After a tumultuous week of basketball, SU has dropped out of the top-25. Can they get back any time soon?
Goodbye, Top 25. We barely knew you.
Following a week in which the Syracuse basketball team got crushed at Wisconsin, then hung on to beat North Florida at home, the Orange finds itself no longer in the national rankings.
The AP and USA Today Coaches Polls slot SU as the first squad in the “others receiving votes” category.
So, I guess ‘Cuse is ranked No. 26 this week. Hooray!
Not overly surprised by Syracuse falling out of either poll. Getting defeated by the Badgers on the road is not a “bad” loss. However, Wisconsin handled SU convincingly.
Then, this past Saturday, the Orange held a 24-point, second-half lead against North Florida at the
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Carrier Dome, before giving up a ton of 3-pointers and managing to only squeak by, 77-71. That couldn’t have left a good impression on writers and coaches who vote in the two polls.
There are five ACC teams currently in the Top 25: Duke, North Carolina, Louisville, Virginia and Notre Dame, which jumped in this week.
Flipping the script forward, SU (5-3) should descend further down among those receiving votes come next Monday. As we all know by now, the Orange suffered a gut-wrenching 52-50 loss to former Big East rival UConn (4-4) this past Monday night at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
SU hoops blew an 11-point, second-half lead against the Huskies, an underwhelming, undermanned squad in this young season.
‘Cuse has disappointed in the non-conference slate, and it’s almost guaranteed that SU will not see itself back in the national rankings before ACC competition begins.
The opportunities just aren’t there for marquee victories prior to conference play ratcheting up. Syracuse hosts Boston University this Saturday, Dec. 10, and also plays Georgetown and St. John’s, among others.
Even if the Orange strings together a cluster of non-conference wins, it won’t prove enough, in my opinion, to vault SU back into the Top 25.
Should Syracuse get hot against some highly ranked ACC foes, that may help sway some poll voters to vault SU hoops back among the nation’s elite.
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