After a very disappointing 15-16 regular season that saw them go 6-12 inside Atlantic Coast Conference play, the Syracuse University men's basketball team earned the No. 14 seed in the ACC Tournament, which begins on Tuesday in Charlotte, N.C.

The Orange will take on No. 11 SMU in that opening round matchup. SU beat the Mustangs earlier this season on a late bucket by guard Nate Kingz. Tip-off is set for 4:30 p.m. ET.

Whenever the tournament run ends for the Orange, all attention will turn to Adrian Autry, whose future as head coach is very much up in the air. He spoke about that future after Saturday's loss to Pitt. 

Wrapping up his third season at the helm of the program, Autry is 49-47 entering the ACC Tournament. He's never been to the NCAA Tournament and the Orange are on the verge of missing it for the fifth straight year.

Fans have grown upset at the direction of the program and have called for a change. 

According to Pete Nakos of On3 Sports, a change is expected to happen.

The current expectation is that Syracuse will make a coaching change. Red Autry has struggled to keep Syracuse relevant in the national college basketball conversation. The 14-win season a year ago was the program’s lowest win total since 1970

Syracuse is set to miss the NCAA tournament for the fifth consecutive season. The only question is when Syracuse will hire its next athletic director, which will likely factor in when the school makes a decision on Autry.

Current athletic director John Wildhack is stepping down at the end of June. To the point above: Will Wildhack make the decision on Autry's future and then saddle the new athletic director with whatever the consequences are?

Or, will the new athletic director get hired first, and then immediately be saddled with one of the biggest decisions that an administrator can make in SU Athletics? 

Or, could the university reverse the expectation and give Autry another year while the new athletic director puts some systems in place to help the future? It all remains to be seen, but we should start to get some clarity when the season ends, possibly as soon as Tuesday afternoon.

--The Syracuse women's basketball team was eliminated earlier this week in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament. They are expected to make the NCAA Tournament, but won't have confirmation until the Selection Show on March 15.

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