There was 4:11 left in one of Syracuse’s biggest basketball games of the season, but fans inside Chuck’s Café were already calling it.

“We’re going to Final Four! We’re going to win the whole thing!”

Then, the floor began to shake.

Following Syracuse’s 55-39 win against Marquette in the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Tournament, the crowd inside the popular Marshall Street-area bar erupted in song and dance. For the first time in 10 years, SU was going to the Final Four, a feat not accomplished since the team won the national championship in 2003.

So when this year’s team solidified its place in the semifinals once again, the reaction was deafening.

Inside Chuck’s, a cup of beer flew across the room. Bar-goers hopped on top of tables, stomped their feet to the sound of “The Final Countdown” and continued to hug and high-five each other for 10 minutes. It was as if the crowd was in the arena during the game.

For some seniors, the victory could not have come soon enough.

“It’s unreal,” said Michael Connor, a senior information management and technology major. “It’s my senior year, so being able to celebrate like this, to go so far in the tournament, it’s amazing. It’s so much fun.”

After the game, Connor, along with a wave of Syracuse fans, spilled out of the bar chanting “Final Four!” One fan marched down the alleyway holding up an SU T-shirt, another jumped up and off a wall.

“Basketball is what our school is about, so to be able to be here when we made it to the Final Four, it’s amazing,” Connor said.

Sam Watters, a senior policy studies and political science major, agreed. He said that in his four years at SU, students have never shown this much spirit.

“This is the year,” he said. “This is the year that we win the championship, the 10-year anniversary. We’re taking it all the way.”

Rebecca Ierardo’s initial reaction consisted of screams and laughter.

“I’m just really excited. There are only noises at this point, no words,” said Ierardo, a junior international relations and anthropology major.

For Cody Dieterle, a senior conservation biology major at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, watching the game led to a lot of grinning.

 

“I was smiling the entire night. Looking at all — it’s just crazy,” Dieterle said.

Following the Orange’s success, many fans attributed the big win to the team’s zone defense.

“Honestly, the defense stumped them, just stumped them,” said Elliot Green, a senior history major.

“Everything,” said Ierardo, regarding what she thought the team did correctly. “Southerland was really good from 3, defense was good…”

Dieterle agreed.

“I mean the offensive was offensive and the defense was defensive…It was perfect,” he said.

Now, Syracuse is off to Atlanta to take on the Michigan Wolverines. Though two more games await the Orange before it can be declared a national champion, some fans are predicting the team can take it all.

Said Green: “It’s meant to be.”

Published on March 30, 2013 at 10:42 pm

Contact Maddy: mjberner@syr.edu