Syracuse Daily Links - Orange Embracing The Pressure

Embracing the Pressure: The Fizz is There as SU Reacts to Selection Sunday : Orange Fizz
"I don’t know nothing about them. I tried to ask Scoop. I don’t know nothing about them and I’ve never heard of them, so team like that you never know what you gonna get until you play them. So I think most important, we gotta be ready."

Your very early and highly uninformed UNC-Asheville preview - Cuse Country
Asheville has played close games against good competition. They lost by 10 to UConn in Maui, by 9 at NC State, and by just 4 at Tennessee in a game they led by 10 in the 2nd half. Plus, they were in the tournament last year, and their top six players are all upperclassmen who played in the NCAAs last year, so they shouldn’t be intimidated at all. SU had better be focused, particularly on defense, particularly after their poor defensive showing in the last game, or this one could be a lot closer than anyone reading this would like.

For Syracuse, the Final Four is all that matters | The Juice Online
Let me repeat that—if Syracuse doesn’t play in New Orleans, this season will be a failure.

UNC Asheville ready to make history vs. Orange - NC-Asheville Bulldogs - CBSSports.com RapidReports
"I know it's impossible for us to win the NCAA championship," coach Eddie Biedenbach told the Charlotte Observer. "But I've never gone into a game that I didn't think we can win and I'm not starting now."

March Madness 2012: Everything you need to know to fill out your bracket | Sports | National Post
Syracuse Like Kentucky, the Orange lost just once during the regular season, a year marred first by the Bernie Fine child molestation scandal and then by self-reported drug violations covering 10 years. The one loss — at Notre Dame — came as the Orange played without starting centre Fab Melo. Syracuse won nine conference games by fewer than 10 points, but that, plus the scandals, means the team cannot help but be battle-ready. They lost in the semi-finals of the Big East tournament.

Watching the demise of a once-mighty basketball super-conference - Grantland
All weekend, there was about the tournament the slightly musty smell of encroaching obsolescence. There was a time, and not so long ago, when the Big East was a spotlit thing, playing its tournament in New York, its original membership constructed from schools with long basketball traditions and large eastern media markets. It made stars, like Pearl Washington at Syracuse, and it made people like Patrick Ewing who already were stars into superstars. This year, its championship game was a contest between two teams from the Ohio River basin.

How will the Big East and its nine teams fare? | CollegeBasketballTalk
The Orange are ranked second in the nation and, despite losing in the Big East tournament to Cincinnati, you can’t deny what they bring to the table. With their lethal transition attack and a future NBA lottery pick in Dion Waiters, Syracuse could make its way through the East region and make it to the Final Four. The biggest obstacle I see is Vanderbilt.

Eight teams that can win it all: Syracuse - NCAA Basketball - Sporting News
"It’s a straight 2-3 zone, but they’re playing slides and areas, not matching up," says CBS Sports Network college basketball analyst and former Villanova coach Steve Lappas. "Let’s say you’re looking at it from the angle of the camera that television sometimes puts above the basket. If you’re a guard bringing the ball up the floor, you literally see no holes, nothing but arms and legs. The length of their players, the space that they take up in that zone, makes it so hard to move the ball."

The ABC’s of the NCAA Tournament 2012 | AthlonSports.com
Orange. Syracuse first fought through the Bernie Fine scandal to start the season. Then came the Yahoo! Sports story that indicated Syracuse since 2001 played at least 10 players who failed tests for banned substances. Distractions don’t seem to be a problem for this group, though. If there’s another potential distraction to add: Since the 2003 championship, Syracuse has been eliminated by lower seeds in four of its last six appearances, including to sixth-seeded Marquette in the round of 32 last year.

Syracuse Orange Basketball - Evaluating Syracuse's Bracket
As expected, Syracuse was announced as the East Region's #1 seed on Selection Sunday. What wasn't expected were some of the teams that filled the bracket. While the road is tough, it seems many of the teams the Orange could face play similar styles.

