Syracuse Basketball: Blue-bloods, Big East rivals highlight 2021-22 slate

The recent announcement of the full 2021-22 Atlantic Coast Conference schedule by league officials means that Syracuse basketball knows all of its opponents in the upcoming campaign.

The 2021-22 docket is an exciting and challenging one for the Orange, to say the least. The ‘Cuse will look to build upon its strong run to the Sweet 16 last March by once again putting forth a solid regular-season performance in hopes of hearing its name called on Selection Sunday come the spring of next year.

After a slightly abbreviated regular term in 2020-21 amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, Syracuse basketball is expected to play the full amount of games prior to the post-season. That includes 11 non-conference encounters and 20 ACC battles.

Despite the tired tale that the Orange never leaves the state of New York during the non-conference slate, and that the team suits up versus a ton of cupcakes, this season’s non-conference schedule is a brutal – and fun – one.

Let’s look at some of the stand-out duels for Syracuse basketball in 2021-22.

In the non-conference part of its calendar, the ‘Cuse will compete against former Big East Conference rivals Villanova and Georgetown, which is awesome.

The Orange will go toe to toe with the Wildcats on Tuesday, Dec. 7, in the 2021 Jimmy V Classic at the famed Madison Square Garden in New York City. A few days later, Syracuse basketball will travel to our nation’s capital, for a match-up on Saturday, Dec. 11, with those pesky Hoyas in Washington, D.C.

Syracuse basketball will host Indiana on Tuesday, Nov. 30, in the annual ACC-Big Ten Challenge. And the Orange will play three excellent opponents in the 2021 Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis, including VCU in its first game and potentially Baylor, the defending NCAA champion, in its second contest.

Those are a couple of the big-time non-conference games. The ACC docket, though, provides a ton of further tests for the ‘Cuse.

First and foremost, Syracuse basketball will open league competition on the road against Florida State on Saturday, Dec. 4. The Seminoles, one of the ACC’s premier teams in recent years, will make a return visit to Central New York on Saturday, Jan. 15.

Along with FSU, the presumed league favorites heading into 2021-22 are Duke, North Carolina and Virginia.

The Orange will square off with the Blue Devils twice, on the road on Saturday, Jan. 22, and inside the Carrier Dome on Saturday, Feb. 26. This is no surprise at all, given that ‘Cuse head coach Jim Boeheim and Duke boss Mike Krzyzewski are friends. Plus, Krzyzewski is retiring after the 2021-22 stanza.

The Cavaliers, which won the national championship in 2019, will visit the Hill on Saturday, Jan. 1. This is my birthday, so I expect the Orange to grab a victory!

After Syracuse basketball hosts Duke on February 26, the Orange follows that up with a trip to the Tar Heels on Monday, Feb. 28. That’s rough.

Per a cuse.com press release, Syracuse basketball will have home-and-home series in 2021-22 with the aforementioned Blue Devils and Seminoles, along with Boston College, Pittsburgh, Miami and Wake Forest.

Those games versus Duke and FSU will be tough, although I think that the Orange has absolutely winnable encounters against the other four ACC foes.