NCAA Basketball: Syracuse and Louisville among teams with key MTEs on their schedules

Syracuse Orange

Red Autry led the Orange to 20 wins in his first season at the helm, but it's looking for bigger things in year number two. That quest will begin in earnest the week before Thanksgiving when they take part in the Legends Classic in Brooklyn along with Texas, Saint Joseph's, and Texas Tech.

The Orange, while they do return a handful of players, lost some key cogs from last season’s team. Star Judah Mintz left for the draft after averaging over 18 points per game, three rebounds, and four assists. Mintz went undrafted but would go on to sign a 10-day exhibit contract with the Philadelphia 76ers. They also lost sophomores Maliq Brown and Quadir Copeland to the transfer portal.

The key returners for Autry are juniors Chris Bell and JJ Starling who netted over 25 points per game last year. In the portal, the Orange brought in four guys who averaged double-digit points last season. Jaquan Carlos was a big-time point guard at Hofstra, dishing out over six assists, four rebounds, and 10 points. Eddie Lampkin, Jr. brings his 10 points and seven rebounds from Colorado to Syracuse this season. Autry dipped into the CAA for Jyare Davis who scored 17 points with 7.5 rebounds and 2.4 assists at Delaware. Lucas Taylor led Georgia State with 14.5 points on over 35% from deep last season and that would help a Syracuse team that shot just 33% from three last year.

The Legends Classic is important to Syracuse because, in their first game, they face a borderline top-25 team in Texas and then face the winner of Saint Joseph’s and Texas Tech. The Red Raiders look to be a potential at-large candidate that Syracuse could be compared to during the selection process. Ideally for Syracuse, it would be important for the team and their resume to come away with the title in this tournament leading into their matchup with Tennessee in the ACC/SEC Challenge on Dec. 3.