Inside the Loud House
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Syracuse Basketball: Non-believers + foul trouble can’t knock out Orange

By Zachary Weisleder

DETROIT, MI - MARCH 18: Oshae Brissett
DETROIT, MI - MARCH 18: Oshae Brissett /
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After Marek Dolezaj fouled out vs TCU, Syracuse Basketball upset the Horned Frogs. After Frank Howard fouled out vs MSU, the Orange stunned the Spartans.

Any Given Sunday. One week ago, America went ballistic after the NCAA Selection Committee included the Syracuse basketball squad in the March Madness’ field of 68.

Seven days later, the Orange have won three games in five days, including miraculous upsets over No. 6 TCU and No. 3 Michigan State, and for the second time in three years, are sweet sixteen bound.

More than seven million people had Michigan State going to the Elite Eight. Nearly five million of these people had the Spartans going to the Final Four. A third of those people had Miles Bridges’ squad winning it all. I guess those people forgot about Jim Boeheim and his 2-3 zone.

If your bracket somehow wasn’t completely ruined before Sunday, it is now. Syracuse basketball will gladly continue to remind the college basketball world just how scary they are until they receive the respect they deserve.

Traditionally, March Madness’ most successful teams entered the tournament ranked somewhere between 1-5 in their region. However, for the second time in three years, Syracuse basketball is changing the narrative.

Two years ago, after entering the tournament as a No. 10 seed, the Orange, in remarkable fashion, took down Dayton, Middle Tennessee State, Gonzaga, and Virginia, before losing to North Carolina

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in the Final Four.

One week ago, to the dismay of many college hoops analysts around the country, it was announced that Syracuse was the 68th and final team selected to participate in March Madness. Following Selection Sunday, the Orange found themselves in a scary Midwest region that included Kansas, Michigan State, and Duke.

After a narrow 60-56 win over Arizona State in the First Four play-in this past Wednesday, the Orange found themselves playing No. 6 TCU at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan on Friday night.

Syracuse, March Madness’ most offensively challenged team, was given a huge, unexpected boost from Marek Dolezaj. The “Slovakian Slayer” did everything Syracuse’s big three of Frank Howard, Oshae Brissett, and Tyus Battle could not.

"“Dolezaj dominated the Horned Frogs for 17 points on 8-of-13 shooting through the games first 33 minutes of actions, and single-handedly kept Syracuse in the game throughout the entirety of the first half, and the first 13 minutes of the second frame.”Just when it appeared as if the Orange were going to pull away from the Horned Frogs, “Dolezaj fouled out with 6:12 remaining when SU led by just three, and the Orange were forced to look to their defense for answers. Syracuse’s length and quickness on the perimeter resulted in TCU shooting below 40% from the floor, and an abysmal 17% from three-point range”."

When all was said and done, the Orange, for the second straight game, limited a team that averaged 80 or more points heading into their matchup with Syracuse to just over 50 points.

Syracuse didn’t make the round of 32 because their offense beat their opponents’ defense, they made it there because their defense beat their opponents’ offense.

Fast forward less than 48 hours. Playing with limited rest, in a stadium with a questionable officiating crew, backed by thousands of screaming Michigan State fans, the Orange’s chances of handing the Spartans their fifth loss were slim.

However, after the Orange played arguably the best first-half defense in program history, and limited a MSU team that averaged more than 81 points per game in a stacked Big 10 Conference to just 25 first-half points, there was hope.

With just seven minutes to go, Syracuse was down 44-42 and was hanging on for dear life. With 6:39 remaining in the second half,  Howard fouled out with 13 points and just one turnover.

For the second straight game, Syracuse looked to their defense and bench for answers. Immediately following the foul, Jim Boeheim was forced to put in Braedon Bayer, a former walk-on and now scholarship player who saw just 11 minutes of action all season.

Although the 6-foot-4 junior out of Lagrangeville, NY took no shots during his six minutes on the floor, he played incredible defense, and it appeared as if he’d been a part of that 2-3 zone all tournament. Bayer recorded a timely block and steal, and for the final six minutes of the game, Syracuse fans across the country almost forgot that Howard had fouled out.

When Howard fouled out, Syracuse’s two big men, Paschal Chukwu and Bourama Sidibe, both had four fouls. Luckily, both didn’t pick up a fifth foul, and the two combined for three clutch makes at the line down the stretch to seal the win.

An already shallow Syracuse team faced mountains of adversity this afternoon, yet were able to pull off an unprecedented 55-53 upset of Michigan State and find themselves playing No. 2 Duke this coming Friday. In their late February matchup, where Syracuse’ Atlantic Coast Conference rivals shot an abysmal 11% from three-point land, the Orange still ended up losing 60-44 at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

However, Duke isn’t at home anymore, and since Wednesday night, Syracuse has quickly quieted the thought that they can’t win tough NCAA Tournament matchups on neutral ground.

Battle, who scored 16 of his 17 points in the second frame, reminded the world that Syracuse is just as confident as any team in the country during his postgame press conference when saying “every time we step on the floor, we expect to win”.

Next: Syracuse Basketball: Top 30 Players in School History

They call the NCAA’s annual tournament March Madness because teams like Syracuse continue to justify the name by upsetting some of the NCAA’s scariest teams, year after year.

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