Adrian Autry is a guy you’d love to see succeed but it is nearly impossible to defend how poorly this team is coached. While the Orange beat Florida State in the first round of the ACC Tournament, it was once again a thrill ride, complete with turbulence and a near meltdown. Ending games with mistakes and mind-numbing play has become the standard this year, not the exception.
Autry is a direct link to the most iconic era of Syracuse basketball. The late ’80s-to-early ’90s swath of Orange hoops in the teeth of the Big East’s glory was a time of importance, glory, and intensity. Autry saw how Jim Boeheim drove the program hard, demanded mental toughness, and embraced the street fight nature of the Big East in those days.
But the toughness of Autry seems hollow this season. He has talked a good game, but under pressure his team has wilted consistently. With 12:00 to play, the Orange held a 50-34 lead over the Seminoles. At that point FSU went on a 27-12 run, closing to within a point with just ten seconds to play. The Orange could have completely wiped out FSU with a few strong minutes, yet found myriad ways to allow the Noles to march all the way back.
Missed free throws, errant passes, and horrific inbounds decisions by SU led to a chaotic final few minutes. Naturally, Twitter had a field day with the often times gut-wrenching mistakes by the Orange.
Without JJ Starling’s second half heroics, the Orange would’ve certainly ended the season in crushing fashion. Starling’s 19 points in the second half, including clutch free throws down the stretch, saved SU’s season for 24 more hours. But yet another blown lead is tough to stomach for any Orange fan. There’s been plenty of theories on why the program has stagnated, likely to miss the NCAA Tournament for the fourth consecutive year.
John Wildhack has publicly said Autry is returning next season, so the calls for his ouster are ultimately nothing more than noise. But a lack of NIL money or lackluster return in the transfer portal are hollow excuses for the problems that plague this team. The talent is good enough to build large leads, yet the execution in the second half of too many games is a mess. Is that the players? The coaching? Both?
It was eye-opening to hear an SU legend like Etan Thomas not-so-subtly question the coaching last week. Syracuse survives to see another day, but even surviving is getting exhausting.
