With Syracuse out of the equation in March Madness for the fourth straight season, SU fans have already set their eyes towards next year’s team.
The arrival of Kiyan Anthony, son of Carmelo, and Sadiq White are apparently supposed to turn the tides of the Orange in a matter of months. It’s understandable that Anthony is a four-star recruit, and White is a five-star athlete, but how are the two of them alone supposed to make Syracuse immediately better?
The talent pool is understandable, and SU will be substantially better in that department because of it. However, this team has larger reasons than just talent. Attitude, effort, and chemistry are what plagued the Orange during some of this past season.
There were multiple instances where it seemed like some players gave up on their own squad in games when the Orange were already trailing, or seemed like they had no chance against a top team. This can’t happen no matter how good or bad a team is, no matter the sport, or no matter the sport.
Syracuse has problems that it has to fix going forward that exist far beyond talent acquisitions.
Does head coach Adrian Autry have everyone bought in moving forward? It sure doesn’t seem like it all the time when the team is on the court. With that being said, athletic director John Wildhack confirmed that Autry will return as Syracuse’s head coach next year.
Whether SU fans agree or disagree, at least the Orange want to commit to some stability after the retirement of longtime head coach Jim Boeheim. At some point, one would think that something has to give moving forward to result in more success in what has been an extremely disappointing couple seasons of Syracuse men’s hoops.
For now, Syracuse can sit back and watch the rest of March Madness.
