It is indeed an artificial benchmark.
NOBODY ever talks about a sports team's record, starting from some arbitrary point in the middle of the season. Ever.
You're choosing after a high point as the starting point, so by definition all that comes after that, will be less good.
You know, after an 18-0 start, then falling to the NY Giants in the Super Bowl, the New England Patriots lost a LOT more games in the next two seasons, as compared to that amazing run.
OMG Belichick must suck or something!!!!
What tipped? Our favor with The Basketball Gods, for wearing those atrocities?
That's your opinion, and doubtful one that many posters would share. As Alascs points out, that beginning was a line of demarcation on multiple levels.
Prior to the 25-0, things were humming along. We were coming off of a year where we'd been rated as high as #2, but hit the dreaded mid-season swoon before recovering and going on a run in both our FINAL Big East tournament and the NCAAs, advancing to the final four. We brought in an exciting recruiting class, and kicked off our affiliation in the ACC conference by starting out the next season 25-0, rising to #1 and winning several ball games in exciting fashion.
Then, the bottom fell out. We went something like 2-6 to end that season, losing in the first round of both the ACC tournament and the NCAA tournament.
The next season, we got off to our worst start under Boeheim, lost our top recruit to a torn ACL, and then got the hammer dropped on us by the NCAA with draconian, unprecedented sanctions.
The next year, we struggled through conference play after a strong start, and made the NCAA tournament only by an eyelash amidst a storm of national criticism. Loved the final four run, but it felt like an aberration masking some disconcerting things.
Last year's team got off to an even worse start than 14-15, got hot, but sputtered down the stretch. Worst road team I can ever remember.
And along the way, we've wracked up losses at an unprecedented pace, for four straight years.
So whether you choose to accept it or not, the 25-0 start was a noteworthy benchmark, with a lot of good things happening directly before that, and a disturbing downward trend occurring after that particular point on the program's timeline. I think we can also point to that particular tipping point where the program's second "golden era" under JB came to an abrupt, unexpected end.