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Finally the Syracuse Orange are back on the NCAA Tournament bubble and after two solid home wins we’ll take a look at where the Orange stand among the bracketologists. Syracuse has a 15-8 record (9-7 in the ACC) and a NET ranking of 51 after beating the Clemson Tigers.
With only the ACC Tournament ahead let’s take a look at where Syracuse stands right now.
Chris Dobbertean of SB Nation’s Blogging the Bracket had the Orange his Next Four Out before the Clemson win. Syracuse was behind Michigan State, Duke, Utah State, and Saint Louis, so they might flip with Duke who lost at Georgia Tech after this was published.
Friend of Syracuse fans, Joe Lunardi of ESPN has Syracuse on his Next Four Out with the Orange behind Seton Hall, St. Louis, Utah State and Duke while Jerry Palm of CBS has the Orange on his First Four Out behind North Carolina, VCU, Drake and St. Louis. Palm is one of the more optimistic predictors right now.
Syracuse is only seeded in two of the 131 brackets tracked by The Bracket Matrix and one of the most accurate predictors Bracketville thinks the Orange still have work to do at the ACC Tournament with this additional information.
Syracuse – The Orange took another step on the Seed List by taking down Clemson at the Carrier Dome Wednesday night. Next up: the ACC tournament. It all depends on who they play (at beat) on a neutral floor. An 0-6 mark vs. Q1 could be an issue; and a 4-7 mark against Quads 1-2 is largely filled with home wins. Syracuse has just two victories off its home floor this season – at NC State and at Boston College.
All this reinforces the fact that no matter what you think about resumes, or who you want to compare the Orange to at this point, the team has to win the first game they play in Greensboro to stay in the conversation. At that point it will be time to start looking around and planning who to root for and which teams we want to see get knocked out early in their conference tournaments but without at least one more win Syracuse won’t have anything to watch for on Selection Sunday.