SU Can’t Weather ‘Canes In Close ACC Tourney Setback

The Syracuse basketball team just couldn’t seal the deal to clinch their first ACC tournament win. Now the waiting game begins until Selection Sunday.

And now, we wait.

The Syracuse basketball squad, and its nervous fan base (myself included), will have to sweat things out come Selection Sunday.

The Orange owned an outstanding opportunity to boost its Big Dance resume on Wednesday afternoon against a solid Miami outfit, but SU couldn’t close the deal, falling 62-57 in the ‘Cuse’s opening-round contest at the ACC Tournament in Brooklyn.

Currently in its fourth year as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference, Syracuse (18-14) has yet to emerge victorious in a conference tourney affair.

The Orange’s March Madness hopes are on life support, and the Hurricanes defeat could very well pop SU’s bubble.

UM (21-10) led for much of this clash, but head coach Jim Boeheim’s crew hung around, never

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letting the margin get too out of hand. A pivotal moment transpired in the waning minutes, when freshman Tyus Battle missed a potentially nasty dunk, and Miami in turn got a bucket out in transition. That four-point swing turned a one-point deficit for the ‘Cuse into a five-point hole. Huge.

Graduate transfer John Gillon, who has executed several late-game heroics, had a chance to knot up the contest in the final few seconds, but his heave from beyond the arc came up short.

Battle had a decent showing, finishing with 14 points, while fellow grad transfer Andrew White III contributed a team-high 22 points, after notching a career-high 40 versus Georgia Tech last weekend.

Unfortunately, besides those two guys, no one else on the SU roster produced more than eight points. We really needed more offense from Gillon, sophomore Tyler Lydon and freshman Taurean Thompson to take out the ‘Canes. I simply don’t understand why Lydon doesn’t shoot more. Frustrating.

Regardless, the schools played pretty darn even. Miami just had a couple more makes from downtown, several additional rebounds and, perhaps most importantly, two fewer turnovers. That’s the difference, folks.

My colleagues and I at Inside The Loud House will undoubtedly have updates in the coming days, but I imagine with Wednesday’s result, the Orange will slip out of some mock brackets.

"Still, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi did tweet out: “I am keeping Syracuse in the projected NCAA field despite today’s loss.”Jon Rothstein with CBS Sports wrote this in a pair of tweets: “Syracuse cannot have any bid stealers emerge during Championship Week. … Syracuse had a better resume last year than now, but in 2016 it got in with a 10 seed. If Orange get in Sunday, it could be in First Four.”"

The ‘Cuse has positives and negatives as it pertains to its 2016-17 season. Ten triumphs in the country’s most-competitive conference. Three wins over outfits ranked in the top 10 at the time those battles occurred, and six victories versus the RPI top 50.

However, SU has also shot itself in the proverbial foot on a handful of occasions, getting blown out at home by lowly St. John’s, falling to an average Connecticut bunch, getting conquered by ACC basement–dweller Boston College, and sporting an overall 2-11 mark outside of Central New York.

Honestly, the Orange is a consummate bubble group. Some strong wins, and some awful losses.

Do I believe that Syracuse is one of the best 68 squads in the land? Of course, I do.

But, my opinion doesn’t mean squat. The ‘Cuse’s fate now rests in the hands of the NCAA Selection Committee.

Next: Rapid Reaction: SU Remains Winless In The ACC Tournament, 62-57

Nights with no sleep await. Sunday can’t get here soon enough.

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