As we approach May and Gerry McNamara continues to build his initial Orange roster, we threw up the TNIAAM Roundtable signal to get some thoughts.
Who has been the biggest addition to the Syracuse MBB roster for 26-27?
Szuba: Well, Luke Wilson is the biggest. Abdramane Siby is the tallest. But I think Aiden Tobiason is the most important. Given the positional size and length of the roster Gerry McNamara has put together, defense seems to be the focal point while scoring could be at a premium. That’s where Tobiason comes in as a go-to scorer. Gavin Doty could fill that role as well as those guys form a 1a and 1b scoring punch. This is such a fun question because there’s multiple ways to answer, so I’ll stop there and leave that to the rest of the TNIAAM team.
Dom: Garwey Dual. The Siena guys will get plenty of attention, but Naithan George played *a lot* of minutes last year, and not having a backup point guard who could set the tone defensively while still being a playmaker was one of several reasons the Orange faltered last year. Dual could easily be the Orange’s top guy off the bench and even close in certain matchups. Especially on defense, he could also play next to some of these offense-first guys.
Max: Luke Wilson. While the returning frontcourt took a major blow, Wilson is a guy who should make an immediate impact in that area on day one. The reigning Sun Belt defensive player of the year might not replicate William Kyle’s 2.5 blocks per game from last season, but he will have many opportunities on the glass with the way Syracuse’s roster looks right now. He might take a minute to adjust to better competition, but I’d argue that Wilson has the greatest potential of anyone on the Orange.
Sam: Gavin Doty. I don’t think there’s a clear answer to this question, but Doty checks off so many boxes for Syracuse. On the floor, he’s a total gamer. Doty has a nose for the basketball and making impact plays, and has been putting in buckets ever since he first got the opportunity to crack Siena’s rotation during his freshman year. He will ride-and-die for head coach Gerry McNamara, and has been a winner next to GMac. Doty is a local kid that embraces his roots and will serve as the player-face of the program next to McNamara. He might not be the best player on the team, but he has as good of a chance as any to be.
Kevin: I’ll go with Mark Morano Mahmutovic because this could be the biggest sign that this staff could build a competitive ACC roster. Getting a top European player to commit to play for Syracuse could open up doors to a burgeoning market for Syracuse and it shows that maybe the coaches can get top-level talent. On the court, Mahmutovic could step in and provide the scoring this roster seems to be lacking.
What do you think is the biggest strength of this roster right now?
Dom: Backcourt depth. There are plenty of options to go to, many of them young. It’s still a question if some of the additions (Doty, Dual, and Tobiason, for instance) can translate their production to a P4 level. That said, they’ve got a lot of potential to pop along with a bounce-back year from Kiyan Anthony and a hopefully-early contribution from Ryan Moesch. There’s plenty to work with.
Max: More tournament experience. It’s tough to predict how all these new names will gel together, so let’s think outside the box a bit. Along with the Siena incoming shipment, Dual also has NCAA Tournament experience, something that you couldn’t say about last year’s team. There is still a lot of work to be done with the roster, but having those postseason intangibles is definitely a plus.
Sam: Overall length. From top to near bottom, Syracuse’s roster is stacked with long athletes. Between Doty, Dual, Tobiason, Anthony, and Morano, five of the six rostered guards/wings are at least 6 foot 5. No more small lineups to get bullied. Additionally. Sadiq White’s athleticism and length in the frontcourt gives you legit second side rim protection, with three rostered centers at 6 foot 9, 255 pounds, 6 foot 10, and 7 feet with a 7 foot 6 wingspan. Easy to see the principles with which this roster was constructed.
Szuba: Yeah, it’s got to be positional size and length, right? Not including Moesch, every player on this roster is 6-foot-5 and up. McNamara and staff has ironically put together an ideal 2-3 zone team on paper. But size and length helps in a lot of ways in basketball, especially on the defensive end where guys can switch and guard multiple positions without giving up too much of an advantage as Sam speaks to. Very interested to see how well this team can defend starting in November.
Kevin: Call Jay Bilas because this team might lead the ACC in wingspan. Will that translate to success, who knows, but we shouldn’t see a repeat of previous years where other teams just simply out-sized the Orange across the floor. Of course just because they are tall and long doesn’t automatically mean they can defend….
What do you think is the biggest weakness of this roster right now?
Dom: The center rotation is quite concerning. The Orange are looking at Tasman Goodrick (who’s played 18 career games and been sidelined with injury), an intriguing but still unproven at the P5 name in Luke Wilson, and a 19-year-old prospect in Abdramane Siby. Even if Sadiq White Jr. takes a leap, the frontcourt potential and the defensive concerns are definitely worrisome.
It’s safe to say the Naithan George and Jaquan Carlos experiments didn’t work out. I’m not confident that Dual will be the answer this year, either. For a first-year coach looking to build a foundation, having a point guard that can do everything is a must (albeit very hard to recruit). On top of not having a proven PG, we still don’t know where exactly any production will come from after losing the entire starting lineup from last year. We’ll just have to wait and see GMac’s philosophy here.
Sam: Offensive versatility. The Syracuse frontcourt doesn’t have a ton of offensive pop outside of the rim area. Perhaps White evolves his game and can shoot it better, or one of the three bigs adds some more of a mid-range game, but most of the offensive creation will have to come from the backcourt, and while Dual can operate the pick-and-roll, he’s not much of a shooter himself. It puts a lot of burden on the 2-3 positions – or 2-4 positions if you’re in a smaller lineup – to give you a big bulk of the scoring and primary creation.
Szuba: High-end talent. Call it logo bias. Call it brand belief. Or just call it skepticism. There’s plenty of mid-major talent capable of playing up to the high-major level in college basketball, we just haven’t seen it at Syracuse much, if at all. The Orange didn’t acquire a transfer who played at a Power Four level school. I think the Syracuse staff has done a really good job putting a roster together on short notice considering the coaching change and other constraints. On paper there’s definitely some value additions and under-the-radar guys who I think can translate to the ACC level. In actuality, however, I’m just not sure how that will look when the ball gets tipped. The jury could still be out for the rest of 2026.
Kevin: Some assembly required. Individually I think there is a lot to work with, but my concern is what’s the fit here? There isn’t a classic PG so what happens when teams press? There doesn’t seem to be proven 3-pt shooting so what happens when teams go zone? There are some questionable defenders so can you get enough offense out of the best defensive line-up. I don’t know how Gerry McNamara wants his team to play, so it’s hard to know if this roster fits or if we’re going to have another season of a HC talking about how he wants to play while we watch a team do the opposite.
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