Analyst calling Syracuse basketball a second-weekend team is a stretch

An ESPN analyst is quite bullish on Syracuse basketball in 2020-21.

Who knows how the upcoming campaign is going to play out for Syracuse basketball and the rest of the Division 1 teams around the country during the 2020-21 stanza due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

I’m optimistic that the Orange will ultimately amount to a top-six squad in the Atlantic Coast Conference and hear its name called on Selection Sunday next March without having to sweat out residing on the proverbial bubble.

However, at least one analyst is even more bullish on Syracuse basketball in 2020-21. Wes Cheng recently spoke with ESPN college basketball analyst Tim Welsh as part of The Juice on the Cuse podcast.

Welsh, a former Orange assistant and head coach at both Providence and Iona, told Cheng that he thinks the ‘Cuse “can go deep into” the 2021 March Madness.

Syracuse basketball finished a somewhat pedestrian 18-14 a year ago, and its top scorer, forward Elijah Hughes, is no longer on the Hill, and he got selected in the 2020 NBA Draft’s second round last week.

Still, the Orange returns four of five starters in 2020-21, and the team has a deep bench, a solid recruiting class and a star transfer in Alan Griffin, who left Illinois for Central New York.

For those reasons and others, Welsh says, “This could be a special year for this group because of all of the experience and the success they had at the end of last year.”

A college basketball analyst is high on Syracuse basketball in the coming term.

With Hughes gone, Welsh says that Griffin is a pivotal player to slide in and attempt to replace the newly minted pro in the Orange’s line-up.

“He’s a good player; he reminds me of Elijah Hughes in a lot of ways,” Welsh said of Griffin. “He’s a good shooter. He’s a slashing forward. He can play multiple positions out there.”

All in all, Welsh believes that Syracuse basketball is poised for a nice journey in the Big Dance. “I think they’re a second weekend team and maybe beyond that.”

I penned a column on Monday in which I forecast that the ‘Cuse would comfortably get into the 2021 NCAA Tournament and make it to the round of 32.

Welsh seems to think that the Orange could get to the Sweet 16, the Elite Eight or perhaps even the Final Four. I root for my boys like no other, and the ‘Cuse unexpectedly got to the Final Four in 2016 and the Sweet 16 in 2018, so anything is possible.

But if I’m assessing things honestly, I don’t see Syracuse basketball advancing beyond the first weekend should it go dancing next March. Naturally, I hope that I’m wrong.