The exhibitions are now in the rearview mirror for the Syracuse Orange men’s basketball team, meaning a new era under head coach Gerry McNamara officially gets underway in less than a week.
With the 2026-27 campaign looming, some national outlets are weighing in on the Orange and how they stack up in the ACC and nationally. Here is an updated roundup of the newly released rankings and projections from the rest of the college basketball world.
EvanMiya
The metric recently published an interesting piece. EvanMiya simulated the 2026-27 season 10,000 times, combining its preseason projections with other variables that could affect the outcome by year’s end. For example, if a team has a new coach and how much roster turnover it has. Those results were then documented for the entire college basketball landscape, or all 365 teams, including Syracuse.
Of note, it appears Syracuse has quite the difference between its projected floor and ceiling, according to EvanMiya. The metric has the Orange at 10th in the ACC with a preseason rank of 61st and a median finish of 62nd, but a ceiling as high as 21st and a floor outside the top 130 (135th). That’s a 114-spot difference.
Here’s how ‘Cuse compares to the rest of the ACC in the exercise:
Interestingly, Syracuse was one of 47 teams that finished No. 1 overall at some point during the 10,000 sims.
ESPN
ESPN’s Jeff Borzello and Myron Medcalf recently unveiled a tiered list of 75 programs, ranging from clear contenders to this year’s potential Cinderellas. Syracuse earned a mention toward the bottom of the 11-tier list, along with fellow ACC school Florida State, in “Tier X: Two teams we pounded the table for.”
Medcalf broke down the Orange heading into the 2026-27 season. He was especially high on the offensive scheme McNamara is bringing to the table.
Medcalf also noted how underwhelming Syracuse was on that end of the court under former head coach Adrian Autry, and the upside McNamara has to change that.
“McNamara is an offensive guru who has boosted output at that end as a player, assistant and head coach; he had the most efficient offense in the Metro Conference (formerly MAAC) last season. If he can continue that consistency, don’t be surprised if Syracuse pulls off a few ACC upsets, and flirts with a double-digit seed,” Medcalf wrote in the piece.
ESPN’s Bracketology
The magic number of potential NCAA Tournament teams remains around seven or eight, at least according to ESPN’s latest bracketology update, released on Tuesday.
Joe Lunardi currently has seven ACC teams making the field — Miami, North Carolina, NC State, Virginia, Clemson, Louisville, and Duke — with three more (Virginia Tech as First Four Out; Florida State and SMU as Next Four Out) just missing the field.
Lunardi didn’t mention the Orange in his latest bracketology update.
The ACC is fourth among all conferences for most teams in this bracketology, trailing the SEC (12), Big Ten (11), and Big 12 (10).
Sports Illustrated
Kevin Sweeney of Sports Illustrated released his full pre-season rankings heading into 2026-27 on Tuesday. The outlet has Syracuse ranked 65th overall and 11th in the ACC.
Here are some of the other teams in range of the Orange:
- Dayton (No. 68)
- Wichita State (No. 67)
- Boston College (No. 66)
- Syracuse (No. 65)
- Arizona State (No. 64)
- San Diego State (No. 63)
- NC State (No. 62)
Sweeney’s top 10 in the ACC from first to 10th: Duke, Louisville, Virginia, Miami, North Carolina, Florida State, Virginia Tech, SMU, Clemson, and NC State.
USA Today
Staff polled at USA Today projected the Orange to finish ninth in the ACC, between Florida State and NC State. Duke was picked unanimously as the best team in the conference. Virginia, Louisville, Miami, and North Carolina round out the top five.
CBS Sports
CBS Sports released its ACC picks for the 2026-27 season earlier this month. The outlet placed the Orange at 11th, between SMU and Pittsburgh.
Of the five CBS Sports staff, Cameron Salerno had the Orange as high as seventh. Syracuse was ranked 10th by Isaac Trotter, 11th by Gary Parrish and David Cobb, and 12th by Matt Norlander.
The top five: Duke, Miami, Louisville, Virginia, and North Carolina.
On Tuesday, Norlander put out his “Top 100 And 1” preseason rankings and put the Orange at No. 80.
Jon Rothstein
Jon Rothstein dropped the Orange from his latest Rothstein 45 rankings, which were published late last week. Syracuse had been just inside the top 45 at No. 43 earlier in the preseason.
ACC teams mentioned in the newest rankings include Duke (No. 2), Virginia (No. 7), Louisville (No. 10), Miami (No. 11), and North Carolina (No. 33).
In July, Rothstein placed the Orange at seventh in his ACC power rankings.
Basket Under Review
The team at Basket Under Review was one of the outlets feeling the most optimistic about the Orange.
Syracuse placed as high as sixth in their rankings released around a month ago, trailing Duke, Virginia, Louisville, Miami, and North Carolina.
Bustin Brackets
Bustin Brackets ranked the Orange ninth heading into the upcoming season. This analysis in particular was worth highlighting:
“Syracuse begins the Gerry McNamara era with one of the league’s most fascinating young groups... the question is how quickly that youth translates into winning,” Rodney Knuppel of Bustin Brackets wrote. “Syracuse has enough talent to become dangerous, but the Orange will be relying heavily on players still early in their college careers. If Anthony and White make major sophomore jumps, ninth could prove much too low.”
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We’ll have more previews coming before Monday’s season opener