Syracuse basketball is a small betting underdog at home on New Year's Eve against Clemson in the Orange's Atlantic Coast Conference opener during the 2025-26 season.
When I wrote this article, FanDuel had the Tigers as a 1.5-point betting favorite, with the over/under set at 141.5 points. The Orange (9-4 overall) and Clemson (10-3 overall) will go toe to toe on Wednesday, Dec. 31, beginning at 2:00 pm EST from the JMA Wireless Dome. ESPN2 is providing television coverage.
The Tigers are No. 38 in the latest NCAA NET rankings, making this a quadrant-two game for the 'Cuse. If Clemson ultimately moves inside the top 30 of the NET, it would turn into a quadrant-one encounter for Syracuse basketball.
The Orange is No. 89 in the NET. It has a lot of work to do to possibly enter the conversation for an at-large bid to the 2026 NCAA Tournament. So far this campaign, Syracuse basketball is 8-1 at home, with a bad loss to Hofstra and a quadrant-one victory over Tennessee. The 'Cuse is 1-3 at neutral sites.
Syracuse basketball needs to start ACC play on a positive note.
The Orange is 1-3 in quadrant one, 0-1 in quadrant three and 8-0 in quadrant four. It's simple. The team has to pile up ACC wins, and that must include quadrant-one and quadrant-two victories.
Men's ACC Bracketology preview: NCAA tournament predictions - via @ESPN App https://t.co/ASQWw2StHf
— Joe Lunardi (@ESPNLunardi) December 30, 2025
On Tuesday, ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi delved into the ACC as it relates to this spring's Big Dance. He's got the 'Cuse in the long-shots category, along with Notre Dame. That probably sounds about right for the time being.
Lunardi has Duke, North Carolina and Louisville as Final Four contenders. "Likely tournament teams" include Virginia, Clemson, SMU, N.C. State and Miami. "Possible tournament teams" are California, Stanford and Wake Forest. Virginia Tech is a "sleeper team."
Some Orange fans like to criticize Lunardi because of his past projections for the 'Cuse. I like to have fun with Joe. Candidly, he's good for the sport, he basically invented bracketology, and he's also not that accurate when it comes to March Madness predictions.
I'm not sure that Syracuse basketball is that far off from some of these other ACC teams. Things will become clearer over the next two months, and the 'Cuse has plenty of chances soon to bolster its potential postseason resume.
It begins with Clemson on New Year's Eve, with sophomore power forward Donnie Freeman, who has only played in four games this season due to a lower-body injury, expected to make his return to the Orange line-up.