The Epic Collapse of Syracuse Basketball

At one point, Syracuse basketball was sitting pretty. They had won eight of nine games and were in prime position to not only make the NCAA tournament, but contend for top five in the ACC.

Then reality happened. They lost six of their next seven games. They completely fell apart as a team. They pretty much succumbed to their opponents and lacked that killer instinct.

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But let’s go back to that time when there was so much possibility and see how things could have gone oh so wrong.

The date was Sunday, February 14th. Precisely 25 days ago. Syracuse basketball had just come out with a hard-fought but well-earned 75-61 victory over Boston College on the road. Their record stood at 18-8 and they were a borderline top 25 team. After falling from grace post-Battle 4 Atlantis, the team had finally looked like they turned a corner.

All they had to do was win a couple games and they were assured an NCAA spot. And then the wheels fell completely off and exploded, Aqua Teen Hunger Force style.

I honestly have a hard time describing just how much the team regressed. The sad part is, this isn’t the first time it’s happened either. Two years ago, Syracuse basketball started 25-0. They finished 3-6 down the stretch. Last year they started 14-5. They finished 4-8 including three straight losses to close the season.

Sadly, what we see this year isn’t a new trend. It’s the disturbing reality of the past few years of Syracuse basketball. The question is, why is it happening lately?

I think there are several factors to be honest. One of them has been the unexpected early declaration of players to the NBA draft. Another was the NCAA’s apparent penchant for screwing over Syracuse basketball. A third has to be some recruits that just haven’t panned out. Lastly, let’s not forget the injury bug that’s hit SU pretty hard the past few years.

Honestly, two years ago it wasn’t a huge surprise that MCW decided to go pro. I was truly hoping he’d stay another year, and perhaps if he had he could have developed a better jumper, which is his Achilles heel in the NBA right now, but he certainly didn’t make a bad decision.

That next year was supposed to be a rebuilding year, but Syracuse basketball started out 25-0 and were ranked #1 in the nation. However, all the warning signs were there. An OT win against Duke was followed up with several narrow escapes, including the miracle in Pittsburgh. But we all saw the writing on the wall. The team had overachieved and relied so heavily on defense and the brilliant play of Tyler Ennis.

Soon enough, that came crashing down as the paper thin depth and complete lack of an interior game (gee, sound familiar?) caused SU to collapse down the stretch. They lost in the first game of the ACC tourney (gee, sound familiar?) and although they made the NCAA tourney as a three seed, lost in the second game to Dayton.

After the season, Tyler Ennis and Jerami Grant declared for the NBA draft. While Ennis wasn’t a huge surprise, I do think he could have used another year to work on his quickness and his shot, but he was a borderline lottery pick and it made sense for him. Grant on the other hand, should not have gone. Yes, he’s finally coming into his own in the NBA, but another season at SU would have catapulted him into a top 10-15 pick, gotten him a way better rookie contract, and refined the skills he desperately needed.

Then came last year. An already undermanned Syracuse basketball team lost Chris McCullough less than a quarter of the way through conference play. Then they lost even the possibility of a post-season with the self-imposed ban. Then the egregious sanctions came down from the NCAA. We lost scholarships. We lost recruiters. We had games wiped away. We lost our coach for nine games this year.

If anyone has any doubt those sanctions weren’t what cost us Thomas Bryant and (initially) Tyus Battle, I have a bridge I’d like to sell you. Although we eventually got Battle back, we lost a t0p-20 recruit (Bryant) to Indiana. Hey, how’d he do this year there? Well let’s see, he helped a mediocre team urn into Big Ten champs while averaging 11.5 points, 6 rebounds, and shooting 70% from the field. 70 flipping percent. Yeah, ouch.

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Back to last year. Syracuse basketball crumbled down the stretch with nothing to play for other than Rakeem’s unbelievable season. On top of it all, recruits like Kaleb Joseph, Ron Patterson, and BJ Johnson all under-performed and looked to be projects more than reliable players. BJ and Ron both transferred in the off-season, Kaleb probably should have too.

Even so, things were looking up for this year. With one of the best incoming freshman classes in years and the return of Dajuan Coleman, the sky was the limit. Kaleb Joseph, according to Boeheim, had the biggest physical improvement of any player he’s ever seen. Two fifth year seniors leading the back court. This was their year!

Not if the NCAA had anything to say about it. Cue The Price is Right failure music.

One of our prized recruits, Moustapha Diagne, the man who was supposed to shore up the middle and provide us with much needed depth after the departure of Rak, was declared ineligible mere weeks before school started. No time to find a replacement, no time to do much of anything other than question the timing and the still-never-released reason on why he was denied.

In case I haven’t said it before, the NCAA can go $&*% themselves. And no, I’m not sorry for saying that. Seriously, $&*% that organization.

Anyways, all of these reasons have combined to lead us to where we are now, at the end of another epic collapse. We can play the what if game all day with this team. What if McCullough, Grant, and Ennis had stayed? What if Coleman had never gotten injured? What if we had recruited some different players? What if Joseph wasn’t a headcase? What if Diagne hadn’t been royally screwed by the NCAA? What if the NCAA wasn’t run by a bunch of self-serving, biased, useless, non-transparent, a-holes? What if, what if, what if.

The bottom line is, Syracuse basketball is currently in a funk. There is a very good chance they miss the NCAA tournament for the second straight year, a feat that hasn’t happened in almost a decade. If that happens and they lose in the first round of NIT, it will be the first time in Boeheim’s tenure the team hasn’t won 20 games in back-to-back seasons.

If the warning bells weren’t flashing before, they should be now.

At this point, the only thing we have left to cling to is hope. We have to hope Syracuse basketball somehow squeaks its way into the NCAA tourney. We have to hope, if that happens, they have a strong showing and redeem the poor finish to the ACC season. We have to hope that next year’s freshman class pans out. We have to hope that we don’t lose Richardson to the NBA draft (again, he absolutely shouldn’t go, but that doesn’t mean he won’t) or another major cog to injury/NCAA ineptitude.

Next: Syracuse Basketball: Frantic Comeback Bid Falls Short

Hope. It’s a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it shows the possibility of a promising future. On the other, it can show desperation and fear of failure. I guess all we can really do is hope that these last couple years are just a blip on the map, and that the future still burns bright for Syracuse basketball. I for one believe that’s the case, but too many more things going wrong could turn my hopeful optimism into desperate ignorance.

Let’s hope that’s not the case and that Syracuse basketball returns stronger than ever. Step one to that future hopefully begins this Sunday with an NCAA tournament birth.