It seems extremely unlikely that the Syracuse Orange will play in this year’s March Madness. To qualify for the NCAA Tournament, the Orange would have to pull off the incredible Cinderella Story of winning the ACC Tournament while qualifying as the No. 14 seed for said postseason instance.
Syracuse is currently 14th in the ACC standings, and with two games left in the season, they won’t be able to do better than 11th even if they win out. With their 15-14 overall record and 6-10 conference mark, it’s very unlikely that they will be taken into account by the committee for the at-large bids.
If they win the ACC Tournament, it would be an incredible turnaround, possibly the best in recent memory. The one piece of good news for the Orange is that they have already clinched a spot in the conference tournament. Even if they lose out and Notre Dame and Syracuse win out, they will qualify as they own the round robin tiebreaker over Notre Dame.
Adrian Autry Recognizes That The Syracuse Orange Have Been A Disappointment In 2025-26
In his latest postgame press conference, an 88-83 defeat to Wake Forest, the Orange’s head coach, Adrian Autry, admitted that the team has been in poor form as of late. For him, Syracuse just hasn’t done enough.
“It’s been a struggle all year for us,” Syracuse coach Adrian Autry said. “In college, you’ve got to be tough. You’ve got to do tough things. You got to make tough plays. You’ve got to have resistance. You’ve got to be able to defend. And, you know, we just don’t do that.”
He even admitted that Syracuse hasn’t likely adapted to the new era of college athletics, defined by the transfer portal and NIL deals.
“Obviously, the results speak. But I think it’s really been a challenge because college has changed,” Autry said. “I don’t think we really fully grasped that — the commitment, and the change, and being able to adapt fast, whether the roster or the rules or the financial piece of it.”
“Everything just changed so fast and I think that’s had a bigger impact on results than most people know.”
It’s clear that bigger changes are needed at Syracuse, but for the time being, their only option for redemption runs through the ACC tournament.
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