Gerry McNamara earns solid grade for roster construction

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SYRACUSE, NEW YORK - JUNE 3: Syracuse Orange head coach Gerry McNamara during a basketball practice at the Carmelo K. Anthony Basketball Center on June 3, 2026 in Syracuse, New York. (Photo by Todd F. Michalek/Syracuse Athletics/University Images via Getty Images)

The Athletic decided to grade the new high-major coaching hires in men’s basketball on their initial roster construction.

The writer, CJ Moore, gave Gerry McNamara a B+ for this work building the Orange roster for the 26-27 season. Syracuse was previously given a B- grade by The Athletic for their transfer portal haul, but here’s what Moore had to say about the entire roster:

Syracuse: B-
Gerry McNamara’s transfer haul doesn’t really pop on paper. The Cuse rank No. 36, according to 247’s transfer rankings, and had just one top-100 player in our portal rankings: Siena’s Gavin Doty followed McNamara. But I give McNamara credit for being very intentional in the build. Most, if not all, of his rotation is 6 feet 5 or taller. He’s leaning into positional size. McNamara has said he’s not planning to play primarily 2-3 zone, but this does seem to be a team built to play some zone and lean on its defense.

That mention of the 2-3 zone probably perked up the ears of many Orange fans and it will be interesting to see if McNamara is going to deploy that option. We know their is a lot of positional size, a lot of lineup flexibility and some questions about how it will fit on the offensive end.

Is there enough ball-handling and shooting? Can the Orange hold up on the interior against a big opponent? Does all the lineup flexibility lead to cohesion or confusion?

Obviously the class lacked big names in both the transfers and freshmen added, but CJ Moore likes that there was a plan. Will the plan come together in a manner that would make Col. Hannibal Smith proud?

Here are some other grades which would be of interest to Syracuse fans. As Moore notes in the story, these grades are on a sliding scale based on program expectations.

North Carolina: C+

NC State: A

Boston College: A

Georgia Tech: B

Providence: A-

Summer grades are good for content, but once the ball is tipped in November no one will care what we thought in July. It will be up for McNamara and his team to prove it on the court.

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