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Get To Know Eastern Washington, Syracuse's 2015 NCAA Tournament Surrogate

In case you weren't already aware, you're rooting for the Eastern Washington Eagles today.

By Sean Keeley
James Snook-USA TODAY Sports

As a Syracuse Orange fan, you don't have a literal rooting interest in the 2015 NCAA Tournament. But there is one team out there that demands your support and fandom as fiercely as if Boeheim's boys were out there.

The Eastern Washington Eagles.

Otherwise known as, the latest team primed to upset the Georgetown Hoyas in the first game of March Madness. You may remember the last one.

Let's get to know EWU so we're well prepared.

How Did Their Season Go?: You mean the season in which they went 23-8 and culminated with an exciting Big Sky Conference championship game victory over Montana. They earned their second-ever NCAA Tournament appearance and first since 2004. They'll be a 13-seed taking on 4-seed Georgetown.

Is That How It Was Supposed To Go?: Kinda. They're coming off a 15-16 season but we knew they were going to a ferocious scorer in guard Tyler Harvey and could score overall as well. While it doesn't seem like an NCAA appearance was expected, it seemed possible. Things went so well that SB Nation named them your new favorite team back in January.

Who's This Harvey Fellow?: All Harvey did this season was average 22.9 PPG and shoot 42.8% from three-point range. He led the nation in scoring this season and stayed fairly consistent all year long, scoring 20+ in all games against major conference opponents.

Who Else Do They Got?: There's Venky Jois (16.6 PPG, 7.7 RPG), who'll try to make something happen in the paint. Trying to bury the Hoyas with threes alongside Harvey will be Parker Kelly (7.9 PPG) and Bogdan Bliznyuk (8.6 PPG). That last one is just the kind of name of a guy who comes out of nowhere to hit nine three-pointers in a game like this.

Who's The Coach?: Jim Hayford is in his fourth season with the Eagles and he's done a nice turnaround job with a squad that won ten games two years ago. Before this, he found a lot of success at D-III Whitworth. Also, you can count Hayford among the group of people who think the Eagles can win this game. In fact, he's guaranteed it.

How Vulnerable Is Georgetown?: First of all, it's the NCAA Tournament and they're Georgetown. So, very. But as Casual Hoya notes, the Hoyas were so-so against teams in the Top 100 of eFG% this season (6-5). They did perform well against teams that rely on three-pointers (7-1) but that doesn't mean a flurry of threes can't shut them down.

Do They Have A Basketball Zamboni In Their Arena?: Yes.

Tell Me Something About Where They're From: They're locate in Cheney, Washington, which, I hadn't even heard of until right now...and I live in Washington. When school is in session, the population of the Spokane County town nearly doubles. Also, it was originally known as "Section Thirteen," which means it was apparently an outpost in a sci-fi novella.

When Will They Upset Georgetown?: Approximately 9:57 p.m. EST

How Can I Watch Them Upset Georgetown?: truTV

Does Georgetown Suck?: Yes. Why would you bother asking?

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