Syracuse Basketball: SU can use Duke win as springboard to stability

Syracuse basketball got a huge win over Duke earlier this week. Here’s how they can use that win as a springboard towards sustained success.

Just in case you’ve been in hibernation for the past few days, Syracuse was able to take down No.  1 Duke on Monday night, giving the Orange a huge resume win – perhaps big enough to keep SU completely off the bubble this time.

Led by rising junior Tyus Battle and rebounding machine Paschal Chukwu, Syracuse was able to win a high scoring battle against Zion Williamson, R.J. Barrett and co. It took overtime for Cuse to be able to pull off the surprising upset, but nonetheless the Orange now find themselves at 12-5 (3-1) on the season, with numerous quality wins vs Duke, Ohio State, and Georgetown.

While it’s easy for fans to soak it in and gloat about the huge victory, it’s important for the players to not over-hype it too much. In reality, there’s still a lot of ACC games ahead – 14 to be exact –  the margin for error is slim in terms of bad losses.

When you look at the next few games for the Orange, it looks like a VERY favorable schedule. After hosting Pitt on Saturday and Miami on Thursday, Cuse travels down to Virginia Tech – a tough road game – but a team that recently lost by 20 points to Virginia.

At 12-5 (3-1), it is very key that Syracuse goes at least 2-1 over these next three games. It seems that over 50 percent of all power conference teams are somewhere between 10-6 and 13-3, so if Syracuse can continue it’s recent winning trend, they could begin to separate themselves from the rest of the pack.

I truly believe that Syracuse won’t be on the bubble come Selection Sunday, but you should never count your chickens before they hatch. With at least eight more ACC wins, SU would have 20 wins and multiple quality victories. However, this is a team that was preseason picked to finish in the top 15 in the country. They’ve dug themselves a hole, but have shown flashes of the team we all thought they would be going into the season.

For example, Paschal Chukwu proved that he can have an unprecedented impact on the boards. He played by far his best game of the season against Duke. If Chukwu could even average just seven to eight points a game along with six to nine rebounds a game, it would have a tremendous impact on how the rest of the season plays out. He doesn’t need to have a ton of post moves down low, but just finishing lob passes would be able to take pressure off of the rest of the players when defenses completely leave Chukwu alone.

Finally, Tyus Battle showed that he can be a gamer, closer, and all-american basketball player. We all know his talent, but against Duke he showed that he truly thought he was the best player on the court. That mentality would go a long ways in terms of how far the Orange can go come tournament time. A motivated Battle clearly showed that he takes the team to a brand new level.

Time will tell for whether or not the Orange can put it all together. The Duke win was a very nice start, but there’s still a lot of work to be done.