2006-08 vs. Today

[CorduroyG]

And both arkansas and stanford got absolutely blitzed in their 1st round games.

 

[Dmcnabbrules]

If 2008 me told 2013 me that we would be a 1 seed twice and 3 seed and have no final fours today me would be pissed. Freaking Fab. I give 2010 team a pass.

 

[Cuse_1999]

If 2008 me told 2013 me that we would be a 1 seed twice and 3 seed and have no final fours today me would be pissed. Freaking Fab. I give 2010 team a pass.

We would have won the title in 2010. Kansas and UK were as good as us but they both lost. With Arinze we walk to the final 4 and win it all

 

[Knicks411]

We would have won the title in 2010. Kansas and UK were as good as us but they both lost. With Arinze we walk to the final 4 and win it all

If Kansas and UK were as good as us and they lost is it not possible that we would've then lost?

 

[CorduroyG]

kansas, kentucky and syracuse were the 3 best teams in 2010, then there was a big dropoff after that. we were better than kentucky, kansas was really good but when we were on our game we were definitely the best team. it still pisses me off that duke won the title that year without having to beat any of those 3 teams, and got the easiest road of the 1 seeds even though they were the 4th best team.

 

[Eric15]

We would have won the title in 2010. Kansas and UK were as good as us but they both lost. With Arinze we walk to the final 4 and win it all

That 2010 team was arguably my favorite in SU history, but sometimes I feel like this board tends to engage in revisionist history and remember that team as 1990 UNLV or something. We lost three regular season games to relatively mediocre opponents (Pitt, Louisville 2x), two of which were in the Dome. And I'm almost positive we were losing to 8 seed Georgetown in the BET before AO got hurt. We also had to ESCAPE games against a very bad UConn team at home and a horrendous Depaul team on the road.

Would our chances of winning the national title have increased tremendously with a healthy AO? Absolutely. But it wouldn't have been an easy journey by any stretch.

 

[PoppyHart]

Andy Glockner too; I'm not sure if he had us out or not but I remember him saying something like "everyone thinks Syracuse is a lock but the more I look at the profile the less convinced i am"

Wasn't that '07, not '08?

 

[HOFCeluck]

2007 doesnt bother me as much as most. Don't lose at home to Drexel and Witchita State if you want to make the tournament.

 

[conradical]

i still think the 2010 team was the most complete s.u. team ever; the chemistry the players had with one another was obvious, and it just seemed like they were having fun while playing. in addition, they were a very likable team as well; there was no ego amongst the players, and they played hard every game. it was clear they had one objective: winning.

it's frustrating that s.u. doesn't have a go-to guy this year, but what makes it worse is when you think back to how clutch wes and andy were throughout the 2010 season. you give the current team even one-fourth of the leadership those two brought and s.u. would be one of the favorites to win it all this year.

 

[Knicks411]

Wasn't that '07, not '08?

Was definitely 07, I thought we were talking about it. If it was 08, then i'm off

 

[kirbivore]

They did steal the bid from us. I was in NY for the BET that year and the only thing I paid attention to was the SEC tournament. That was a very frustrating 3 days. After Georgia beat 2 teams in the same day I knew they were beating Arkansas and making the tournament.

The one guy that Lunardi should have hammered more was Seth Greenberg. My god how many consecutive years did VTech get stood up at the altar?

Greenberg also made a jackass of himself begging the committee every year.

 

[kirbivore]

Arkansas and Stanford were the teams that year that did not deserve bids. Arkansas F'ed us twice in a 2 year span. Getting a bid over us in 2007 and losing to Georgia in the 2008 SEC finals giving Georgia our bid.

I remember back then the SEC still had an East/West split in hoops and you played your own division twice and the other division once for a 16 game schedule. Arkansas was under .500 in league play in a far worse division. Committee preaches body of work but in reality the conference tourney's are weighted more heavily by them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_SEC_Men's_Basketball_Tournament#Final_SEC_Regular_Season_Standings

 

[kirbivore]

2007 was probably the biggest tourny snub ever. 2008 doesn't bother me much, that team didn't really deserve to get in. But '07 was a joke. I don't even think we were considered a bubble team on selection Sunday, beating uconn in the bet moves us into lock status on everyones board. Except gary walters, ill never forget that guys name as long as I live.

