Path to the NCAA Tournament. I believe! Whose with me?

[Cuseball]

Okay, we can all agree last night was horrible and the non-conference season has been largely a failure. Prospects look bleak and hope is fading. Pre-season expectations have changed from high seed and comfortably in to hoping to squeak in once again. I won’t debate that this is bad and not the area where Cuse should be existing. However, given our current status here’s how things could play out.

• Step 1: Finish off the putrid non-conference season by dispatching two cupcakes and standing at 9-4. Games do nothing but inflate the record.

• Step 2: take care of business in the opening 6 game stretch of the ACC season. This is by far the easiest portion of the schedule. Go 5-1 and raise overall record to 14-5. Have to get at least 4 wins out of the first 6 to have any chance.
  • At Notre Dame (highly winnable), home against Clemson and Ga Tech
  • Brutal blowout loss against Duke
  • Home wins against Pitt and Miami
• 
  
• Step 3: Manage to go 3-3 and bring record to 17-8 overall, while playing 4 of the next 6 on the road;
  • including likely losses to Buzz and the boys and at NC State
  • win at BC and at Pitt
  • should win against BC at home
  • FSU at home a toss up

• Step 4: Survive the hardest stretch. Going 3-3 puts you at 20-11 and 11-7 in the ACC.
  • Louisville (should win), Duke (should lose) and UVA (should lose) at home
  • At UNC (blowout loss), at wake (should win), at Clemson (toss up)

If things played out this way then SU would squarely be on the bubble but maybe not in a comfortable position.

• Only top tier wins would be at Ohio State (better hope they keep winning)
• Second tier wins: home against Louisville and Clemson and a collection of okay looking road wins (at ND, at BC, at Pitt, at Wake)
• No bad conference losses
• Bad non-conference losses to (neutral to bubble teams Oregon, Uconn and at home to ODU (only in if win CUSA) and a top 15 Buffalo team.

I think that’s a fairly bland resume and another high profile win or two needs to be sprinkled in. Of course, you would never know until seeing how the rest of the country shakes out.

Meanwhile, as disgusted as I am I will not give up hope until the last breath comes from Marek and Paschal’s bony chests. I’ll still cheer for the team (perhaps while throwing things at the TV, cursing the lack of movement and pining for the old days).

Believe!

 

[HakAttack]

Your path has one fatal flaw: It has us sweeping Pitt. Has that EVER happened?

 

[Cusefan0307]

Don’t even care. I won’t be happy if that’s how we finish. We need to start competing at the top of the conference.

 

[Janner]

Okay, we can all agree last night was horrible and the non-conference season has been largely a failure. Prospects look bleak and hope is fading. Pre-season expectations have changed from high seed and comfortably in to hoping to squeak in once again. I won’t debate that this is bad and not the area where Cuse should be existing. However, given our current status here’s how things could play out.

• Step 1: Finish off the putrid non-conference season by dispatching two cupcakes and standing at 9-4. Games do nothing but inflate the record.

• Step 2: take care of business in the opening 6 game stretch of the ACC season. This is by far the easiest portion of the schedule. Go 5-1 and raise overall record to 14-5. Have to get at least 4 wins out of the first 6 to have any chance.
  • At Notre Dame (highly winnable), home against Clemson and Ga Tech
  • Brutal blowout loss against Duke
  • Home wins against Pitt and Miami
• 
  
• Step 3: Manage to go 3-3 and bring record to 17-8 overall, while playing 4 of the next 6 on the road;
  • including likely losses to Buzz and the boys and at NC State
  • win at BC and at Pitt
  • should win against BC at home
  • FSU at home a toss up

• Step 4: Survive the hardest stretch. Going 3-3 puts you at 20-11 and 11-7 in the ACC.
  • Louisville (should win), Duke (should lose) and UVA (should lose) at home
  • At UNC (blowout loss), at wake (should win), at Clemson (toss up)

If things played out this way then SU would squarely be on the bubble but maybe not in a comfortable position.

• Only top tier wins would be at Ohio State (better hope they keep winning)
• Second tier wins: home against Louisville and Clemson and a collection of okay looking road wins (at ND, at BC, at Pitt, at Wake)
• No bad conference losses
• Bad non-conference losses to (neutral to bubble teams Oregon, Uconn and at home to ODU (only in if win CUSA) and a top 15 Buffalo team.

I think that’s a fairly bland resume and another high profile win or two needs to be sprinkled in. Of course, you would never know until seeing how the rest of the country shakes out.

Meanwhile, as disgusted as I am I will not give up hope until the last breath comes from Marek and Paschal’s bony chests. I’ll still cheer for the team (perhaps while throwing things at the TV, cursing the lack of movement and pining for the old days).

Believe!

Your probably going to catch some heat given the current board sentiment/meltdown, but lets hope your post ages like a fine wine. Either way, appreciate the work in putting this together.

 

[SUOrangeSU]

I think we still make the tourny

 

[Trueblue25]

Id still be upset with this outcome unles we won the acc tournament

 

[NineOneSeven]

Your path has one fatal flaw: It has us sweeping Pitt. Has that EVER happened?

Last year

 

[Tony DeFranco]

we have been middle of the road ACC - we've won 1 game in the conference tournament - this year we were supposed to be getting back to where we were 5 years ago - I sat on the floor for UCONN and Oregon - knew there was no hope after watching - had no clue Old Dominion and Buffalo were better than us - we desperately need to attract top 40 kids - now we have all kids outside of 100 coming in

 

[SoBeCuse]

It’s possible. I’ve watched UL a few times now with Mack and I don’t think we are beating them. He’s gonna school Boeheim.

