After going 15-17 last season under previous head coach Adrian Autry, the assumption is that the Syracuse men’s basketball team will be better in 2026-27.
For starters, the conference schedule is fairly advantageous, but there are other reasons for optimism as well: Gerry McNamara seems to be a very capable head coach based upon his time at Siena, and he has inherent knowledge of Syracuse through his time as a player and an assistant coach.
Advertisement
And despite the Orange losing the likes of Donnie Freeman and Naithan George (transfer), as well as William Kyle, JJ Starling and Nate Kingz (graduation), McNamara and his staff have brought in a solid group of transfer portal players to pair with returners Sadiq White Jr. and Kiyan Anthony
There’s particular excitement about Fulton, N.Y. native Gavin Doty, who follows McNamara from Siena to Syracuse on the heels of a trip to the NCAA Tournament with the Saints.
But regardless of how much optimism there is, SU fans got a reality check on Tuesday when ESPN’s Joe Lunardi released his first edition of ‘bracketology‘ ahead of the 2026-27 season.
Yes, we are still 3.5 months away from the first tip-off of the season, but it’s always fun to see how your team fits into the national picture. That said, Lunardi doesn’t think that Syracuse does.
Advertisement
Not only did he not pick the Orange to advance to the newly-formed 76-team tournament, he also doesn’t have them as any of the last eight teams that are on the bubble, meaning he doesn’t think that McNamara’s group will be among the top 84 teams in the nation come March.
He’s got the ACC receiving seven bids to the tournament.
According to original reporting from Pete Thamel of ESPN, there will be eight new teams added to the tournament, bumping the field from 68 to 76 teams as we said. The currently named “First Four” will expand to 12 games, featuring 24 teams in action before the first Thursday of the tournament.
Advertisement
Those 12 winners will advance into the traditional tournament bracket, giving us the 64 teams that we are accustomed to on the first Thursday of the event.
Nicole Auerbach of NBC Sports added that six of these “First 12” games will feature at-large teams, while six will feature automatic qualifiers.
For the basic math of it all:
76 teams in the tournament
24 teams playing in the “First 12”
52 teams not playing in the “First 12”
12 winners from the “First 12” + 52 teams = 64 teams on start of Thursday
The Orange will open up the season on Nov. 2 against New Haven at the JMA Wireless Dome.
Advertisement
Remember to join our SYRACUSE on ROUNDTABLE community, which is FREE! You can post your own thoughts, in text or video form, and you can engage with our Roundtable staff, as well as other Orange fans. If prompted to download the Roundtable APP, that’s free too!
