wasn't just Syracuse here as the once proud and mighty ACC in general, minus maybe 3 teams, has become a talking point as the SEC looks to have had a better overall season.

And while many are upset Syracuse is among the teams who did struggle, I am not ready to call for the job of a 2nd-year coach after a bad season without at least seeing how things play out next season for the Orange at least. And not just jumping off the ledge after their first loss, I mean seriously letting the season play out and see how things go.

This team could see talented players remain at Syracuse (JJ, Freeman, Moore and Cuffe at least) as well as incoming freshmen loaded with potential and hopefully use the transfer portal wisely to add experience and areas of need (love to at least see an experienced defender added to the roster personally and maybe a true point guard).

But part of being a fan to me is trust. Trusting that the coaching staff and administration see the same things we see as fans and are working to correct those things and being open-minded that they will resolve those issues. I refuse to watch with a team I am a fan of with the feeling of impending doom and gloom and negativity.

So I will go into the next season for both the men's and women's program not with a bar set or with anger in my heart but with optimism and hope. And I will go into it believing that the people who love this program as much as I do (the coaching staff who have more on the line than I do) are already working to improve it for their alma mater and for the fans as well as the jobs of the staff that relies on winning.

So while I do hope we see the Orange have tournament success next season, I refuse to say it is that or everyone is fired. But if I can see some progress and not so much struggle, my hope is that people will see there is reason to have optimism for the future because I know I will have it myself. I do think there HAS TO BE an improvement of course.

But having said that, I am willing to wait until we see how the season plays out before costing people who gave so much for these programs their jobs they dreamed of having one day, just liked I'd hope someone would do for me if I had a rough stretch at my job.