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The Syracuse Orange have yet to play an ACC Tournament game, but all around them the 2014 NCAA Tournament brackets and seedings are shifting and changing.
Before they step on the court tonight, where does it seem like they fit?
We turn to the Bracket Matrix, which collects all of the notable (and un-notable) bracketologies from across the land and compiles an overall seeding. According to the Matrix (not the Baye Keita kind), the Orange would enter the NCAA Tournament right now as a 2-seed. And just barely at that.
The Orange are a fairly polarizing choice at the moment. We can go into the merits of everyone's claims but while many folks have Syracuse as a solid 2-seed, some have them as a 3-seed, and in a couple cases a 4-seed.
Of course, these brackets are already shot thanks to Villanova's loss to Seton Hall in the BET. Villanova might have had a better February but the Orange hold the tie-breaker between the two. All SU needs is a decent showing in the ACCT and they can catapult the Wildcats.
Right now, Syracuse, Duke and Virginia are all in the 2/3-seed range and, depending on how the ACCT plays out, one of them could easily be in line for that East 1-seed. But, of course, it's too hard to tell at this point who'll get it. To win the ACCT, it's likely the Orange and Blue Devils will have to go through one another and then the Cavaliers. If one of us wins out, chances are that team will be a 1-seed.
The good news is that, barring some unforeseen nightmare scenario, the Orange are almost certainly going to end up in Buffalo in the 2nd Round/3rd Round, regardless of Regional. The NCAA likes to keep top seeds close to home as much as possible and if you want to make sure the Buffalo games are sold out, you better make sure Syracuse is there.
As for whether or not a team like UConn will be there waiting for us in the next round, well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
