Inside the Loud House
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Syracuse Basketball: Top 5 March Madness matchups for SU in opening round

By Paul A. Esden Jr.

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA - MARCH 14: Elijah Hughes #33 of the Syracuse Orange reacts after a 84-72 loss to the Duke Blue Devils after their game in the quarterfinal round of the 2019 Men's ACC Basketball Tournament at Spectrum Center on March 14, 2019 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA - MARCH 14: Elijah Hughes #33 of the Syracuse Orange reacts after a 84-72 loss to the Duke Blue Devils after their game in the quarterfinal round of the 2019 Men's ACC Basketball Tournament at Spectrum Center on March 14, 2019 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /
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Syracuse vs Iowa

  • 9 vs 8 matchup
  • 43rd in the NCAA Net Rankings

To be honest this would be an incredibly favorable matchup for the Orange. Iowa is about as cold as you can be entering the tournament. The Hawkeyes have lost five out of their last six games and are ripe to get smacked in the NCAA tournament.

Here are some quick things to know about Iowa:

  • This team is BALANCED with nearly five players averaging double-digit points. There doesn’t seem to just be one guy you can key in on and try to stop. Which could cause the 2-3 zone a lot of issues. Only two players who play significant minutes average over 40 percent from deep.
  • Their biggest win of the season was a massive beating of a top-five ranked team in the country vs Michigan. This wasn’t a fluke, they won 74-59, that’s a beatdown of epic proportions.

They rank 43rd in the NCAA Net Rankings system, but before we go any further what is this Net Rankings system I keep mentioning? Well essentially it has replaced the old “RPI” system and it is an NCAA product. But don’t ignore it like another different metric to measure the same thing in terms of your tournament resume because it holds a lot of weight.

So much weight in fact that the NCAA says this will be the primary source on determining who gets into the tournament and who doesn’t make it. Which normally would be pretty scary entering Selection Sunday. Although Syracuse fans should feel the safest they have in over five years knowing they are safely in the field of 68.

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