New Syracuse associate head coach Adrian “Red” Autry says Mike Hopkins will do a “great” job at Washington and that nothing will change in terms of Syracuse’s approach to recruiting.
Over the weekend, there was a shakeup at Syracuse with Hopkins taking the job at the Pac-12 school, Syracuse then announcing an extension for 72-year-old Jim Boeheim and Autry being named associate head coach.
“It’s part of life,” Autry said Wednesday on The 4 Quarters Podcast. “People move on and this is part of what we do. Things happen, things change. And every time something happens, it goes forth as next person up, another opportunity. So I’m excited for Hop. I know he’ll do great things there and I’m just looking forward to continuing what we do here and moving forward.”
Hopkins is a West Coast guy who takes over in the Pac-12 after being on the Syracuse staff since 1996 and also working with USA Basketball under Boeheim and Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski.
“[He brings] energy, [he’s a] hard-worker, tireless worker,” Autry said of Hopkins. “He’s a great basketball mind. He’s been able to spend a lot of time with some of the great college coaches, Coach Boeheim, of course. And then spending time with USA, Coach K and some of those other coaches at the highest level.
“Great basketball mind, teacher, mentor. That’s the most important thing, is being able to motivate and make people better. And he’s a winner.”
As for Syracuse, the staff retains Autry and Gerry McNamara so recruiting should have continuity going forward.
“I think it still stays the same,” he said. “Our leader hasn’t changed and you just stay after it. I think it’s really cleared up some things as far as on the recruiting front and now we can move forward. Everything is in place and now we just keep moving forward like we’ve been doing.”
All three Syracuse recruits for 2017 — point guard Howard Washington, forward Oshae Brissett and big man Bourama Sidibe — have said they intend on still going to Syracuse.
As I wrote in this New York Times piece earlier in the season, Hopkins had been active in recruiting guys like Sidibe out of St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark, N.J.
Autry led the effort to land the Canadians Brissett and Washington, the latter of whom just recently committed.
Moving forward after a season in which the Orange missed the NCAA Tournament, the Syracuse roster will undergo some changes for next season. Guards John Gillon and Andrew White and bigs Tyler Roberson and Dajuan Coleman all graduate, while sophomore forward Tyler Lydon will declare for the NBA Draft. He is projected at No. 23 by DraftExpress.com.
The Orange return freshmen Tyus Battle and Taurean Thompson and sophomores Paschal Chukwu and Frank Howard. Matthew Moyer, a 6-8 freshman forward, becomes available after a redshirt season.
They remain in the mix for Putnam Science Academy (CT) guard Eric Ayala, who still is weighing whether to reclass to 2017.
“I think there’s a couple unknowns as far as how the roster will finish up,” Autry said. “I think we’ll be better, definitely on the defensive end. We’ll get back to being more traditional, bigger guards, tall guards. Our forwards will be back to the traditional size of the 6-8s and the 6-9s. I know defensively we’ll be better. We’ll see offensively how the team shapes up. But we’ll be right there.
“We’re always competitive and I think we’ll have a chance to be really good in our league.”
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