Syracuse men’s basketball’s less-than-stellar history in the ACC Tournament

As the Syracuse Orange men’s basketball team prepares for the 2019 ACC Tournament on Wednesday evening, we look back at how they’ve fared since joining the conference. We all know that Syracuse has entered every ACC Tournament coming off a 2-4 stretch in the final six games, but once things get started in Charlotte, hopefully that’s behind us.

For better or worse, here’s a glimpse at what’s happened over the past four trips to the ACC Tournament (minus 2015, obviously, given a certain self-imposed postseason ban):

2013-14

The Orange entered the ACC Tournament as the 2 seed after a 14-4 regular season conference record. Syracuse was quickly ousted by the NC State Wolfpack 66-63 in a game which will hold a dark place in history due to this sequence to end the game.

**Warning the content of this video is not suitable for Syracuse fans with thin skin and weak stomachs***

2014-15

The Orange were 9-9 and would have entered as the 8th seed but the post-season ban meant they were also ineligible to participate.

2015-16

Syracuse was again 9-9 and this time it was good enough to get them 9th in the ACC. The Orange dropped their 1st game in Washington DC to the Pittsburgh Panthers, falling by a score of 72-71. Cameron Johnson led the Panthers with 24 points off the bench but no one will complain if he burns the Orange again this year.

2016-17

Syracuse finished 10-8 in the ACC regular season and headed to Brooklyn as the 7th seed. The Orange opened up the Wednesday schedule by promptly losing to the Miami Hurricanes 62-57. The loss ended any NCAA hopes and Syracuse headed off to the NIT.

2017-18

The Orange returned to Brooklyn after an 8-10 regular season. As the 10th seed Syracuse opened up play against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons and earned their 1st ACC Tournament win with a 73-64 victory. Marek Dolezaj’s career high 20 point outburst led the way.

There would be no magical NYC run for this Orange squad as the North Carolina Tar Heels coasted to a 78-59 win.

Syracuse heads into Wednesday night with only one ACC Tournament win on their resume. Of course in that same time period the Orange have an 8-3 record in the NCAA Tournament. Even though the ACC isn’t the most important tournament in March, it would be nice to get in the habit of staying around a little bit longer.