Syracuse basketball looks to avoid sixth straight 2-4 finish

The Syracuse Orange have just six games remaining in the 2017-18 regular season, and need as many of those as possible to make this year’s NCAA Tournament.

If recent seasons are any indication, however, it’s going to be tough to get past a 2-4 record.

Credit to our own Bobby Manning for bringing this odd stat to light in our staff Slack room. But Syracuse has finished 2-4 in the regular season every season since 2013. That’s a very strange stretch of five straight seasons now. And hopefully not a sixth.

Those results, to recap:

2013

Wins - DePaul, Providence

Losses - Georgetown, Marquette, Louisville, Georgetown

2014

Wins - Maryland, Florida State

Losses - Boston College, Duke, Virginia, Georgia Tech

2015

Wins - Louisville, Notre Dame

Losses - Pitt, Duke, Virginia, NC State

2016

Wins - Boston College, NC State

Losses - Louisville, Pitt, North Carolina, Florida State

2017

Wins - Duke, Georgia Tech

Losses - Pitt, Louisville, Georgia Tech, Louisville

Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports

While that seems to paint a negative picture, it’s also worth remembering how most of these seasons ended. Twice, Syracuse made the Final Four. Another time (2014), SU was a top-four seed in the NCAAs. The Orange just missed the field last year.

The other thing I’d take from the above is that Syracuse seems to mix it up with the two teams they beat in those final six games. As you’ll notice, there are 10 different teams listed there. So perhaps the trend holds if the Orange go 2-4 again.

Looking at the remaining schedule, that leaves the following options:

NC State, Miami, North Carolina, Duke, Boston College, Clemson

If SU wins two of those, they’re probably in, to be honest. Even if it’s UNC and Clemson (both home games), that’s two clear Quadrant 1 victories. Ideally, you’d want a road triumph in there, so maybe swap Miami in for good measure instead.

But what do you think? This a weird trend that will go away? Or foreshadowing of yet another 2-4 finish?