Syracuse basketball controls its own destiny despite a lackluster start to the season. Here are all the details and how the Orange can flip the script.
Syracuse basketball is 13 games into their 2019-20 season and they’re off to a lackluster 8-5 start to its season.
But it’s not all bad, despite that sad start, the Orange still controls its own destiny heading into the new year.
Non-conference play is officially in the books and Syracuse missed plenty of opportunities to pad the resume vs the likes of Iowa, Penn State, Oklahoma State, and Georgetown.
Although interestingly enough when we spoke to Buddy Boeheim prior to the season he was excited about the opportunity that awaits the Orange next: conference play.
On one hand, the conference schedule expanding from 18 to 20 games seriously increased the difficulty of the Syracuse basketball schedule this season and moving forward. But that’s not how Buddy looked at it.
Boeheim saw opportunities and that’s exactly why Syracuse still controls its own destiny.
"Over the last several years the Orange have hovered around .500 in conference:2014-15: 9-9 (missed NCAA tournament)2015-16: 9-9 (made NCAA tournament)2016-17: 10-8 (missed NCAA tournament)2017-18: 8-10 (made NCAA tournament)2018-19: 10-8 (made NCAA tournament)"
Also worth noting that Syracuse had a self-imposed postseason ban during this stretch and was snubbed back in the 2016-17 season (had 3 top-10 wins on their resume).
So around .500 has been mostly good enough to get Syracuse into the tournament, but this year that won’t be good enough.
With the Orange having a lackluster non-conference resume that means they’ll have to overcompensate during their run in the ACC.
It won’t be easy.
Since joining the ACC back in 2013-14, the Orange have only gotten more than 11 wins in conference once. That was the first year Syracuse joined the conference when they went 14-4.
While it’ll be difficult at least the Orange has those opportunities that players like Buddy Boeheim craved prior to the season starting. Some schools only have a few opportunities to pad the resume during a season, the Orange have 18 chances to determine how their 2019-20 story will end.