Red's first public words as head coach; see 15:00 - 15:48 mark.
“What I think about what drew me to Syracuse as a player, I think about its history, rich tradition, and what I refer to as the Orange standard, which was set by coach Boeheim.” “The Orange standard is; this history of winning, the history of playing hard, and competing for championships.” “The history of resilance, determination and grit.” “As I take over this program as the head coach, it’s these standards that will guide us into the future.” “I am a new voice, a new face with new ideas, but the standards that have helped built this program will not change.”
You are correct that he did not speak in specifics. However, IMO, one that I think many can interpret his words of "the standard of competing for championships" as meaning, NCAA, not NIT. And, that being the case, something that a program with the aforementioned "standards" being one that is competing for, more times than not, on an annual basis. Furthermore, in order to do such, there isn't any need to mention the minimal type threshold of simply making the Dance, because with such "standards" of its built "history," etc., it's an obvious 'given' type bar for a program the likes of Syracuse University.
However, as is always the case, folks will choose to interpret things as they see fit.