He made the comments on 'Cuse Sports Talk as the Orange get set to head to Las Vegas for the Players Era Championship.
After holding onto beat Monmouth on Tuesday night, the Syracuse University men's basketball team is now 4-0 as they get ready to head to Las Vegas for the Players Era Championship.
The Orange will take on No. 2 Houston on Monday night before playing No. 24 Kansas on Tuesday. Notre Dame will also participate in the event.
When asked by 'Cuse Sports Talk about playing in an event with marquee programs, head coach Adrian Autry made sure to point that his program is still a marquee program as well.
You know, you said 'big programs out there.' This is a big program. And I think, obviously we haven't had the success that we want, but this is a big program and I think we deserve to be there and we're excited to be there for the opportunity. Syracuse is there and that's the thing that we're excited about: to represent us and we're not worrying about no one else. You know, Syracuse is in there, and that's how we approaching that and that's how we will continue to approach it. And that's my job, and that's all our coaching staff's job. That's our player's job to think that way and to be that way and to play that way.
To Autry's point
Syracuse has missed the NCAA Tournament each of the last four seasons and they are coming off a year in which they finished 14-19 with a 7-13 conference record.
They last got to the NCAA Tournament in 2020-21, losing in the Sweet 16 as an 11-seed.
The Orange haven't been higher than an eight-seed in the tournament since 2013-14 (No. 3).
He's right to feel that way
Syracuse, as a brand, has gone through a tough last decade. There's no debating that. However, big brands all across college sports go through lulls, and they come back.
Florida football is in a big lull now. Texas football was in a big lull for years. Michigan was too, and they won the national title in 2023.
Arizona basketball was in a lull for years, as was UConn, and they are now both some of the biggest brands in the sports once again.
That can be Syracuse too, but it has to start somewhere, and perhaps that somewhere is this year. The Orange have won three of their four games by 30+ points and they'll get a chance to show how real they are against Houston and Kansas.
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