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Message: [QUOTE="cuse522, post: 1709810, member: 1149"] Now we're REALLY playing with house money. Anytime you're a win away from the Final Four, it's crushing if you lose, but obviously this team has exceeded expectations and gifted us with an awesome run as fans. Yes, we'll be sizable underdogs Sunday, but there are a few reasons I really like our chances. 1. We haven't had a complete game yet. When Richardson, Lydon, G and Cooney all bring it offensively and Roberson does his thing defensively, we can hang with anyone. I thought for sure we'd need that to happen to make the Sweet 16, but some upsets cleared our path and now we're three games in and haven't had to have a complete game. That said, everyone on that list has played at the level we need them to at one point or another in this tournament. If they do it all at once Sunday, we have a great shot. 2. These guys seem to relish having a chip on their shoulder. Every step of this tourney this team has been able to have that extra motivation. Almost everyone will be predicting chalk on Sunday. They hung with UVA on the road down to the wire, so they know they're capable, and they'll be annoyed hearing they can't do it. 3. Jim Boeheim is 4-2 in the Elite 8, and 4-1 as the lower seed in the Elite 8. Every time Syracuse has made the Elite 8 as a 3-seed or lower under Boeheim, they've gone to the Final Four. Tony Bennett has never been to the Elite 8 before. Virginia overall is 2-3 in the Elite 8, but 0-2 since the field expanded to 64+ teams. 4. Tyler Lydon has grown immensely as an offensive threat since the first UVA game. He was averaging 8.6 pts and 6.5 reb through that game. Since, he's averaged 12.5 pts and 6.1 reb. Before that game he had 9 double figure scoring outputs in 21 games, since he has 9 in 14 games... and that's against tougher competition. 5. We'll have the crowd on our side - I would suspect there are way more SU alums in Chicago than UVA, especially of the basketball fan variety... We'll also have all of the casual fans pulling for the 10-seed upset. 6. This game isn't in Charlottesville. Virginia is 45-3 at home in the last three years. This year they went 15-0 at home, they're 5-6 on the road and 9-1 on a neutral court. Sure, we haven't beaten them since we've been in the ACC, but 2 of those 3 games were on the road. We shouldn't read TOO much into that. 7. Virginia hasn't been totally tested in the tournament yet. Sure, they played close games in the ACC Tourney, and this team has been tested throughout the year against tough competition. They're very good... But this team hasn't faced the pressure yet of a back and forth game in the closing minutes in the NCAA Tournament. Butler was within a few points late, but UVA led the final ~10 minutes. We came through the fire tonight, so we know what it's like. What do you all have for some reasons to be confident going into Sunday? [/QUOTE]

Verification: What is a Syracuse fan's favorite color?