Syracuse Basketball: ‘Cuse 2024-25 roster is much more experienced than a season ago

In slightly more than two months, Syracuse basketball will embark on its 2024-25 season, as the Orange aims to get back to the NCAA Tournament following a three-year absence.

In 2024-25, head coach Adrian Autry and his top-flight staff will possess a roster that is much more experienced than a season ago, when the ‘Cuse went 20-12 overall and won at least 20 regular-season games for the first time in a decade.

Now, just to be clear, when I note the word “experienced,” I’m referring to the class designations of 2024-25 players. It’s absolutely true that the Orange’s roster for this coming term has been overhauled, with guys transferring in and out of the program this past off-season, much like the team’s peers around the country.

Between college transfers and incoming freshmen from the high school level, Syracuse basketball has numerous 2024-25 players who are new to the ‘Cuse. But still, the Orange’s 2024-25 line-up will contain way more veterans, so to speak, than in 2023-24.

The Orange’s 2024-25 roster is now up on the SU Athletics Web site. A Syracuse basketball spokesperson was also kind enough to send a copy of the roster to me on Friday.

This is the breakdown for 2024-25 (the ‘Cuse has 12 scholarship players):
Graduate student, 1
Senior, 4
Redshirt junior, 1
Junior, 2
Redshirt sophomore, 1
Freshman, 3

Upperclassmen: 8
Underclassmen: 4

One note: Guard Chance Westry is listed as a redshirt sophomore, due to prior injuries, although this will be his third year at the collegiate level.

By comparison, in 2023-24, the first season with Autry at the helm of the program, here’s the breakdown among the Orange’s 13 scholarship players:
Junior, 3
Redshirt sophomore, 1
Sophomore, 8
Freshman, 1

Upperclassmen, 3
Underclassmen, 10

One note: Guard Kyle Cuffe Jr. was listed as a redshirt sophomore in 2023-24, due to injury issues, although that season was his third in college.

That’s a sizable difference in upperclassmen versus underclassmen between 2023-24 and now 2024-25. It’s also not surprising, particularly since Syracuse basketball had a roster in 2023-24 filled mainly with sophomores, and many of them transferred out of the program this off-season.

Does a more experienced roster guarantee more success for the ‘Cuse in 2024-25? Of course not. At the same time, I do think that having more veterans on the roster for this upcoming season is a benefit, not a disadvantage.

See below for the jersey numbers, class designations, heights and weights for the team’s 12 scholarship players in 2024-25, per SU Athletics.

Kyle Cuffe Jr., guard
#0
Redshirt junior
6-foot-2, 188 pounds

Donnie Freeman, forward
#1
Freshman
6-foot-9, 205 pounds

J.J. Starling, guard
#2
Junior
6-foot-4, 206 pounds

Lucas Taylor, guard
#3
Senior
6-foot-5, 200 pounds

Chris Bell, forward
#4
Junior
6-foot-7, 192 pounds

Jaquan Carlos, guard
#5
Senior
6-foot, 180 pounds

Petar Majstorovic, forward
#6
Freshman
6-foot-8, 215 pounds

Elijah Moore, guard
#8
Freshman
6-foot-4, 176 pounds

Naheem McLeod, center
#10
Senior
7-foot-4, 265 pounds

Chance Westry, guard
#11
Redshirt sophomore
6-foot-6, 205 pounds

Jyare Davis, forward
#13
Senior
6-foot-7, 220 pounds

Eddie Lampkin Jr., center
#44
Graduate student
6-foot-11, 265 pounds