The Syracuse Orange met up with the Pittsburgh Panthers Wednesday afternoon in what many considered an elimination game. Syracuse lost that game by one point and is now firmly on the bubble as Selection Sunday nears.
Many people believe that the loss was detrimental to Syracuse's tournament hopes, especially when you consider that it was the third time they lost to Pittsburgh this season. Syracuse is an interesting case, though, because the team is unlike any we have ever seen. The Orange played nine games earlier this year without their Hall of Fame head coach, Jim Boeheim, and he thinks that the selection committee needs to take that into consideration when they are judging Syracuse.
With Boeheim on the sidelines, Syracuse was 15-8 this season. Without him, they were just 4-5, so it does seem as though Boeheim has a point. The head coach said the team has "already been punished enough" and doesn't feel as though leaving them out is warranted.
When you dig deeper into Syracuse's resume, Boeheim's absence certainly did seem to have a huge effect. Syracuse picked up their two biggest wins (Texas A&M and Duke) while Boeheim was coaching and had their two worst losses (St. Johns and Georgetown) while Boeheim was serving his suspension for NCAA violations.
Boeheim definitely has a case to make here, and Joe Castiglione, a member of the NCAA tournament selection committee, agrees, saying that it would be a mistake to not take his suspension into account. He would have had a stronger case to make, though, if his team hadn't lost five of their last six games (including the loss to Pittsburgh on Wednesday) and gone 9-9 in the ACC.
Syracuse's computer numbers also don't help them out all that much, as they have an RPI of 61, which is very borderline for a tournament team, and their strength of schedule of 42 is inflated by the ACC being so strong. The Orange can hang their hat on their big wins, as they are better wins than a lot of other bubble teams can boast, but besides that, there just isn't much to like about their resume.
In the end, it seems like Syracuse will need a lot of things to go right for them to get into the tournament. Right now, they are projected as one of the first four teams out, and that may only get worse if bid stealers emerge from major conferences. Boeheim would have had a compelling case about his suspension if it wasn't for the way Syracuse ended the season. Now, however, it looks like the Orange may be relegated to the NIT.
