What a bummer it would be if Syracuse basketball didn't make the 2025 ACC Tournament

My how this Syracuse basketball program has fallen.

I don't want to be all doom and gloom in his article, because those who know me well know that I love my alma mater like it's nobody's business.

And while a growing contingent of Orange fans want a new head coach, I think that Adrian Autry will be back in the 2025-26 campaign, regardless of how the current season wraps up. I also believe that firing Autry and removing the current assistant-coaching staff will not immediately improve things as some 'Cuse fans are hoping it would.

Let's remember that in 2023-24, Autry guided Syracuse basketball to 20 regular-season wins for the first time in a decade, and he had to replace a legend in Hall of Famer Jim Boeheim. This season is a disaster, but plenty of other head coaches got off to rough starts and then went on to prolific careers (for one, Mike Krzyzewski's first three stanzas at Duke weren't so rosy).

I'm saddened by the current state of the Syracuse basketball program, a team I adore.

Plus, college sports is all kinds of weird these days, given NIL, ongoing conference realignment, the transfer portal, future revenue-sharing and other factors. I'm just as bummed, frustrated and irritated as the next Orange fan. Trust me, I am.

Yet if Autry can bring back a few key guys, hit the portal much more effectively this coming off-season, and we all know the potential promise of the team's 2025 class at the prep level, then maybe 2025-26 can prove better than the current term.

Then again, maybe we'll find out that Autry simply isn't the right person to lead the 'Cuse, and that's okay, too. But the constant chatter about his job status after every single game - and more specifically, every single loss - it's exhausting. I also understand from where my fellow fans are coming.

As I noted on the radio in Syracuse on Wednesday morning, I'm more dejected now about the state of Syracuse basketball than I've ever been, and I've followed the Orange since the 1980s, I'm a 2000 graduate of SU, and I've covered the team as a writer for a decade.

Getting blown out by excellent squads, whether Duke or Tennessee or Louisville or Clemson or Maryland, is one thing. Allowing more than 90 points, albeit on the road, to the Atlantic Coast Conference's worst group, Miami, on Tuesday night in the Sunshine State - that was unbelievably awful.

After the Hurricanes defeated Syracuse basketball, 91-84, Autry said in his post-game press conference that he was "very disappointed" in his team's effort versus Miami, especially on the defensive end.

I agree with Coach. But, to be fair, shouldn't some of the accountability for the Orange's poor defense be directed at Autry and his assistants, too? The 'Cuse is allowing more than 78 points per game. That's unacceptable.

Granted, Syracuse basketball was without its best player for seven games, and arguably it's second or third-best player is out for the rest of the season. That's tough to overcome. But injuries happen in sports. All programs have to deal with it.

On Wednesday, Syracuse basketball (11-14, 5-9 in the ACC) resided at No. 14 overall in the ACC standings. The 2025 ACC Tournament, scheduled for March 11 to March 15 in Charlotte, N.C., will feature the top-15 teams in the league race, after the ACC grew to 18 members in college basketball through the additions of California, SMU and Stanford.

The 'Cuse has six regular-season games left, three each at home and on the road. Syracuse basketball will host North Carolina, N.C. State and Virginia while traveling to Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech and SMU.

All of those ACC affairs, to me, are "winnable." But if the Orange plays like it did at Miami, Syracuse basketball could easily go 0-6.

Back in the latest golden era of 'Cuse hoops, from 2009 to 2014, our conversations about the Orange centered on how high of a seed the team could get in the NCAA Tournament, and on how deep of a March Madness run it could possess.

Today, I'm writing this column and hoping - praying - that Syracuse basketball can just merely qualify for the upcoming ACC Tournament. Sigh. Sigh. Sigh.