Normally, the midweek ACC coaches call gives reporters a chance to ask about preparations for the upcoming matchup. But when Adrian Autry joined the Zoom this week, the questions quickly shifted in a different direction.
There was no discussion about what the team is doing to prepare for their road matchup in Winston-Salem against Wake Forest over the weekend; the questions were much more big-picture.
Here are some of the responses from Coach Autry from the call:
When asked about whether or not he felt that there were players he recruited who he felt may not have played up to their potential or were slotted into different roles than they were initially intended to, Autry said:
“Some of the things that we knew would be a concern as far as speed and athleticism I thought were addressed prior to the season, but the other things were guys going through slumps and different coverages we didn’t predict that we didn’t account for.”
It felt like a roundabout way of admitting that some of the roster challenges caught the Orange off guard. Inconsistency has defined this team all season.
No one has separated themselves over a sustained stretch. The flashes are there, but they come and go. One night, it’s Donnie Freeman. The next it’s JJ Starling. Then Nate Kingz steps up. After that, it’s anyone’s guess.
It doesn’t feel like the plan was to operate without a clear focal point, but the absence of a true go-to presence has made it difficult for this team to find rhythm, and it’s a big reason why they’ve struggled.
When asked about the process of acquiring Nate Kingz at the transfer portal, Autry said:
“Alex Klein, our GM, identified him when he put his name in the portal. Alex has done a really good job of connecting with him and for his role we pigeonholed him as more of a catch and shoot guy. I didn’t really know that he was very good at putting the ball on the floor. He really grew into one of our top options as the season has progressed. I think we got a little more than we penciled him in as.”
Autry said the staff initially viewed Kingz as strictly a catch-and-shoot option, only to watch him grow into someone who can create off the dribble.
That naturally raises a few questions. If Kingz was brought in to space the floor, why hasn’t he consistently been put in more catch-and-shoot situations? And if he has this kind of off-the-dribble ability, how did that not show up sooner in the evaluation process?
Just food for thought regarding how Kingz has been viewed throughout the course of the season.
When asked about how to tell the players to deal with the outside noise swirling around the program regarding a head coach’s job status, Autry said:
At the end of the day, these guys are young men and you have to handle things like this as a man. But, this is part of the job and it comes with it. Anything that you want is always going to be challenging and hard and you have to keep doing your job and pushing through. You have to finish what you start and do it with great intent and passion and without any quit.“
One clear takeaway from that response is that Adrian Autry hears the noise. He knows what’s being said and understands the outside criticism.
When he closed by saying he has to keep his head down and keep fighting no matter what, it almost sounded like someone aware of what many Syracuse fans have deemed to be inevitable, but determined to keep coaching and competing game by game, regardless of what may happen next.
Finally, when asked about being one of the five teams that did not sign anyone to their roster on National Signing Day, Autry said:
“When we looked at the high school class, it came down to a few guys we were interested in that we thought would make an impact right away, because that is the current landscape of college basketball. You don’t want to bring in guys that can’t help right away, especially in high school because now you have spent a year developing them, and you may not have them next year.”
That response was confusing. There’s a reason only a handful of Division I programs avoid bringing in at least one freshman each year; it’s a bold, risky strategy in today’s game.
When Adrian Autry mentioned the concern of developing a player for a year only to see him transfer, it almost sounded like a lack of confidence in the culture being built. Talent alone isn’t enough. This season has shown that continuity matters, and the most sustainable way to build that is by bringing freshmen into the program and giving them reasons to stay and grow at Syracuse.
What are your takes on Coach Autry’s responses from the call?
