Elite 8
- No. 6 Buffalo
- No. 11 Arizona State/St. Johns
- No. 3 Texas Tech
- No. 14 Northern Kentucky
- No. 7 Nevada
- No. 10 Florida
- No. 2 Michigan
- No. 15 Montana
Syracuse has been to the Elite Eight seven times:
- 1986–87
- 1988–89
- 1995–96
- 2002–03
- 2011–12
- 2012–13
- 2015–16
There is a ton of grenades in this field and that’s what makes the west region so dangerous. Out of this lot, Syracuse has only played one of these teams this season and that was Buffalo. The Orange played the Bulls in mid-December at home and lost 71-59.
The Bulls are led by CJ Massinburg who helped Buffalo go on a crazy run in last year’s tournament that included taking out Arizona. They’re looking to go a lot further this time around.
Another team of interest is John Beilein of Michigan. His son Patrick Beilein coaches locally at LeMoyne, the same school John earned his stripes at for a decade. The Wolverines made it all the way to the National Championship game last year before falling short vs Villanova: 79-62.
While another team that definitely sticks out is the Nevada Wolfpack who are led by twin brothers Caleb and Cody Martin. Jazz Johnson is a secret sauce for Nevada averaging over 45 percent on his long-range attempts which could cause an array of issues for the Orange.