Cuse,
How do you feel about Autry keeping the previous staff intact and who is the candidate for the last spot?
I'm neutral. Hard to know how much the assistants were helped/hurt by Boeheim's system. GMac and Griffin have their pros/cons e.g., Griffin gets credit for developing Edwards and has the strongest recruiting resume behind Autry (HC).
The rumored assistant is
Brenden Straughn who is coming from George Washington. A few interesting things: 1) When Syracuse was in its heyday, they did it by winning the recruiting game in NY/NJ, Philly and the DMV. Straughn is considered an elite recruiter from the area with deep ties to Team Takeover (AAU). 2) Via that connection, Straughn is tied to Justin Moore ('Nova transfer) and Donnie Freeman ('24 top 25 recruit) and has Syracuse firmly in the mix, if not leading for both. 3) I hate this part, but Straughn also got a commit from Trey Autry to George Washington, a '23 recruit and the son of Adrian Autry. After the Buddy Boeheim fiasco (not on court per se, but ripple effect to recruiting), I am hesitant about ramifications here as well.
I expect the assistant announcement to come after the Final 4, as is the case with many teams.