Syracuse Basketball: Pedestrian record to date doesn’t mean lost season

Syracuse basketball is nearing its slugfest with Georgetown, and the Orange has proven a disappointment so far. Patience, everyone.

It’s no secret that Syracuse basketball has struggled during the initial part of the 2019-20 campaign. Many Orange fanatics are up in arms about the sub-par 5-4 mark that the ‘Cuse has generated as the regular stanza inches closer to one-third of its completion.

Yes, Syracuse notched an abysmal 34 points in its term-opening setback to the defending national champions, Virginia. Sure, the Orange, until its destruction of Georgia Tech in Atlanta on Dec. 7, got whipped by the remaining four foes from major conferences that it has squared off with; those aforementioned Cavaliers, along with Oklahoma State, Penn State and Iowa.

Oh, and the ‘Cuse has sometimes looked disoriented in its 2-3 zone, while managing to average, through its nine total encounters, a rather blah 72.1 points per affair on 43.6 percent shooting from the field, 69.3 percent from the charity stripe, and 34.3 percent from beyond the arc.

Rebounding, at 35.6 boards every 40 minutes, is fairly dreadful, although that’s somewhat expected, given the zone defense that Syracuse employs. Committing 13.4 turnovers a game isn’t great, either.

Perhaps the Orange’s one encouraging department at this juncture is assists, as the ‘Cuse secures 16.9 dimes per contest, good for a top-20 showing nationally.

If your sense is that this column is heading down a wholeheartedly negative path, think again. It’s not.

I acknowledge that Syracuse has much work to do before re-entering the conversation for a possible March Madness invite, yet the Orange possesses a juicy opportunity for a marquee triumph this Saturday afternoon when it travels to our nation’s capital to collide with former Big East Conference adversary Georgetown.

To put this supposed lackluster record that the ‘Cuse has into a really important context, I give you this excellent article by the fabulous Donna Ditota of Syracuse.com. Ditota, citing data from kenpom.com, notes that the Orange is, at present, suiting up versus a non-conference slate that is rated No. 137 across the country.

"More from Ditota. “Since 2002, only the 2008 team (ranked 90) played a tougher group of non-conference opponents. Ken Pom’s rankings begin in 2002, but let’s be honest: SU’s early-season scheduling before 2002 was considerably easier than it is now.”"

That’s lesson number one, for all you ‘Cuse critics out there who have suggested that the 2019-20 roster is Syracuse’s worst not merely in recent campaigns, but also in decades.

"Furthermore, as Ditota reports, the current Orange line-up, which contains no seniors and five freshmen, “is the third-youngest SU team since Ken Pomeroy began tracking such things in 2006.”"

That’s lesson number two.

Finally, with the Atlantic Coast Conference growing to 20 match-ups in 2019-20, thereby reducing its members’ non-conference clashes to 11, the ‘Cuse already has had to battle UVA and the Yellow Jackets, instead of potentially competing against a pair of weaker out-of-conference crews.

That’s lesson number three.

The main gist here is that a relatively inexperienced and young Syracuse squad still searching for its identity has dealt with a challenging non-conference calendar that has also featured a duo of league tilts much earlier than usual. I recognize that 5-4 leaves a lot to get desired. But if the Orange can knock off the Hoyas in Washington, D.C., and sweep the rest of its docket before January of 2020, then suddenly it’s a reinvigorated perspective for the ‘Cuse.

And maybe, just maybe, the dark and stormy clouds that have hovered over Syracuse of late will give way to sunshine as the new year commences.