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It’s a battle for basketball brand superiority when the ACC/Big 10 Challenge commences. We’ve got fathers and sons battling each other in a hardwood match in the Dome. It’ll be Boeheims vs McCaffreys in a Tuesday night throwdown for the Syracuse Orange men’s basketball team.
Opponent: Iowa Hawkeyes
Location: Iowa City, IA
Students: 32,535 students wearing I Heart Kirk Ferentz buttons on their denim backpacks.
The 2019-20 Fake Nunes Equation of Tumult (#FNET)
You wanted something more ridiculous than RPI and the NCAA gave you NET. We give you more ridiculousness so we bring back the FNET metric.
Head Coach Bench Attire:
Fran McCaffrey and Jim Boeheim look like guys who you’d find sharing sales stories at an insurance conference in Omaha. There isn’t a fashion award winner in this sideline match-up.
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Advantage: Companies who make dark gray suits
NBA 2K Playability:
Luka Garza’s been a force for the Hawkeyes but video games don’t really reward post players while Elijah Hughes is certain to get a ratings boost in the next update.
Advantage: Syracuse
Basketball Program Hashtag:
None vs #Hawkeyes/FightForIowa
So it’s been seven games and I am still holding off celebrating the absence of a certain hashtag but folks this is the best news of the season so far.
Advantage: Syracuse because Hawkeyes can’t be your nickname and your hashtag
ACC Social Media Favorites:
You’d think Syracuse would have to win this one as the only ACC school participating and the whole challenge thing. You’d be wrong.
Advantage: Iowa
Boeheim Jacket Toss Meter
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9.3/10 Syracuse is 4-3 with a road game at Georgia Tech looming. The snow in Syracuse means the Dome heat will be cranking and we are on high alert for a jacket toss in this one.
Wrestling Theme Song for this game
We could pick a number of father-son wrestling combinations but a father coaching their son at P5 school is The American Dream. When you have two schools experiencing the same thing playing each other that’s the opposite of hard times.
Prediction:
It’s getting early for a “must-win” game but another loss and the Syracuse fanbase will become the biggest Grinches of the season. Buddy Boeheim doesn’t match the point total of Connor and Patrick McCaffrey but his 3-pointer breaks open a close game and the Orange survive with a narrow victory.