Syracuse Basketball: This March is maddening, just the way it should be

Come on, my fellow Syracuse basketball fanatics. You totally had the Orange, Loyola Chicago, Oregon State, Oral Roberts and UCLA in the Sweet 16, right?

Okay, maybe you had the ‘Cuse making it to the regional semi-finals, since Syracuse basketball has a knack in recent years of landing in the Big Dance as a double-digit seed and then proceeding to go on a magical run in March Madness.

But my bracket got busted when some of these other NCAA Tournament darlings pulled off huge upsets in the first two rounds, and I bet yours did, too. So long Illinois, Ohio State, Iowa, Kansas, Texas, West Virginia, Purdue, Virginia and Oklahoma State.

Mid-March to early April. It’s the best stretch of the year for me, since I’m a huge college basketball aficionado. That includes my passion for the Orange, but this annual tournament – particularly after it was canceled in 2020 due to the novel coronavirus pandemic – as a whole is simply a gem. It’s too good.

Syracuse basketball is knee-deep in a roller-coaster NCAA Tournament.

The Big Ten and Big 12 Conferences put forth tremendous performances during the 2020-21 regular season, and those two leagues had an abundance of their members’ names called on Selection Sunday.

Naturally, given the wild and wackiness that is March, as we embark on the Sweet 16 in a few days, the rugged Big Ten and Big 12 Conferences have a combined two squads in the regional semi-finals. Of course, that pair of groups are No. 1 seeds Baylor and Michigan, each of which could easily cut down the nets in early April.

But the Atlantic Coast Conference, not nearly as dominant as the Big Ten and the Big 12 in 2020-21, has two teams of its own in the Sweet 16, and they are the No. 11 seed Orange and No. 4 seed Florida State.

The Pac-12 Conference, a solid but not spectacular league in 2020-21, has a whopping four squads in the Sweet 16. You read that correctly. The Pac-12 has twice as many units in the Sweet 16 as the Big Ten and Big 12 combined. Crazy? Nope. Just the norm for this time of the calendar year.

Now, despite all the shocking developments to date in the 2021 Big Dance, it’s more likely than not that a No. 1 seed or a No. 2 seed is ultimately crowned national champion.

That’s how it usually goes. A slew of upsets early on, with the heavyweights flexing their muscles in the later rounds. So Gonzaga, Baylor, Michigan or Alabama, for example, probably will earn the grand prize.

Probably, but not definitely. Hopefully, another No. 2 seed, Houston, is eliminated in the Sweet 16, which means that Syracuse basketball will have survived and advanced yet again.

The Orange as a double-digit seed is a dangerous combination, and the ‘Cuse certainly has played well enough of late to reach the Elite Eight.