Syracuse Basketball: On paper, ACC docket seems to stack up favorably

The Atlantic Coast Conference opponents for Syracuse basketball during the 2022-23 season have gotten disclosed, and on paper anyway, the 20-game slate appears to be favorable for the Orange.

Of course, making any sort of prognostications now, with the season several months away, is pure speculation. However, I do think that the ACC calendar will prove more than manageable for the ‘Cuse, a squad with a significantly revamped and relatively young roster coming into the 2022-23 campaign.

Per SU Athletics, Syracuse basketball in its ACC docket will play home-and-home series with Boston College, Pittsburgh, Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, Virginia and Virginia Tech.

The Orange will also host Duke, North Carolina, North Carolina State and Wake Forest. Finally, the ‘Cuse is expected to travel to Clemson, Florida State, Louisville and Miami.

Syracuse basketball, hopefully, can pile up victories in ACC competition.

According to early projections from pundits (and I acknowledge these predictions are super, duper early), North Carolina and Duke are expected to be at the top of the conference.

Both went to the Final Four in the 2022 NCAA Tournament, with the Tar Heels reaching the title game before falling to Kansas. The Blue Devils, under first-year head coach Jon Scheyer, boast a ridiculous 2022 recruiting class, while North Carolina will return much of its starting rotation.

So for Syracuse basketball to get only home battles with Duke and UNC is huge. Some pundits, at least so far, are eyeing Virginia as the third-best ACC group, with the Orange playing on the Hill and in Charlottesville, Va., versus the Cavaliers.

The road-only match-ups for the ‘Cuse don’t appear to be tremendously daunting. Of the four here, Miami was an Elite Eight team this past spring and could be strong once again in 2022-23, but Clemson, Florida State and Louisville aren’t vastly scary to me.

In way-too-early bracketology projections for the 2023 Big Dance, some experts are viewing Notre Dame and Virginia Tech as potential NCAA Tournament squads, and the Orange has home-and-home encounters with each of them.

Two other foes that will play home-and-home series with Syracuse basketball are traditional rivals Boston College and Pittsburgh, and I foresee the ‘Cuse having excellent shots to go at least 1-1 or perhaps even 2-0 against both of these ACC opponents.

The cuse.com press release says that the dates and times for the Orange’s ACC games have not yet been determined.

I’m not sitting here and saying that the ‘Cuse is going to amass 15 or more wins in the 2022-23 ACC slate, but Syracuse basketball does have a realistic opportunity to grab at least 10 to 12 triumphs in league play.