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Syracuse will not play in the 2024 National Invitation Tournament. SU’s athletic department announced in a statement to syracuse.com that its men’s basketball team opted to not participate in the NIT after it did not qualify for the NCAA Tournament. The Orange have missed their third consecutive NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1967-1972. SU’s postseason, and the 2023-24 campaign, ended on March 10 after the team’s 83-65 loss to NC State at the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament.

Syracuse closed the regular season victors in four of its last five games. Going back to Feb. 20, the Orange toed the edge of ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi’s NCAA Tournament bubble consideration with wins over NC State, Notre Dame, Virginia Tech and Louisville. Even after a 90-75 away loss to Clemson on March 5, Syracuse was among Lunardi’s First Four Out.

Entering the ACC with a first-round bye as the No. 7 seed on March 10, SU likely needed to reach a Championship berth to attain an at-large bid. Instead, it lost in the second round — for the second year running — to eventual tournament winners No. 10 seed NC State.

In head coach Adrian Autry’s first season at the helm — and as of Selection Sunday — Syracuse (20-12, 11-9 ACC) ranks 84th in the NET rankings and 88th in KenPom’s efficiency rankings. It possesses a 2-8 record in Quadrant 1 games and is 4-3 in Quadrant 2. Autry’s predecessor, Jim Boeheim, never won the NIT but finished runner-up in the 1980-81 season.

Despite beating then-No. 7 North Carolina on Feb. 13 for its first win over an AP top-10 program since 2019, Syracuse couldn’t enter bubble discussion because of significant, recurring blowout losses to Quad 1 teams. Early on, the Orange fell 73-56 and 76-57 in consecutive contests to Tennessee and Gonzaga during the AllState Maui Invitational.

Against ACC foes, SU lost to Virginia 84-62 on Dec. 2 after returning from Hawaii. Then, an 86-66 defeat to Duke on Jan. 2 and an embarrassing 103-67 result — Syracuse’s worst-ever loss in the ACC — to UNC in their first meeting. At Wake Forest on Feb. 3, falling on the wrong side of a 99-70 result prompted Autry to apologize to the university for his team’s performance.

And though the Orange swept their regular season series versus 20-win ACC opponents Pittsburgh and NC State, resume-damaging defeats to Florida State, Boston College and Georgia Tech (all then-Quadrant 3-to-4 opponents) kept Syracuse on the outside looking in.

Alongside a sullen Maliq Brown and Judah Mintz at a press conference following SU’s loss to NC State, Autry seemed interested in Syracuse playing in the NIT.

“I think anytime you get a chance to make a postseason, you have to take it,” Autry said. “Again, this team is disappointed. Just really, kind of, trying to get through this right now with this team … We just haven’t crossed that bridge yet.”

But it appears now that the focus of Autry, and his program, remains on the 2024-25 season.

Published on March 17, 2024 at 10:00 pm

Contact Tyler: trschiff@syr.edu | @theTylerSchiff