Meaningful games in March? Syracuse basketball must prove itself worthy in ACC play

Off losing momentum, a second-half lead, and the game to hot-shooting Hofstra last Saturday night, there are still three non-conference games for the Syracuse basketball team to finish its early-season development and fine-tuning for the challenging ACC slate, beginning with second-year, Division I member Mercyhurst (4-7) Wednesday night in the Dome (7:00 p.m. ET / ACC Network Extra).

But by the time ACC play roils around in just over two weeks ( December 31 hosting Clemson), the time for the Orange (6-4) to prove that they are one of the teams capable of landing among the 68 headed to March Madness, will begin, and the time for explanations about unexpected, and disappointing end game results, will be over.

Sorry, but programs aspiring to be NCAA teams do not lose at home in mid-December to lower-rated teams (Donnie Freeman or not), with all due respect to the job head coach Speedy Claxton has done with the now 8-4 Pride, who may end up being in the NCAA Tournament themselves.

The rugged, and uneven journey to build this 'Cuse team to be considered NCAA caliber

Remember last spring, Syracuse athletic director John Wildhack (beginning a five-year term on the NCAA Div. I Basketball Committee this year) said he expected the basketball program to "play meaningful games in March."

During a September Buffalo radio appearance, Wildhack was confident that this year's squad was one that reminded him of a "traditional Syracuse team" - short for one under Jim Boeheim that routinely made the NCAA Tournament, and usually as a higher, rather than lower, seeded team in the bracket.

After beating a ranked Tennessee team December 2, the Orange started to have the rough look of perhaps being a top eight/nine ACC team, faintly appearing on the NCAA landscape.

However, after the Hofstra loss that featured a 'Cuse squad that looked shaky offensively against an opponent's zone defense, and in turn gave up a whopping 12 3-pointers on "D" and committed nine turnovers resulting in 16 Hofstra points, the NCAA answer is certainly not as clear.

While the team anxiously awaits Freeman's unknown return date, there is plenty of unhappiness among a large segment of fans who do not believe Autry can become the first SU head coach, not named Boeheim, to coach the 'Cuse in an NCAA Tournament game for the first time since Roy Danforth in 1976.

"There was nothing that we did, would not prepare for except our effort, attention to detail and just not executing what we talked about (game-planning)," Autry said Saturday after his head coaching record dropped to 40-35 over three seasons.

"I am very disappointed in myself and our staff not being able to get the job done."

Orange Nation is beyond restless waiting for results

After going 1-3 in its top non-conference games to stake NCAA worthiness, then dropping a game against a CAA team at home, the frustration among the fan base in an NCAA-or bust season is loud.

Losses in games against teams that should be defeated at home, makes it harder and harder for die-hard fans not to call for a coaching change, and for more mainstream fans to show their displeasure by not buying single game tickets over the course of the season. Scores of empty blue Dome seats on TV do not make for a beautiful "Orange" portrait.

Autry is as frustrated as any alum over the programs fortunes, but after 10 games of a rebuilt roster still learning on the job while missing a key component, he can only ask for continued patience in a long season.

"We're a good team," Autry insisted when asked what his message is to the fan base and why they should believe in this Orange squad. "We'll address what needs to get addressed, move forward and get better."

We will know a lot more if that message resonates with the team, in about one month from now.

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