The 2026-27 Syracuse Orange basketball team will start its season on Monday night as New Haven visits the JMA Wireless Dome (7 p.m. ET).

It's hard to believe that it was less than eight months ago that the 2025-26 season came to an end in the first round of the ACC tournament.

Since that March loss against SMU, the Orange program has gone through multiple changes, both to the roster and the coaching staff.

Gerry McNamara was hired to replace Adrian Autry as the program's head coach and the entire starting lineup left Central New York, either because of graduation or the transfer portal. McNamara replaced them by bringing in the likes of Gavin Doty, Amarri Monroe and Garwey Dual.

Here's what you need to know as Syracuse hosts New Haven in the regular season opener.

After spending four seasons as a player for Syracuse, McNamara will make his head coaching debut for the Orange on Monday. McNamara spent over a decade as an assistant on the staff before accepting a head coaching job for the Siena Saints in 2024. In his second and final season guiding the Saints, McNamara led the school to a MAAC (now the Metro conference) championship and the school's first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2009.

As our Brady Farkas noted this weekend, McNamara will be dealing with a personal loss. McNamara's father, Gerard McNamara, died over the weekend at 78 years old. McNamara is expected to be on the sidelines Monday night and he will surely get a big ovation from the Orange faithful.

Monday's meeting will mark the first time both schools have faced off.

New Haven is a member of the Northeast Conference (NEC). Last season, the Chargers finished 14-17 and 9-9 in league play. The NEC will again be considered a one-bid conference for the NCAA Tournament. If New Haven wants to be an NCAA tournament qualifying team, the Chargers will have to win the conference tournament in March.

McNamara's debut could draw the biggest season-opening crowd of the post-Jim Boeheim era.. Syracuse is offering the first 5,000 fans in attendance a free McNamara jersey.

The most interesting storyline entering Monday's matchup will be the starting lineup and rotation for the Orange.

Players like Kiyan Anthony, although dealing with an injury, did not see significant time on the court during the preseason. How much will Anthony play against New Haven? Will freshman Ryan Moesch see as much time on the floor as he did in exhibition contests? What about big man Luke Wilson? Monday's game will offer the first true glimpse of how McNamara may manage the roster this season. 

ACC Network EXTRA will have the television coverage at 7:00 p.m. ET. On the audio side, fans can listen across multiple affiliates in New York State. In the Central New York area, the game will be broadcast on the radio side on TK99/105 (99.5/100.5 FM) and WAER (88.3) and through Cuse.com.

SyracuseRoundTable will on site for the season tip-off. Remember to join the Syracuse community to take in the action with fellow Orange fans. Plus, following the game, SyracuseRoundtable will be offering insight, takeaways from the contest and more