Syracuse (20-13, 8-10 Atlantic Coast) was selected to compete in the 2018 NCAA Tournament. 

The Orange earned a No. 11 seed and will face off against No. 11 Arizona State (20-11, 8-10 Pac-12) in a first-four game on Wednesday at 9:10 p.m. in Dayton, Ohio. The winner will play No. 6 seed TCU. 

The Orange was firmly on the bubble for the latter part of the year. Since the start of February, different bracketology sites shuffled SU between “last four in,” “first four out” and “next four out.” In the end, Syracuse did just enough to secure a bid.

Entering the year, the Orange had relatively low expectations. Four out of five starters from last season were gone, and the only known commodity on the team was Tyus Battle.

Syracuse got off to a blazing 11-2 start in the nonconference part of the schedule, though, with the only two losses coming to then-No. 2 Kansas and St. Bonaventure. The Orange also picked up a home win over Maryland, a road win over Georgetown and a neutral-site win over Connecticut.

The team hit a road bump in the ACC, losing back-to-back games (on the road to Wake Forest and home to Notre Dame without its two best players) to teams that would eventually finish in the bottom six of the conference. In the penultimate game of the regular season, a loss to Boston College, head coach Jim Boeheim said, “We had our opportunity earlier to win two games that we really should have won, and we didn’t finish.”

The Orange kept its Tournament chances alive though, picking up road wins at Louisville and Miami and a home win over a ranked Clemson team. Each one of those wins came after a loss.

Last season was nearly the exact opposite. That SU team came into the year ranked and had high expectations, but went just 8-5 in the nonconference portion of the schedule. It picked things up in the ACC, earning three wins over teams ranked inside the Top 10. But a lack of road wins, and the poor start, doomed the Orange as it missed the NCAA Tournament and played in the National Invitation Tournament instead.

Now, Syracuse is back in the Big Dance.

Published on March 11, 2018 at 6:14 pm

Contact Tomer: tdlanger@syr.edu | @tomer_langer