How Syracuse Basketball Avoids Losing Season

Syracuse basketball currently sits at 7-7 on the season. While an NCAA Tournament berth would require a monumental turnaround, I am more focused on Jim Boeheim maintaining his streak of never having a losing season. How does Syracuse do that with the remaining schedule? Let's take a look.

Remaining games:

at Wake Forest
PITTSBURGH
FLORIDA STATE
CLEMSON
at Duke
at Pittsburgh
WAKE FOREST
at NC State
LOUISVILLE
at Boston College
at Virginia Tech
BOSTON COLLEGE
at Notre Dame
DUKE
at North Carolina
MIAMI

That is 16 games. To ensure a non-losing season, Syracuse must finish at least two games above .500 at the end of the regular season. That way a loss in the ACC Tournament and NIT would result in a .500 record at worst. In order to do that, Syracuse will have to win nine of the next 16 games. Of course there is also a game against Georgia Tech that was postponed and could be rescheduled. However, we are looking at only the games currently on the schedule for purposes of this exercise.

How does the Orange do that? It will certainly be a challenge but certainly not impossible. Games against teams like Duke and North Carolina will be extremely difficult. They would be considered major upsets. If you put those games aside and look at the remaining, there are a lot of winnable games. The ACC being a bit down this season helps Syracuse in that respect.

After Syracuse's game at Wake Forest, there are three straight winnable games at home. Syracuse has to be beat Pittsburgh as one of the nine probably at least split with Clemson and Florida State. Winning two of the games at Pittsburgh, home against Wake Forest and at NC State would get Syracuse up to four wins.

The Orange probably has to sweep Boston College, which brings the total up to six. That means between the following games, Syracuse needs three more: Louisville, at Virginia Tech, at Notre Dame and Miami. If Syracuse beats both Clemson and Florida State, the Orange only has to win two of those four. An upset over Duke or North Carolina pushes that total to one.

Picking the nine most likely myself, I would go with these: Pittsburgh, Florida State, Clemson, at Pittsburgh, at NC State, Louisville, at Boston College, Boston College, at Notre Dame.

Yes, of course there will have to be improvement in play, specifically defensively, for Syracuse to win those games. But that is how the Orange can navigate the schedule in order to preserve coach Boeheim's streak.

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