After five consecutive seasons of missing the NCAA Tournament, it's clear that the star has fallen for the Syracuse Orange men's basketball program.
New head coach Gerry McNamara is trying to get it back, but he has a tough road ahead of him.
Not only are the Orange being projected to miss the NCAA Tournament again in an expanded tournament field, they are now also being ignored by ESPN's major broadcast windows.
On Monday, ESPN unveiled it's "Big Monday" lineup for the upcoming season, which features five consecutive weeks of doubleheader action involving the Big 12 and ACC, and the Orange are nowhere to be found.
On Feb. 1, the network will highlight Miami and Duke, followed by Kansas and Houston. Then, on Feb. 8, it's Louisville and North Carolina, with TCU and Arizona next. On Feb. 15, Louisville gets another shot at Virginia and then it's Houston and Texas Tech. On Feb. 22, Miami travels to North Carolina, followed by Arizona and BYU.
On March 1, Virginia takes on Duke and Iowa State visits Kansas.
Is it the worst thing that Syracuse doesn't factor into the "Big Monday" plans? Probably not. After all, only five different ACC programs are featured, with Clemson (12-6), NC State (10-8), and Florida State (10-8) all getting ignored despite winning double-digit league games in 2025-26.
But again, it's just further evidence of how far SU has dropped off in the last few years. The Orange haven't been to a Sweet 16 since 2020-21 and hasn't been to a Final Four since 2015-16. And less national exposure can hurt recruiting efforts.
About the Orange in 2026-27
Coming off a 15-17 season from a year ago that also saw them go 6-12 inside conference play, there's a lot of work for McNamara to do to rebuild the Orange, but I feel optimistic about the season ahead.
Syracuse seems to have done a good job at identifying players for each position in the transfer portal, which will give them the ability to match up with other teams. For instance, William Kyle III was an undersized center last year, and the Orange really just played with a small lineup constantly.
This year, they have true centers, true power forwards, true point guards, etc, which means they won't be behind the 8-ball when it comes to matching up with the opponent.
Furthermore, they've also added more 3-point shooting in the form of Gavin Doty and Aiden Tobiason, and Kiyan Anthony appears to be making strides on that front too.
The season begins on Nov. 2.