Bubble trouble? Syracuse Orange - IN or OUT?

Syracuse Resume:

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• Overall: 18-12

• Big East: 8-9

• RPI: 52

• Strength of Schedule: 8

• Key Wins: Georgetown, Villanova, Virginia, St. Joe’s

• Key Losses: UMass, Rhode Island, South Florida

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Syracuse Outlook:

You are now entering the do-or-die portion of our Bubble Trouble program, and Syracuse isn’t just the president, they’re a member too. 

They gave away last Saturday’s game to Pitt, squandering away an 11-point lead with 3:30 left to play, and though they rebounded on Wednesday night by dropping Seton Hall, the Orange find themselves in the danger zone and in serious bubble jeopardy.  For the second time in as many years, Syracuse is on the outskirts of making the NCAA Tournament.  The Orange haven’t missed the tournament two years in row under head coach Jim Boeheim since the 1980-81 and 1981-82 seasons.  The win over Seton Hall was just the second time in seven games Syracuse has posted a victory in what has been a tough final leg of the regular season. 

Syracuse had to run a brutal four-game gauntlet against Georgetown, Louisville, Notre Dame and Pitt, picking up only one win in that stretch, a 77-70 victory over Big East leading Georgetown.  While Syracuse took care of things against the Pirates in a must-win situation, there’s a tremendous amount of work left to be done and not much time to do it.  They’ll get No. 20 Marquette in the Carrier Dome in the season finale, which is definitely a must-win as well.  Syracuse will have to find a way to at least make it to the second day of the Big East tournament next week, but a trip to the Semifinals may not be enough.  To be given serious consideration, Syracuse may have to make it to the Big East Tournament Championship game.  All of this of course will be irrelevant if they don’t win on Saturday against Marquette. 

Their nonconference schedule isn’t awful but it isn’t grueling.  They posted decent wins over Virginia and fellow bubble-trouble mate St. Joe’s, but it appears neither of those teams will be getting invited to the Big Dance.  Losses at home to UMass and Rhode Island aren’t killing Syracuse, nor are they helping the Orange either.  Losing down in Orlando to South Florida a few weeks back was disastrous, and other than choking the game away to Pitt last weekend, that loss is easily the worst loss Syracuse had endured all year.  At this time of the year, and with their tournament hopes still in question back in early February, Syracuse couldn’t have picked a worse time to fall to one of the worst teams in the Big East. 

While Syracuse has beaten up the bottom half of teams in the Big East (teams in the bottom 8 of the standings), going 7-2, the Orange have been beaten down up the upper-tier squads in the Big East.  Against teams in the top eight in the standings, Syracuse is just 1-7.  The next loss Syracuse suffers may be the final nail in the coffin for their chances of making the NCAA Tournament.

by Frank Minniti
BigEast-fans.com Director of Content

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