As we noted in a column the other day, Syracuse basketball and its Atlantic Coast Conference peers may see other Power 5 leagues surpass the ACC in terms of national strength throughout the 2021-22 campaign.
It’s so early on, but some ACC squads have suffered a handful of head-scratching losses to date in the present stanza. As such, in the most recent super-early bracketology from ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, the ACC was knocked down a peg or two in his mock field of 68.
Last time around, Lunardi had eight ACC groups in his projected bracket. In his newest one, that number has decreased to six, as now the Big Ten Conference and the Southeastern Conference lead the way, with eight predicted bids each.
I get that these sorts of mock brackets don’t have much meaning at all when a regular season is in its infancy, however, it’s encouraging to see the Orange residing in Lunardi’s most recent field.
Syracuse basketball is one of six ACC teams in Joe Lunardi’s bracketology.
As far as ACC teams go, Lunardi has Duke as a No. 1 seed, followed by No. 5 seed North Carolina, No. 7 seed Florida State, No. 8 seed Virginia Tech, No. 9 seed Syracuse basketball and No. 11 seed Notre Dame.
Both Louisville and Virginia just missed the cut, according to Lunardi. In the early part of the 2021-22 season, Virginia has lost to Navy, while Furman beat Louisville in overtime. Florida State, by the way, also fell to Florida not too long ago.
Lunardi’s No. 1 seeds are the aforementioned Blue Devils, along with Kansas, 2021 Final Four participant UCLA and 2021 NCAA Tournament runner-up Gonzaga.
In Lunardi’s mock bracket, he has the ‘Cuse stationed in the South Region, where in the round of 64 the No. 9 seed Orange would square off with the No. 8 seed Indiana.
I won’t bother to mention 1987. Oh wait, I just did. In any event, that’s an interesting pairing by Lunardi, since Syracuse basketball will host the Hoosiers in late November as part of the 2021 ACC-Big Ten Challenge.
UCLA is the top seed in this region. Other notable squads here are No. 2 seed Houston, which this past spring conquered the ‘Cuse in the Sweet 16, No. 3 seed and defending national champion Baylor, No. 4 seed Tennessee, No. 5 seed St. Bonaventure, No. 6 seed Michigan State, No. 11 seed St. John’s and No. 15 seed Colgate.