2007 was a kick in the gut. When I tuned in to Selection Sunday I was convinced they were in. 1997, 2002, 2008 I had resigned myself to the possibility of them not getting in.

 

[Cheriehoop]

That 2010 team was arguably my favorite in SU history, but sometimes I feel like this board tends to engage in revisionist history and remember that team as 1990 UNLV or something. We lost three regular season games to relatively mediocre opponents (Pitt, Louisville 2x), two of which were in the Dome. And I'm almost positive we were losing to 8 seed Georgetown in the BET before AO got hurt. We also had to ESCAPE games against a very bad UConn team at home and a horrendous Depaul team on the road.

Would our chances of winning the national title have increased tremendously with a healthy AO? Absolutely. But it wouldn't have been an easy journey by any stretch.

What I loved about that team an opponent had to scheme for every player on that team. On any given night - it could be Wes, Andy, KJ, AO etc who could beat you. It was a very balanced team. Might not have had the best players we've seen but they were unselfish and took advantage of their balance. A true "team".

 

[OrangeMojo]

If 2008 me told 2013 me that we would be a 1 seed twice and 3 seed and have no final fours today me would be pissed. Freaking Fab. I give 2010 team a pass.

no way I give that 2010 team a pass - they lost in the sweet 16 to a solid but not great Butler team. Even without AO Syracuse was still superior, but they let Butler dictate the style and tempo of that game and then went stall ball too early and choked - still pisses me off

 

[jgeorge322]

Correct. We were on the bubble in 2007 in last couple weeks of the season, but the blowout of a top 10 G'Town team and we were firmly in. Were not even showing up on bubble lists after that. I remember it got to the final pairing and I had not seen Louisville yet and I knew they were in so I knew we were out because 2 BE teams would not play in first round. Who is Gary Walters? Is he the SEC commish who put Arkansas in over us?

i remember after the blowout of gtown, that bilas declared no way we werent getting in. well, appears he was wrong, unfortunately.

 

[Cuse_1999]

That 2010 team was arguably my favorite in SU history, but sometimes I feel like this board tends to engage in revisionist history and remember that team as 1990 UNLV or something. We lost three regular season games to relatively mediocre opponents (Pitt, Louisville 2x), two of which were in the Dome. And I'm almost positive we were losing to 8 seed Georgetown in the BET before AO got hurt. We also had to ESCAPE games against a very bad UConn team at home and a horrendous Depaul team on the road.

Would our chances of winning the national title have increased tremendously with a healthy AO? Absolutely. But it wouldn't have been an easy journey by any stretch.

Fair enough, but remember that Wes's hand was extremely swollen for about a month's worth of games in mid to late season and he went into a bad shooting slump. We struggled during that stretch. He got the hand drained and he started shooting it well again and we started playing better.

 

[OttoMets]

Fair enough, but remember that Wes's hand was extremely swollen for about a month's worth of games in mid to late season and he went into a bad shooting slump. We struggled during that stretch. He got the hand drained and he started shooting it well again and we started playing better.

Actually, I don't think Wes got better until the second Louisville loss, and - in hindsight - we'd peaked by that point. We lost to Pitt before he got hurt. His injury (and our insistence on forcing our game through him) killed us in the first Louisville loss, though. He went 4-20 or 5-20, he got mugged on a late layup attempt that would've tied the game, and we lost by 6.

2010 was the best Syracuse team I've seen (1989 was more talented, but in my opinion an inferior team). We were good enough to beat everyone, but there are no guarantees. Even with Arinze, one could easily see a situation in which we get matched up against a Butler-like team and for whatever reason come up short.

 

[cuseinseattle]

I fall into the same trap. The past 3 seasons of 1-3-1 seeds have spoiled a lot of people. I remember watching hours and hours of bubble games with sheets and names of teams and trying to figure out who we needed to lose to help us out. Then throw in the conference tournaments and praying that each regular season champion won so there were no bubbles burst.

