Orange Watch: Syracuse basketball declines NIT bid
Welcome to the reality of the new world of the transfer portal in college basketball, which not so coincidently opens today, March 18, and goes until May 1. Which in the case for Syracuse and several other teams (Pitt, St. John's, Washington) listed in various NIT prognosticator's brackets before the 32 team field was released Sunday night, equates to declining an invitation to the secondary tournament because of the ongoing saga of roster management and/or coaching staff turnover. For Adrian Autry and his staff, the likelihood that at least three, and perhaps more, players move on, starting as soon as Monday, makes clear the university simply could not commit to fielding a competitive NIT roster for games that would have been played on the road beginning with a geographically-friendly northeast pairing.
