Adrian Autry details transfer portal strategy, assesses players headed to Syracuse

Syracuse, N.Y. – When Adrian Autry was considering his options in the transfer portal this spring, the primary characteristics he sought were athleticism and positional size.

Those factors, he said, drove the way he and his staff evaluated players and focused attention on which guys they would recruit to play at Syracuse in 2025-26.

When the Orange men played good teams last season, the SU head coach said, they encountered bigger, more athletic players. Those players were longer, quicker to the ball and generally speedier on the basketball court than the Orange.

Syracuse needed to upgrade those particular areas if it wanted to return to college basketball relevancy.

“Those were the first steps of, hey, when we go into this portal, this is what we’re trying to look for,” Autry said last week during a wide-ranging conversation with syracuse.com/The Post-Standard in his Melo Center office.

Syracuse coaches convinced six players who entered the portal to play for the Orange next season. The splashiest name belongs to Nait George, the former Georgia Tech point guard who gives SU a true lead guard to pair with JJ Starling in the backcourt.

Other portal acquisitions were Nate Kingz (Oregon State), William Kyle (UCLA), Tyler Betsey (Cincinnati), Ibrahim Souare (Georgia Tech) and Bryce Zephir (Montana State).

Autry termed the return of Starling and Donnie Freeman hugely impactful in the way he built the rest of his roster.

He wanted to fit pertinent pieces around those two SU stars to complement their games and address areas in which the Orange otherwise lacked.

He went so far, he said, as to use video of NBA players to show Starling and Freeman the prototypes of players SU hoped to surround them with. When a portal player with similar characteristics expressed a mutual interest in SU, the staff shared video of those guys with Starling and Freeman.

The staff’s access to money for players, particularly the windfall expected from the House settlement, Autry said, was sufficient this season.

Autry said the Orange landed all the players it sought in the transfer portal and reiterated his belief in SU’s incoming freshman class. He cited the organizational skills of general manager Alex Kline as a helpful tool to immediately identify the targets the staff wanted to reach. SU coaches navigated the portal without a GM last year.

Here’s a rundown on each of Syracuse’s portal pieces and Autry’s assessment of their games:

Nait George, 6-foot-3 point guard, Georgia Tech

SU had first-hand familiarity with George, who played for an ACC opponent.

Autry recalled wanting to see him play during an Under-16 AAU tournament, but George broke his wrist, was unavailable and eventually drifted from the Orange radar.

Syracuse, too, had a long and prosperous relationship with Nait’s uncle, Mike George, the NBA agent who had represented Tyler Ennis and Oshae Brissett. Autry called that relationship “big for us,” in securing a commitment from Nait George.

Autry cited George’s assist numbers – he led the ACC in that category at 6.5 per game – as his primary appeal. He considered George one of the best point guards in the nation and was “the engine for that team.”

Autry credited Georgia Tech coach Damon Stoudamire, a former NBA point guard, with advancing George’s skill level.

“Just watching him from Year One to Year Two, he made big strides and you know, he’s a point guard,” Autry said. “He knows how to play the position, has great feel, great vision and his shooting has improved from year to year.”

By the time George committed to SU, the Orange already had several pieces in place that appealed to him, Autry said.

Nate Kingz, 6-foot-5 wing, Oregon State

Autry was drawn to Kingz’s biography, his rise from an unknown NAIA entity and his personal tribulations in the foster care system.

But Autry, too, envisioned Kingz as an impactful two-way player. He spoke with former SU great Stephen Thompson, now an assistant coach at Oregon State, about Kingz and came away from that conversation believing Kingz could be a lockdown defender for the Orange.

Kingz believes he only scratched the surface of his athleticism last season. It was his first year back to basketball after an ACL tear.

He also shot 44.4% from the 3-point line (56-of-126) last season. SU ranked 13th in 3-point field goal percentage last season.

“When you go into the portal, some people just kind of pop, you know, their stories are a little different,” Autry said. “And the fact that he could shoot the ball – I mean, he’s one of the best catch-and-shoot players in the country.”

William Kyle, 6-foot-9 center, UCLA

Syracuse, said Autry, tried to get involved with Kyle the previous portal season, when he was coming off a stellar year at South Dakota State. But Kyle committed to UCLA.

When he was back on the board this spring, SU pounced.

Autry described him as “a freak athletically.” He loves his size (“He’s a force”) and his measurables and believes he can impact the game in a variety of ways.

“When you watch him at South Dakota, yeah, you seen the dunks,” Autry said, “but you can see he can pass, he can open up and sweep a little bit and use his athleticism. But his defense pops off the charts.”

Kyle played limited minutes at UCLA (9.8 per game), a team suffused with talented big guys.

But when the game was on the line, Autry noticed that Mick Cronin, known for his defensive mindset, more often than not summoned Kyle into the game.

“Obviously that was attractive to us,” Autry said. “You know, offensively, he has some work to do, but he’s further along than what people may know or what the stats say, so to speak.”

Tyler Betsey, 6-foot-8 forward, Cincinnati

Syracuse recruited Betsey heavily out of high school. Back then, Gerry McNamara was SU’s lead recruiter with Betsey, who was ranked 53rd overall in the Class of 2024 by On3.com.

Betsey chose Cincinnati and played 27% of the available minutes with the Bearcats, a not-unusual number for college freshmen.

He entered the transfer portal and SU was quick to reacquaint itself with the versatile forward who made his reputation as a high school shooter with size.

“He’s gotten better defensively,” Autry said. “He’s probably one of the more talented guys we have.”

Betsey shot 32.1% from the 3-point line on 81 attempts last season. He can play both forward positions, a versatility that appeals to Autry, who has long desired players who can guard multiple positions.

Betsey played in the rugged Big 12 last season and Autry believes that experience has hardened him to Power Five competition.

Ibrahim Souare, 6-foot-9 center, Georgia Tech

Autry was sold on Souare for one overwhelming reason.

“His motor, his motor, his motor,” Autry said. “He can guard one through five.”

When Souare was on the floor (he averaged 17 minutes per game), opposing teams felt his presence, Autry said, particularly on the defensive end.

On offense, he is a work in progress. And his free throw shooting, for a big man who had the best free throw rate on his team last season, needs serious work. Souare shot 31.3% from the line last year (10-of-32).

“His offensive numbers are not great, but when you look at his mechanics, I think he’s a better free throw shooter than what he’s shown,” Autry said. “If you watch him shoot free throws, I’m like, I don’t understand why. But I think we can work with him. I believe in our development in that.”

Souare and George, former Georgia Tech teammates, seemed like a potential package deal. They are close friends. And they both ended up at Syracuse.

“It was almost like if Nait was leaving, he probably was gonna follow behind,” Autry said, “and I thought he fit what I was looking for.”

Bryce Zephir, 6-foot-4 guard, Montana State

Zephir’s numbers don’t leap off the page. He played about 43% of the minutes available for a Montana State team that went 15-18 last season.

He turned it over too much but recorded a decent assist rate.

The one thing that won’t show in a statistical analysis of Zephir is what SU coaches believe are the intangibles.

“He’s just tough. High IQ. He’s got good size. And he’s gonna fight you,” Autry said. “He’s not gonna get hit. He’s gonna do the hitting. And he’s a great teammate.”

He’s also got a backstory that resonates with Autry. Zephir has risen through the junior college and low major Division I ranks.

He has persevered and now finds himself on a Power Five roster. He lends maturity and experience to the roster.