Adrian Autry's Restoration of 'Orange Standard' Starts With Practice

Intense practices serve as a starting point for a bounce-back season for the Orange.

Besides the on-court changes like switching to man-to-man defense, playing a deeper rotation, and playing at a faster pace, new head coach Adrian Autry recently discussed how he wants to re-establish a winning culture, something that has been coined as the “Orange Standard.”

“I think it’s probably more of a buzzword from the outside, but on the inside, I think we all know what that means,” said Autry. “I think we all know where we want to be as a team, what we want to be as a program, and I think that’s what we work towards every day.”

Autry is confident he can establish that culture based on his time so far with the team. The group of guys is already motivated to win and get back on track heading into the season. 

“Particularly this group, we have a very, very competitive group,” said Autry. “I think they all have their own personal motivations, and I have mine as well… I’m not using any tactics to try to motivate them, these guys show up, they know what I’m about, they know what needs to be done, and we go to work.”

Due to how competitive and motivated this year’s group of guys are, practices have been extremely intense, as guys are pushing each other to be better. That has brought a new look to practices under coach Autry this season compared to last season’s practices. 

“Practices have definitely been a lot more competitive than they were last year,” said returning sophomore Justin Taylor.

While incoming star transfer J.J. Starling was practicing with ACC rival Notre Dame instead of Syracuse last season, he reiterated what Taylor said. When asked if practices this year are competitive and intense, he chuckled. 

“Oh my gosh, yes, it’s very competitive,” said Starling. "We are pushing each other day in and day out, whether we are getting frustrated with each other, we are just competing at the end of the day and looking to be the best versions of ourselves.”

Despite the increased intensity of practices, rather than leading to bad blood, it has helped the team bond off the court. Justin Taylor described the team off the court as “brothers”, and his fellow returning sophomore and leader of the team Judah Mintz said, “We’re a family at the end of the day, we say it every day in practice, we don’t just say it, we mean it.”

Under coach Autry, pushing each other to be better both on and off the court seems to be a point of emphasis, and a significant part of re-establishing the Orange Standard that Jim Boeheim helped maintain over his long tenure. However, Syracuse deemed it was time for significant change, and while time will tell if the coaching change will pay off, fans have plenty of reasons to be excited heading into the upcoming season.

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