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The East Region one-seed Syracuse Orange aren't supposed to be here. They're supposed to have been the first-ever one-seed to lose to a sixteen-seed. But they did win and here they are (and Missouri and Duke aren't). The Orange will look to get back on track today when they take on the eight-seed Kansas St. Wildcats in the third-round of the NCAA Tournament at CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh.
The winner moves on to Boston and the Sweet Sixteen. The loser's season is over. And that just sounds way too soon for the Orange given the season they've had.
Kansas State defeated nine seed Southern Miss Thursday, 70-64, to advance. Rodney McGruder scored 18 of his game-high 30 points in the first half while Jordan Henriquez scored 15 points, grabbed nine rebounds and forced six blocks. It's the kind of line we'd have hoped to have gotten out of Fab Melo. Oh well.
It's the third all-time meeting between the two basketball programs, having split the previous two. The last time they played was incidentally the East Regional in 1975. Syracuse won and advanced to their first Final Four. Of course, the two schools have met on the football field multiple times in the past 15 years in bowl games, with the Orange holding a 2-1 advantage there.
Here you go, you guys. Let's all buckle down, cheer our asses off and hope that the Orange have figured out what's been plaguing them.
When: 12:15 p.m. EST
Where: CBS
Announcers: Kevin Harlan, Len Elmore and Reggie Miller
Leave your pre-, in- and post-game comments below.
G'ORANGE!