Syracuse Basketball takes on the NC State Wolfpack on Saturday at 2 pm in the Carrier Dome in a must-win game to keep their NCAA tournament hopes alive.
I was really hoping it wouldn’t come to this. Unfortunately, with back-to-back losses to Louisville and Pittsburgh, Syracuse basketball is firmly back on the NCAA tournament bubble. The game tomorrow against the Wolfpack is crucial. A loss makes three straight, and adds to the pile of bad losses the Orange already have under their belts. A win, while not securing an NCAA birth, puts them one step closer.
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I don’t want to be overly dramatic. I mean, it’s still possible that if Syracuse basketball loses tomorrow they can make the tournament. They could beat UNC (at UNC) and FSU (at FSU) and win a couple ACC tourney games and be in. Or they could just win the whole ACC tournament. But do we really want to leave anything up to chance at this point?
The last time Syracuse basketball missed the NCAA tournament two straight years was in 2007 and 2008. In ’07, the team won 24 games and were 10-6 in conference play and got horrendously snubbed. Honestly, it’s probably one of the worst all-time snubs in NCAA tourney history. I remember watching selection Sunday in utter disbelief and won’t repeat some of the choice words I had for the committee that day.
In 2008, they were 21-14 and 9-9 in conference play. Very similar to the numbers of this year’s squad. So historically speaking, we are not in a great position. I still think both of those teams should have made the tourney, but I do tend to look at things through orange-colored goggles on occasion. However I stand by my comments on 2007. The selection committee failed miserably that year and should be ashamed.
Cue tomorrow’s game. With a win, Syracuse basketball has a chance to get to 19-10. With the amount of parity in college basketball this year, 20 wins could very well be good enough for the tourney. Especially when those wins include games over UConn, Texas A&M, Duke, Notre Dame, and FSU (hopefully twice). It’s not the best resume ever, but it should be enough. Now they just need to win.
So with all that said, here are the four keys to the game against NC State.