FanPost

Why Syracuse is in California for Round 1/2

There's been a lot of rabble about why Syracuse got sent all the way to San Jose for their first round. Some people are angry about this. Some are confused. Some thing we got screwed. I think it all makes perfect sense, and before you go off on your "the NCAA hates Syracuse" conspiracy theory, let's consider the facts.

Note: If you think it's weird that SU is in California even though it's in the East region, just stop. First and second round sites have NOTHING to do with what bracket you're in. God, read a book or something ...

By some poor planning in site selection, or just bad luck this year, there are very few "good" locations for SU in the first round in 2013. And those good locations went off the table to higher seeds before SU got a crack at them.

"Good" locations for Syracuse:

-Philly - went to Duke and Georgetown. We didn't deserve these.

-Dayton - went to Indiana and Ohio St. See above.

"Mediocre" locations:

-Kansas City - went to Kansas and Kansas St. You could argue us over Kansas St, but not really, since they were the #11 team going into conference tourneys and also lost to a #1 seed like us.

-Auburn Hills - Michigan and Mich St. Same as above, and notice they tried to keep K-State and Mich in-state to boost attendance, while SU had no equivalent to pick from. If all else is pretty much equal (I think it is), this makes sense to help out the sites.

-Austin - Miami and Florida - 2 and 3 seeds get priority over a 4

-Lexington - Louisville and Marquette. This is your only beef. Marquette had no right being a 3 seed over SU. But would you rather play Butler in Lexington or UNLV in San Jose? I'd rather play UNLV, no question.

"Bad" locations

-Salt Lake City - New Mexico and Gonzaga - both ranked higher than us, and we didn't want to play there anyway.

-San Jose - Syracuse and St. Louis.

Basically, the committee had Syracuse and St. Louis left over after all was said and done. There was no logical home for either of us available after the higher seeds had their pick, so they tossed us both in the unwanted pool out west.

Yeah, it isn't ideal, but the Orange only have one group to blame ... themselves. Win a game or two more and they're a 3 seed and maybe end up slightly closer to home (Austin or Lexington), or win a bunch more and end up a 1 or 2 and get into Philly or Dayton.