MegaThread: Syracuse women’s basketball vs. USF, football vs. NC State, men’s basketball vs. Colgate

Welcome to a very Syracuse Orange Saturday! Admittedly, it’s a pretty packed day, so instead of separate watch threads for the variety of SU sports happening this afternoon, we get the return of the MEGATHREAD.

First, your rundown of events:

(all times ET)

• Syracuse cross country NCAA championships, time varies (watch)
• Syracuse women’s basketball vs. South Florida Bulls, 2:30 p.m. (watch)
• Syracuse women’s ice hockey vs. Penn State Nittany Lions, 3 p.m. (watch)
• Syracuse football vs. NC State Wolfpack, 4 p.m. (ACC Network)
• Syracuse men’s basketball vs. Colgate Raiders, 5 p.m. (ACC Network Extra)

If the Orange women’s team can pull off the upset vs. a ranked USF team, they’ll likely face off with UConn in the next round down in the Bahamas (read more about the game here). Meanwhile, the football team needs a win here or next Saturday to go bowling, and you can check out the football hub for all the latest heading into a pretty crucial matchup with NC State.

James has more on the MBB game with Colgate below:

The Syracuse Orange men’s basketball team will have one more test before flying down to the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament next week. The Colgate Raiders come to the Carrier Dome is a cross-town matchup. Winner of this contest claims central New York supremacy.

Syracuse has faced Colgate more than any other opponent, owning a 127-45 series edge. The Orange have won 54 straight meetings with the last loss coming to the Raiders in 1962. Due to the pandemic, these two squads didn’t face each other a season ago, the first time that’s happened since the 1992-93 season.

As for this matchup specifically, Syracuse is a 12-point favorite. KenPom predicts a 80-68 Syracuse victory. Although Colgate is just 2-2 on the young season, this isn’t quite your father’s Colgate team. The Raiders made the NCAA Tournament last year and finished third in the country in three point shooting percentage (40.3%). Much of that talent has returned with the exception of Jordan Burns.

We’re back with the gamethread and apologies to all those who were looking for the nonexistent gamethread against Drexel. We reviewed our poor performance, consulted with our board of directors and remain committed to improvement for all of our stakeholders.

As always, leave your pre-, in- and post-game comments below. We’ll have recaps for MBB and football today. WBB recap arrives on Sunday morning along with a game preview for that day’s matchup.