Syracuse Basketball: Glad to hear 2020-21 won’t begin with ACC contests

Syracuse basketball got absolutely crushed in its season opener last year, and frankly it felt weird for the Orange to commence the term with an ACC clash.

It’s totally reasonable, and makes complete sense, for Syracuse basketball and other Atlantic Coast Conference programs to play league affairs earlier than they used to, since in 2019-20 the ACC expanded to 20 conference games.

With two additional ACC affairs, and as a result two fewer non-conference tilts, the Orange and the other league members really had no choice a stanza ago but to suit up for conference meetings before the calendar year turned.

As ‘Cuse fanatics will recall, Syracuse began 2019-20 at home versus the defending national champions, Virginia, and then the Orange went on the road to face Georgia Tech this past December.

Regardless of whether the ‘Cuse won or lost these ACC encounters (it went 1-1, you’ll remember), I’m fully on board with league duels in a particular season’s month of December. But having these kinds of contests to kick off a campaign plain old stinks. It doesn’t feel right.

And apparently the ACC won’t do it again in the upcoming stanza. Thank gosh.

CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein tweeted that the conference will not start 2020-21 with league bouts, although it will play ACC games in December, which is logical, and I don’t know how you would get around that anyways.

Despite the fact that the Cavaliers absolutely dominated Syracuse inside the Carrier Dome last November, this isn’t a column about sour grapes. I would have the same adamant opinion if the Orange had upset UVA, which by the way it did a little later on in 2019-20 down in Charlottesville, Va.

I simply can’t get on board with opening up an entire season with an ACC battle. Maybe over time, I would get used to it, like I’ve gotten somewhat used to the notion that the ‘Cuse suits up in the Atlantic Coast Conference, and not in the Big East Conference.

Non-conference games in November are the norm, and they should stay that way. If the ACC wants to have its teams play one conference contest in late November, and then a second one in December, that’s cool.

But to begin the whole term with league match-ups won’t do. Weave these conference clashes in and around the non-conference slate, but not ahead of it. Syracuse is working on an intriguing non-conference schedule, with the likes of squads such as Georgetown, Mercer, LSU and, most recently, UMBC.

Let’s see a few of these crews go toe to toe with the Orange, before the ‘Cuse entertains a Virginia, a Georgia Tech, or any other ACC participant. Let’s build up to the excitement of conference competition.

And let’s hope that Syracuse scores more than 34 points when it first squares off with a fellow league foe during the next go-round.