Syracuse’s name is missing from ESPN’s latest “Big Monday” schedule, and that says plenty about where the Orange stand right now.
ESPN rolled out its upcoming five-week run of doubleheaders on Monday, and the slate is built around the Big 12 and ACC without Syracuse anywhere in the mix. The lineup starts on Feb. 1 with Miami vs.
Duke and Kansas vs. Houston.
A week later, Louisville meets North Carolina before TCU plays Arizona. On Feb.
15, Louisville gets Virginia and Houston faces Texas Tech. Feb. 22 brings Miami at North Carolina, followed by Arizona vs.
BYU. Then on March 1, Virginia and Duke hook up, with Iowa State at Kansas closing it out.
That omission is another sign of how far the Orange have slipped in the national picture after five straight seasons without an NCAA Tournament appearance. New coach Gerry McNamara is trying to reverse that trend, but he’s working uphill. Syracuse is also being projected to miss the tournament again despite the expanded field.
It’s not as if every ACC team got a spot, either. Only five league programs made the cut, and Clemson, NC State, and Florida State were left out despite each winning double-digit conference games in 2025-26.
Still, Syracuse’s absence is hard to ignore. The Orange haven’t reached a Sweet 16 since 2020-21 and haven’t made a Final Four since 2015-16, and the lack of regular national TV exposure can only make the climb back harder on the recruiting trail.
There is at least some reason for optimism heading into 2026-27.
Syracuse is coming off a 15-17 season that included a 6-12 mark in conference play, but McNamara has spent the offseason trying to reshape the roster. The Orange appear to have targeted players to fill specific positions through the transfer portal, which should help them match up better across the board.
Last season, William Kyle III was an undersized center and Syracuse spent much of the year playing small. This time around, the roster includes true centers, true power forwards and true point guards.
The Orange also added more shooting from beyond the arc with Gavin Doty and Aiden Tobiason, and Kiyan Anthony appears to be making progress in that area as well.
Syracuse opens the season on Nov. 2.
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Even in a game that did not go Syracuses way, the visit gave those recruits a chance to see how the Orange present themselves in front of a crowd and how the community around the program feels on a live football weekend. For a staff trying to sell more than wins and losses, that kind of exposure matters, especially when visitors leave with positive memories of the experience itself. The final score may have been disappointing, but the buzz in the stands suggested Syracuse still made a strong case to the players it had in town. [Read more 🡒]
Syracuse Wasted Too Much In A Loss Orange Fans Will Hate
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For Syracuse fans, though, the memory that lingers is Cals win over the Orange in the ACC opener. It stood out in a weekend otherwise defined by league-wide momentum, and it left Syracuse in the less comfortable position of having squandered too much in a game that could have changed the tone around its early-season start. [Read more 🡒]