Not a fun time for sure.

Totally agree. It's so easy to forget about the ways thing used to be. I'm also a Red Sox fan and the fan base before 2003 was way different than it is today. I know fans who want the Sox to be bad for like 2 or 3 years to weed out the annoying stupid people.

 

[cuseinseattle]

Actually, I don't think Wes got better until the second Louisville loss, and - in hindsight - we'd peaked by that point. We lost to Pitt before he got hurt. His injury (and our insistence on forcing our game through him) killed us in the first Louisville loss, though. He went 4-20 or 5-20, he got mugged on a late layup attempt that would've tied the game, and we lost by 6.

2010 was the best Syracuse team I've seen (1989 was more talented, but in my opinion an inferior team). We were good enough to beat everyone, but there are no guarantees. Even with Arinze, one could easily see a situation in which we get matched up against a Butler-like team and for whatever reason come up short.

Totally agree that team was great. I felt like we were better than everyone. I went to the Final Four that year, bought tickets early I was so convinced. Even with Arinze though there are no guarantees.

 

[OttoMets]

Totally agree that team was great. I felt like we were better than everyone. I went to the Final Four that year, bought tickets early I was so convinced. Even with Arinze though there are no guarantees.

Only time I've felt that way (other than the moments after Hakim blocked the shot).

Awesome team.

 

[Cuse_1999]

Only time I've felt that way (other than the moments after Hakim blocked the shot).

Awesome team.

I feel like we were just as good, if not better than anyone (including Kentucky), last year with Fab in the lineup. We lost 1 game with Fab in the lineup. We blew through the BE at 17-1. And the 1 loss was without Fab. I highly doubt Kentucky gets through the BE gauntlet at 17-1

 

[Knicks411]

I feel like we were just as good, if not better than anyone (including Kentucky), last year with Fab in the lineup. We lost 1 game with Fab in the lineup. We blew through the BE at 17-1. And the 1 loss was without Fab. I highly doubt Kentucky gets through the BE gauntlet at 17-1

That Kentucky team was pretty amazing, I would not bet against it.

 

[OttoMets]

I feel like we were just as good, if not better than anyone (including Kentucky), last year with Fab in the lineup. We lost 1 game with Fab in the lineup. We blew through the BE at 17-1. And the 1 loss was without Fab. I highly doubt Kentucky gets through the BE gauntlet at 17-1

I'd agree with that, right through the Seton Hall game.

Around that time we seemed to plateau; we were just toying with teams. Lost Fab a few weeks later, his development got cut off, Dion's play went into the tank for a month, and I never felt we were dominant after that. Very good, but not at the same level as we were for stretches in November and December.

Agree that Kentucky would've taken 3 or 4 losses in the Big East. They needed some help (Mississippi State comes to mind) to get through a much inferior league with only 1 loss. That we were able to go 17-1 was special.

 

[Knicks411]

I'd agree with that, right through the Seton Hall game.

Around that time we seemed to plateau; we were just toying with teams. Lost Fab a few weeks later, his development got cut off, Dion's play went into the tank for a month, and I never felt we were dominant after that. Very good, but not at the same level as we were for stretches in November and December.

Agree that Kentucky would've taken 3 or 4 losses in the Big East. They needed some help (Mississippi State comes to mind) to get through a much inferior league with only 1 loss. That we were able to go 17-1 was special.

Well if you're counting the loss in the tournament, then we went 18-2 in the league. (Caveat of Fab not playing in the ND game). UK ran the table until the SEC title game.

Anyway, you're probably right in the sense it's unlikely that any team goes through an 18 game league season with one loss, but that UK team was really special last year. (As, btw, was our team)

I don't remember the Miss State game that well; t hey won it by 9. Was it closer than that? They pretty much bitchslapped the SEC (which wasn't all that g reat, of course) last year. We also barely beat WVU (Kevin Jones had a 3 at the buzzer that missed), Gtown took us to OT at home, and we beat Lville by 1. 5 of their 16 games last year int he league were decided by fewer than 10 points, and 2 of those were 9.

I would be very surprised if UK ate 3 or 4 losses in the BE last year