Syracuse Basketball: UNC offers perspective on a historic Orange run

Syracuse basketball has been on a historic run. North Carolina coming to town this weekend offers some much-needed perspective for Orange fans.

That next opponent for Syracuse basketball is the North Carolina Tar Heels. A contest against UNC doesn’t mean what it normally does this time around considering they’re the last-place team in the ACC.

This will be the final Syracuse men’s basketball game at the Carrier Dome before renovations close the place down until the fall.

UNC is 11-17 on the season. A blue blood program who even in the era of one-and-done seems unfathomable. North Carolina is currently playing four upperclassmen with three seniors and one junior, at least 18 minutes a game.

The Tar Heels have had their depth tested.

Only freshman Armando Bacot and senior guard Christian Keeling have played in all 28 games so far. Two of their leading scorers Brandon Robinson and freshman standout Cole Anthony have missed several games, with Anthony only playing 17 so far this year.

With all the factors adding up, it is no surprise why UNC has struggled the way they have this year.

Even in a down year, that is what makes what Syracuse has done even more remarkable in the past few years.

Earlier this week Orange head coach Jim Boeheim said he’s done a “bad job at recruiting,” Despite that Syracuse has not done what North Carolina is most likely about to do, finish a season with an under .500 record, since the 1968-69 season.

This will be North Carolina’s second time under .500. The last time they finished 8-20 in the 2001-02 season.

What makes the past 51 seasons even more remarkable is that it coincides with the arrival of Boeheim as a coach. Jim Boeheim has created a standard and expectation of winning that is unmatched in college basketball.

Along with the two losing years by UNC in 51 years, other traditional powerhouses have also seen witnessed sub .500 seasons: Duke (5), UCLA and Kansas both four times, and even Kentucky suffered one.

In recent years Syracuse has not been lighting the world on fire. They have struggled since NCAA sanctions came down on the program, yet they continue to find ways to win games year in and year out in one of the premier conferences in all of college basketball.