Syracuse basketball, surprisingly, squeaks into new ESPN bracketology

Joe Lunardi has Syracuse basketball in a First Four match-up.

Hey, Joe Lunardi, Syracuse basketball fans love you! Wait, what’s that now? Okay, so in recent years some Orange fanatics have possessed a love-hate relationship with Lunardi, who is ESPN’s resident bracketologist.

I figured that after the ‘Cuse totally collapsed against Pittsburgh earlier this week, blowing an 18-point lead and falling by three points at home, not one single bracketology expert out there would even think of putting Syracuse basketball in his or her mock field of 68.

It’s so much fun when my instincts are wrong, at least in this particular circumstance. Yes, the Orange proved dreadful in its second-half melt-down versus the Panthers and is now 6-2 on the season heading into a scheduled Saturday night bruiser with former Big East Conference foe Georgetown on the Hill.

Yet when Lunardi posted his most recent projections for the 2021 NCAA Tournament on Jan. 8, I was pleased to see that Syracuse basketball made the cut, albeit just barely.

Lunardi arranges the ‘Cuse as a No. 11 seed in a First Four duel against fellow No. 11 seed Xavier out of the Big East. Naturally, this means that these two teams are among Lunardi’s last four in, along with Purdue and Oklahoma State.

The prevailing squad in the battle of the Orange and the Musketeers would go on to face No. 6 seed Saint Louis. Other top groups in this region are No. 1 seed Villanova, No. 2 seed Iowa, No. 3 seed Tennessee, No. 4 seed West Virginia and No. 5 seed Minnesota.

The four No. 1 seeds in Lunardi’s mock bracket are the aforementioned Wildcats, Gonzaga, Baylor and Texas.

Syracuse basketball is one of numerous ACC teams in the new ESPN bracketology.

Lunardi’s most recent projections continue to illustrate how deep the Atlantic Coast Conference is, but the league isn’t super stellar at the top, at least for now.

For example, the Big Ten Conference leads the way with 10 bids, but the ACC is right behind that league with nine invites. However, the best seed line for the ACC is fourth.

Lunardi’s ACC participants No. 4 seed Clemson, No. 4 seed Louisville, No. 6 seed Virginia, No. 7 seed Virginia Tech, No. 8 seed Duke, No. 9 seed Florida State, No. 10 seed North Carolina, No. 10 seed N.C. State and No. 11 seed Syracuse basketball, which as of Jan. 7 had a NET ranking of No. 40.

Other squads in Lunardi’s field of 68 to note include No. 4 seed Rutgers, No. 14 seed Bryant and No. 15 seed Northeastern, as all three of these teams played the Orange earlier in the 2020-21 campaign.