Who’s responsible for the Syracuse basketball roster? The GM or coach? (Mike’s mailbox)

Syracuse, N.Y. — College sports is morphing with pro sports with the advent of name, image and likeness and paying players.

There are players in college who are older and making more money than some players in the NBA.

Therefore, we have seen a proliferation of schools adding the role of general manager to their basketball staff.

That’s where we begin this week’s Mailbox.

A reminder: The Mailbox has returned as part of our Inside Syracuse basketball newsletter. As a subscriber to the newsletter, you’ll get the Mailbox days before it appears on Syracuse.com. You’ll also be able to submit questions directly to me at mwaters@syracuse.com.

Q: Is the roster on the GM or the head coach? - Gazelle 315 via Twitter

Mike: This sounds like a sports version of the chicken or the egg question.

In Syracuse’s case, Adrian Autry became the Orange’s head coach three years ago. Alex Kline was brought on as the basketball program’s first general manager in the summer of 2024, which meant that this year’s roster is the first one that Kline and Autry worked on together.

Autry and Kline constructed a roster that was completely different from the team that went 14-19 in 2025. They wanted a more athletic team. They wanted multiple ball-handlers. They were going to run an offense heavy on pick-and-roll action. They wanted guys who could switch on defense.

And, for the most part, that’s what we’ve seen on the court; even if the results have been disappointing.

Anyway, let’s try to answer the question: Kline’s job was to identify players that he thought fit Autry’s wants and needs. Autry and his staff then continued the evaluation process.

The task of determining how much money a player might be worth was the next step, and that would also likely be a collaborative effort.

Kline and Autry both might like a player, but they might disagree on how to fit him into SU’s budget. And even if they did agree, they could lose the player to another school that offered more money.

Then it’s onto the next transfer or high school recruit.

In the end, the final decisions always stop at the head coach’s desk.

Q: There have been comments regarding the SU men’s basketball team not moving the ball around. Would an assist ratio (number of assists divided by made shots) be a valid indication of how well a team shared the ball? – Rick P.

Mike: Great analysis, Rick. And guess what? There already is a metric for that.

Ken Pomeroy, the noted statistician, keeps an Assists Per Made Field Goal stat on his KenPom.com website.

It’s very instructive. Although offensive putbacks and baskets off steals have a small effect on the ratio, the A/FGM stat still offers a good reference point for how teams are constructed, whether the offense relies on drives to the basket or creating open jumpers, and how well they share the ball.

Syracuse has assists on 46.9% of its made field goals, which ranks 308th in the country.

Q: Just to shake things up, how about starting Tiefing Diawara along with Donnie Freeman and William Kyle up front? Nothing to lose. – Steve T.

Mike: I wouldn’t mind seeing a lineup change just to shake things up; although we might have passed the point where that would have helped a long time ago.

I don’t think moving Tiefing Diawara into the starting lineup would help though.

Diawara, a 7-foot freshman, has played in just four games this season for a total of 10 minutes. His last appearance was against Stonehill on Dec. 22.

It seems pretty obvious that he’s not ready. With such little playing time, I think it would be almost unfair to Diawara to throw him into a game, especially, as a starter at this point.

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