Syracuse basketball is a sizable betting underdog to long-time rival Pittsburgh as the Atlantic Coast Conference members go toe to toe on Saturday afternoon at the JMA Wireless Dome.
I'm not much of a betting person myself, although from my perspective, the Orange being a nearly 9-point underdog, at home, to the Panthers is fairly telling of just how much the 'Cuse has struggled so far in the 2024-25 season.
Of course, odds-makers don't always get it "right." However, when I wrote this column on Saturday morning, a few hours before the Orange will host Pittsburgh, FanDuel had Syracuse basketball as an 8.5-pound betting underdog, with the over/under set at 149.5 points.
My how the times have changed for this once-storied 'Cuse program that won 20 regular-season games in the head-coaching debut of Adrian Autry during the 2023-24 campaign but hasn't found a way to beat high-quality foes thus far in the current term.
Syracuse basketball welcomes Pitt to the Hill on Saturday afternoon.
The Orange (9-10, 3-5 in the ACC) and the Panthers (12-6, 3-4 in the ACC) are scheduled to tip off at 12:30 pm, with ESPN2 airing this league clash and live-streaming coverage is also available on FuboTV.
Candidly, I'm not sure why the 'Cuse is such a large betting underdog. Yes, Pittsburgh has a better overall record than Syracuse basketball, although the Panthers enter this ACC affair having lost four consecutive encounters. The Orange, meanwhile, is 3-2 over its last five contests, but Syracuse basketball did fall by 14 points at Clemson earlier this week.
At the time of this writing, I hadn't seen any official word from the Orange program as to whether injured freshman power forward Donnie Freeman would be available. He's missed the past five games for the 'Cuse.
In recent contests, junior guard J.J. Starling has proven fantastic, and graduate student center Eddie Lampkin Jr. is playing well. The challenge here is that Pittsburgh is one of the ACC's better scoring squads, while Syracuse basketball has one of the conference's worst defenses.
On Saturday morning, the Panthers had an NCAA NET ranking of No. 32 around the country, making this a quadrant-two contest for the Orange. However, if Pittsburgh jumps to No. 30 or higher, it becomes a quadrant-one game, where Syracuse basketball is currently 0-7 in 2024-25.