Syracuse is an 11 Seed in NCAA Tournament, Will Face San Diego State
The Syracuse Orange is in the NCAA Tournament. Syracuse was placed as an 11-seed in the Midwest Region and will face the six seeded San Diego State on Friday, March 19th. The game will tip at 9:40 p.m. Eastern, will be broadcast on CBS and played at Hinkle Fieldhouse (Butler's home court).
This is the third straight season in which there was a tournament that the Orange was selected. The season was cancelled prior to the NCAA Tournament last year due to the pandemic.
If Syracuse is able to beat the Aztecs, they would take on the winner of West Virginia and Moorehead State. Three former Syracuse opponents are also in the Midwest in Georgia Tech (8), Clemson (7) and Rutgers (10). The Tigers and Scarlet Knights play each other in the first round. The one seed in Syracuse's bracket is Illinois while the two seed is Houston
Syracuse enters the big dance with a record of 16-9 after making some noise in the ACC Tournament. The Orange blew out NC State by 21 in the second round matchup (its first due to a bye) before losing a heartbreaker 72-69 to Virginia on a buzzer beating three pointer.
During the season, Syracuse was significantly impacted by covid-19. The program had to go on pause for two weeks prior to the season opener. That led to one practice before facing Bryant, where Syracuse was able to win by one point despite trailing for most of the game. After that, Buddy Boeheim was forced to quarantine and he missed three games including the close loss at Rutgers.
Syracuse had to go on another two week pause mid-season after Buffalo had a positive test immediately after facing the Orange. Two games against Louisville were cancelled beyond that, each due to a positive test within the Louisville program on the day of the game.
It was also revealed that Buddy Boeheim and Joe Girard both had covid, and it took them quite a while to get past related symptoms. Buddy seemed to have shaken those approximately 11 games ago, as he shot over 46% from three point range during the final 11 leading up to the NCAA Tournament. That raised his three point shooting percentage from 27% to 37%.
Despite all of that, Syracuse has earned a berth in college basketball's postseason.