ESPN's Joe Lunardi says Syracuse fans are among the most critical of his work | syracuse.com
"Who's reasonable? I think the fans of the high-quality mid-majors are the most reasonable, because they don't come with a sense of entitlement that we belong or we should get this great pairing or we're ranked and we should be here or there and they look at it with maybe a less jaded viewpoint. The ones that are there every year, the Dukes, the Carolinas, the Syracuses whatever, you know heaven forbid make them a 2 seed instead of a 1 seed, you know people want to call 911, that's probably pretty consistent from year-to-year."

FingerLakes1.TV - Upstate Hoops Podcasr
On this week's Upstate Hoops, we come live from the FingerLakes1.com studios just a couple hours after the brackets were released to discuss Syracuse's draw and I recap my trip to Madison Square Garden.

Big East nets nine teams in NCAA Tournament; South Florida gets in, Seton Hall does not | syracuse.com
The South Florida Bulls will play in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1992. They were the ninth, and final, Big East team selected for the field. "I was on the edge of my seat. It definitely made the experience a lot more exciting," junior Toarlyn Fitzpatrick said. "It means a lot to the program and the city itself. It’s exciting for everyone that got up for our team and supported us."

Poliquin: The Syracuse basketball team gets its No. 1 reward; let the NCAA drama begin in Pittsburgh | syracuse.com
The good news, though, is that Syracuse foe -- if it materializes at all in Pittsburgh or Boston or New Orleans -- will likely have to do what Cincy did in Madison Square Garden over the weekend. The bad news is it can happen . . . and you’d be wise to consider that before assuming any Final-Four-Or-Bust mindset and thus risk dismissing an historic body of work.

Final Four Predictions - NYTimes.com
Kentucky Over Syracuse - This is a conventional prediction, but also counterintuitively risky, if only because the best teams never end up playing in the title game. Kentucky got a jolt with a loss in the Southeastern Conference title game. So look for the Wildcats to grind out a win to help John Calipari get his first national title, and kick off a blue party on Bourbon Street.

No Big East team will make the Final Four, not even Syracuse, ESPN writer predicts | syracuse.com
The Commodores became a hot choice for going far in the Big Dance after they beat Kentucky in the SEC tournament title game over the weekend. The Orange, who finished with a 31-2 record this season, was named a No. 1 seed in the East but have been upset in past tournaments by Butler, Texas A&M and Vermont.

NCAA Tournament Predictions: 15 Rules To Follow (2012 Edition) - SB Nation New York
Last year, I published my "15 Rules Rules To Follow" while picking your NCAA Tournament bracket, and, well, it didn't work out so well. In fact, it was such train wreck I thought about scrapping my whole formula thing for making picks for my March Madness bracket for this year.

NCAA Tournament Preview: UNC - Asheville Bulldogs - Searching for Billy Edelin
Based on what the Bulldogs do offensively, and that the covered the spread in all their "Admirable Losses" except for Ohio, there's a lot of intrigue in this team. They probably won't win a tournament game, but because they seem to do a good job of keeping things close, a betting man will want to keep an on the Bulldogs.

Lots of Pulp: A Tale of Two GIFs - Big East Tournament
The two days in NYC were not exactly how Syracuse fans drew it up. Instead of some serious analysis, we'll happily take the 1 seed and just show a looping reaction to the last two games.

Guide to NCAA March Madness Bracketology: Sports: GQ
What's that, you say? You fill out your NCAA tournament bracket based upon who you think has better coaching and stronger guard play? You're an idiot. No one wins an office pool that way. Using random criteria is not only more fun, it'll help you pull even with Dorothy in payroll, who hates basketball but wins your pool every year. This time, try these asinine strategies

Syracuse University basketball players Scoop Jardine and Kris Joseph talk to the media at the Melo Center, following the announcement of the 2012 NCAA tournament pairings.

Syracuse University basketball coach Jim Boeheim addresses the media at the Melo Center, following the announcement of the 2012 NCAA tournament pairings.

It's Tourney Time which means it's time for a new theme song: