2023 College Basketball Preview: Syracuse Orange

The college basketball season is less than three weeks away, and here at FTN Bets we have you covered for what promises to be another thrilling year of upsets and incredible finishes. I will be taking you around the country with a betting preview of the major conferences. I recap the betting trends from last season, list projected starters, preview the season, identify a key player, and reveal how I’m backing or fading each team. 

Let’s continue our preview with the ACC. Always competitive each season, the ACC is regularly among the nation’s top conferences with annual Final Four contenders Duke, Virginia and North Carolina. Last season, Miami made their first ever Final Four, guided by the March magic of head coach Jim Larrañaga. There are 15 teams in the ACC, making it the largest of all the power conferences. The critics continue to cite the weakness of the bottom ACC teams, which directly contributes to its sixth overall preseason ranking by KenPom. However, it still holds true that the top teams in the ACC will always have a chance at a Final Four run.

Let’s continue with our betting preview for the Syracuse Orange. 

2023-2024 Syracuse Orange Betting Preview

Conference: ACC
Head Coach: Adrian Autry (1st season)
2022-2023 Record: 17-15 (10-10)
ATS: 15-14-3
O/U: 18-14
Projected Starters: PG Judah Mintz, SG JJ Starling, SF Chris Bell, PF Benny Williams, C Naheem McLeod

Syracuse starts a new coaching era with Adrian Autry ascending to the head job after Jim Boeheim retired after 47 historic seasons for the Orange. Boeheim’s 1,116 career wins rank second only to Mike Krzyzewski’s 1,202. The Orange were in need of a fresh start after Syracuse failed to make the NCAA Tournament in three of the past four seasons. Autry achieved two huge moves in his first month as head coach. He convinced Judah Mintz to return and secured the transfer of former Notre Dame standout, J.J. Starling. 

Mintz ranked second on the team in scoring (16.3 PPG) and got better as the season progressed. He scored 17 or more points in six of the last seven games, with five or more assists in Syracuse’s last four contests. Starling averaged an impressive 11.2 PPG for the Irish as a true freshman and cited his recruiting relationship with Autry as a huge selling point for joining the Orange. The other major recruit was Chance Westry, who was the No. 32 recruit in the 2022 recruiting class, but battled injuries throughout the season with Auburn. The Tigers coaching staff granted him a medical redshirt, giving him a substantial opportunity with the Orange. Kyle Cuffe Jr. spent two years with Kansas, playing sparingly. He also was granted a medical redshirt last season, but recently suffered a broken bone in his hand. Cuffe should be ready for the start of the season. 

Will Syracuse continue their trademark zone defense, or change strategies in Autry’s first season? Either way, the play of Florida State 7-foot-4 transfer Naheem McLeod, will likely be tethered to team success for the Orange.

Key Player: Benny Williams

The 6-foot-8 highly touted recruit started to reach his potential at the end of last season. He scored 11 or more points in three of the last four games, including an 18-point, 11-rebound performance with five steals in the ACC loss to Wake Forest. With Mintz and Starling providing one of the ACC’s top backcourts, Syracuse needs Williams to be much more assertive on the offensive end at the very beginning of the season. 

Prediction: Syracuse hasn’t finished better than sixth in the ACC for nine straight years. It was time for a change. By starting inside the program with Autry, the Orange have a chance to improve quickly. But in the ACC Conference, that learning curve will need to flatten quickly. I don’t see this team making the NCAA Tournament in Autry’s first season. 

How I’m Betting Syracuse: I’m the “Missouri” of college basketball betting. I need to actually see this team play well before I’m backing them. I will likely fade the Orange early in the season and especially in early-season ACC road matchups. Could I see Syracuse being a live home underdog in conference play? Absolutely yes, especially with a talented and experienced backcourt. I will still look to overs in Autry’s first year, as a new system takes time for players to absorb. Syracuse had a run of 11 overs in 12 straight games during the middle of last season. They also failed to cover five of their last six games, and eight of their last 12. My early guess? Both of those trends continue in 2023-2024.