Another Syracuse men’s basketball season ends without a NCAA Tournament appearance. A roster built to return the Orange to March Madness fell short of expectations, mostly because the team could not find any consistency.
Early on free throws cost the team at least two wins, but they looked strong defensively.
Three-point shooting was poor, but Syracuse was forcing turnovers.
The play without Donnie Freeman gave everyone hope that his return would set this team on a path to March. Instead they finish losing six in a row and 12 of their last 15.
It was a group that started three seniors and a junior, yet watching them play they often failed to make simple plays.
After the game, Adrian Autry talked about his team’s struggles to find that identity:
“ The one thing I’ll say is that with this group in particular — you asked them about the inconsistencies — it was a group that we put together with the hopes of being able to work through those things, to develop on the job, so to speak. I think that’s where the inconsistencies were, because even some of our older guys that came to play hadn’t played a ton at their other places. So, we knew it was going to be a learning curve. We thought we had a group that could push through that, but it didn’t happen the way we wanted to”
The inconsistency was seen on the sidelines as well as the coaching staff kept looking for answers until the end. Too many games saw Syracuse fall behind by double-digits then start playing with intensity and pace. A team that struggled in the halfcourt was too often content to play that game. As the defense crumbled, Autry turned to the 2-3 zone and could not summon any old magic.
All year long the Orange made losing plays. Fans kept saying the team “quit” but I don’t think effort was their problem. Much like the 21-22 Syracuse squad, it’s like this group kept waiting for something to go wrong and in most games it did- a missed free throw, a poor defensive rotation, a careless turnover….you name it and this team did it at the worst possible moments.
We’ll go more in-depth on what went wrong these last three seasons, but what makes this season so frustrating is that we saw the glimpses of what could be. A roster we thought would be right there on Selection Sunday couldn’t take advantage of a weak bubble…..and another March comes and goes without us getting to enjoy the Madness.