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And so, the Syracuse Orange are where they're supposed to be and where they're not supposed to be all at the same time. The Orange take on the Ohio St. Buckeyes Saturday night in the 2012 NCAA Tournament Elite 8 for the right to move on to the Final Four and continue this movie script season.
The Orange escaped with their lives against UNC-Asheville in the first round, took control of the game against the Kansas St. Wildcats and then survived a shooting barrage from the Wisconsin Badgers to make it here.
The Buckeyes have cruised in retrospect. They staved off a solid challenge from the Cincinnati Bearcats in the last round. And now, these two teams who have seemed destined in a way to play one another all year, will finally have at it. The team that was supposed to be here since November (OSU) vs. the team that kept getting reasons not to be here but made it anyway (SU).
The Buckeyes hold a 4-1 edge in the all-time series against the Orange and won the previous NCAA Tournament game in 1983. No time like the present to buck that trend.
Leave your pre-, in- and post-game quotes below.
G'ORANGE!