Summer is here, which means we’re one step closer to the return of Syracuse men’s basketball. There’s a lot of buzz around Adrian Autry and his upcoming sophomore season, but making headlines recently is a rule change possibly being made by the NCAA.
Essentially, the NCAA is proposing an idea to allow programs to venture off their home campuses and play some scrimmages before the season begins. This may sound like a normal thing, but this could allow for some really exciting matchups for the Orange.
Last season, Syracuse hosted intrasquad scrimmages in Rochester for both its men’s and women’s teams in hopes of drawing some fans to the Dome from Western New York. Now with the ability to hold events more than once, the Orange could travel to other untapped areas of New York State where a lot of SU fans aren’t able to see the team. Some strong candidates could be the Capital Region or even New York City. Only time will tell.
Now when it comes to the exhibitions, there’s an opponent that makes too much sense to not pay a visit to. With the ability to hold games against D1 opponents, why shouldn’t the ‘Cuse travel east to Siena and take on former assistant Gerry McNamara? Not only would SU fans be hyped for the matchup, but bringing the Orange to the Capital Region where many fans are located would draw a lot of attention in the region and should sell tickets (which the rule change allows programs to profit from), so why not?
One more that would be fun could be a matchup with one of the NCAA’s newest Division 1 programs: the Le Moyne Dolphins. They’re in the same city, so why not brew some civil war in local homes between alumni of each school? No matter where this game would be played (probably in the Dome,) a battle between two schools in the 315 sounds too good to pass up.
There’s so much that can be done with the NCAA pushing this rule change, and preseason schedules won’t be announced for quite some time. But some food for thought is always a good thing, especially this time of year.
