Etan Thomas was as gritty and smart as any Syracuse player ever. He was a two-time Big East Defensive Player of the Year. He was first-team All-Big East. He was a rebounder, rim defender, and leader in the locker room. He graduated with a degree in business management, was a lottery pick in the NBA Draft and spent a decade in the association. Thomas is also watching every SU game. He’s as credible on Orange hoops as they come. And it sure does sound like he’s questioning some of the coaching of this team.
He joined “Orange Nation” after the loss to Virginia Tech and was exasperated by the failure to keep a lead and continue feeding the bigs the ball.
“It was a frustrating game. For us to be up by 13 and for it to just whither away,” Thomas said.
“When you go cold. And what was working was our bigs. Between the two of them … they had 30-something points. How many times did they get the ball down that stretch when (the Hokies) went on a 14-1 run?”
“If you have something that’s working you have to keep going back to it.”
Perhaps that’s questioning the players on the floor and specifically the guards employed to make the offense productive. Thomas said no player seems to be quitting, and believes effort is not a problem. He points out that Autry deserves credit for not losing the locker room. But when asked to rate how Adrian Autry is doing as the head coach, Thomas began his answer by saying, “The way that you measure a success of a coach coach is by wins.”
Thomas went on to say that Autry and every head coach knows that’s the deal. They get credit for wins and blame for losses. But Thomas’ annoyance with the inability to stick with what was working against Virginia Tech was obvious.
“Keep giving them the ball!”
“Give the big fellas the ball. And they’re scoring right in front of the rim.”
“Why try something that’s not working and abandon what is working?”
While Autry’s Syracuse credentials are unimpeachable and many around the program are rooting for him to turn it around, his game management and schemes have fallen under massive scrutiny. Blown leads all season suggest the talent is not the biggest problem, execution is. It seems late in games opponents are constantly beating the Orange to the punch. It’s hard not to question coaching when crunch time failures are such regular occurance.
It’s been a difficult season for all involved. Interest in the program has fallen to a low point. It’ll be the first time in 60 years the team misses the NCAA Tournament for four straight seasons. John Wildhack had to specifically say that Autry would return to calm rampant speculation about his job. And the painful losses continue to mount. Autry deserves a chance to coach Kiyan Anthony and try to right the ship last year. But this season it appears even the legends that played here feel the same frustrations as the fans.
