Syracuse basketball players ready to cash in their golden ticket vs Virginia

Syracuse basketball has a stiff challenge to open the 2019-20 season. Here’s why the players are embracing the ACC clash vs Virginia.

Sorry, there won’t be any cupcakes to start the Syracuse basketball season, instead, they’ll face the best of the best vs the Virginia Cavaliers.

While that could certainly strike fear into any young player, the Orange are looking forward to the litmus test this will provide right off the get-go, here’s what Buddy Boeheim had to say:

"“We’re ready to go, man, we’ve competed every day in practice. In Italy, we got to experience some ups and downs. I love this game vs Virginia, it’s the best competition right from the start. We don’t want an easy opponent to start off the game, it’s the perfect way to start the season vs the Cavaliers. This is going to set the tone, and we’ll know from this game what we need to work on and what ways we can improve.”"

On top of playing a super team to start the season, Syracuse’s schedule just got that much more difficult with the ACC expanding the conference schedule from 18 to 20 games. Despite the fact it’s now harder to make the NCAA tournament, Buddy Boeheim doesn’t look at it that way:

"“I look at it from a different viewpoint, there are now more opportunities for us to get good wins, go to tough places, and to grow as a team. The ACC is the best league in the country and we’re excited to kick things off on Wednesday.”"

The bar has been raised, with many experts projecting Syracuse as a bubble team, every game counts.

We often reference a team’s “resume” throughout the season. Each game is an opportunity to pad your tournament resume with wins and skins. A skin is just another way to describe getting a monster win (top 25 win, tough road win, etc).

If Syracuse is able to beat Virginia on opening night, they’ll immediately add a statement win to their resume right off the get-go.

This is the ultimate win-win scenario for the Orange. If they lose, what’s the big deal, the analytics suggests Syracuse is supposed to lose. This young team is playing with house money on opening night and that’s a great position to be in.

Jesse Edwards is one of several freshmen on this year’s Syracuse squad who is experiencing college basketball for the very first time.

"“For me every game is special. This is my first time playing in front of a crowd like this, what will it be like 6,000 people or something? I’m excited man. We embrace this chance vs a team like Virginia man. We immediately get to measure ourselves as a young team against the top. If we can come close or even beat them, we know exactly where we stand in all of this. It’s the perfect start to this season.”"

Jesse, I think it’s safe to say there will be a few more than 6,000 in the loud house for the season opener on Wednesday night. This game is a golden ticket if Syracuse can cash it in, they may just be the difference at the end of the season on Selection Sunday.