 

[Cusefan0307]

we have been middle of the road ACC - we've won 1 game in the conference tournament - this year we were supposed to be getting back to where we were 5 years ago - I sat on the floor for UCONN and Oregon - knew there was no hope after watching - had no clue Old Dominion and Buffalo were better than us - we desperately need to attract top 40 kids - now we have all kids outside of 100 coming in

Goodine and Guerrier are top 100 kids.

 

[HakAttack]

Last year

Oh, ok. So ONE time while Pitt was having a historically bad season. Ok. We will not sweep them this year.

 

[pearl31]

we have been middle of the road ACC - we've won 1 game in the conference tournament - this year we were supposed to be getting back to where we were 5 years ago - I sat on the floor for UCONN and Oregon - knew there was no hope after watching - had no clue Old Dominion and Buffalo were better than us - we desperately need to attract top 40 kids - now we have all kids outside of 100 coming in

Not saying you’re necessarily wrong, but why post that here when there are multiple other OUR PROGRAM IS DOOMED threads you can sound off in?

 

[Cusefan0307]

Oh, ok. So ONE time while Pitt was having a historically bad season. Ok. We will not sweep them this year.

2014

 

[pearl31]

Okay, we can all agree last night was horrible and the non-conference season has been largely a failure. Prospects look bleak and hope is fading. Pre-season expectations have changed from high seed and comfortably in to hoping to squeak in once again. I won’t debate that this is bad and not the area where Cuse should be existing. However, given our current status here’s how things could play out.

• Step 1: Finish off the putrid non-conference season by dispatching two cupcakes and standing at 9-4. Games do nothing but inflate the record.

• Step 2: take care of business in the opening 6 game stretch of the ACC season. This is by far the easiest portion of the schedule. Go 5-1 and raise overall record to 14-5. Have to get at least 4 wins out of the first 6 to have any chance.
  • At Notre Dame (highly winnable), home against Clemson and Ga Tech
  • Brutal blowout loss against Duke
  • Home wins against Pitt and Miami
• 
  
• Step 3: Manage to go 3-3 and bring record to 17-8 overall, while playing 4 of the next 6 on the road;
  • including likely losses to Buzz and the boys and at NC State
  • win at BC and at Pitt
  • should win against BC at home
  • FSU at home a toss up

• Step 4: Survive the hardest stretch. Going 3-3 puts you at 20-11 and 11-7 in the ACC.
  • Louisville (should win), Duke (should lose) and UVA (should lose) at home
  • At UNC (blowout loss), at wake (should win), at Clemson (toss up)

If things played out this way then SU would squarely be on the bubble but maybe not in a comfortable position.

• Only top tier wins would be at Ohio State (better hope they keep winning)
• Second tier wins: home against Louisville and Clemson and a collection of okay looking road wins (at ND, at BC, at Pitt, at Wake)
• No bad conference losses
• Bad non-conference losses to (neutral to bubble teams Oregon, Uconn and at home to ODU (only in if win CUSA) and a top 15 Buffalo team.

I think that’s a fairly bland resume and another high profile win or two needs to be sprinkled in. Of course, you would never know until seeing how the rest of the country shakes out.

Meanwhile, as disgusted as I am I will not give up hope until the last breath comes from Marek and Paschal’s bony chests. I’ll still cheer for the team (perhaps while throwing things at the TV, cursing the lack of movement and pining for the old days).

Believe!

This is actually a sound, we’ll-reasoned post. Unfortunately the torches and pitchforks (i.e., the majority of the board right now) have no use for such things

 

[FRANKIEFAN]

11-7 in the ACC and we go to Charlotte playing for seeding.

The approach to OOC scheduling that worked last year is crushing us this year. These kids can't get up for these games vs mid majors. We didn't actually schedule 1 P5 school OOC. OSU doesn't count they weren't scheduled by us nor does Oregon as we didn't know if it would be them or Iowa.

Last year we pulled this off to perfection and somehow boosted our SOS doing so. This year its bit us in the rear end.

We've still won our toughest game we've played all year @ Ohio St FWIW.

 

[Fly Rodder]

This is actually a sound, we’ll-reasoned post. Unfortunately the torches and pitchforks (i.e., the majority of the board right now) have no use for such things

you just simmer down now and let us do our business.

 

[Eric15]

Okay, we can all agree last night was horrible and the non-conference season has been largely a failure. Prospects look bleak and hope is fading. Pre-season expectations have changed from high seed and comfortably in to hoping to squeak in once again. I won’t debate that this is bad and not the area where Cuse should be existing. However, given our current status here’s how things could play out.

• Step 1: Finish off the putrid non-conference season by dispatching two cupcakes and standing at 9-4. Games do nothing but inflate the record.

• Step 2: take care of business in the opening 6 game stretch of the ACC season. This is by far the easiest portion of the schedule. Go 5-1 and raise overall record to 14-5. Have to get at least 4 wins out of the first 6 to have any chance.
  • At Notre Dame (highly winnable), home against Clemson and Ga Tech
  • Brutal blowout loss against Duke
  • Home wins against Pitt and Miami
• 
  
• Step 3: Manage to go 3-3 and bring record to 17-8 overall, while playing 4 of the next 6 on the road;
  • including likely losses to Buzz and the boys and at NC State
  • win at BC and at Pitt
  • should win against BC at home
  • FSU at home a toss up

• Step 4: Survive the hardest stretch. Going 3-3 puts you at 20-11 and 11-7 in the ACC.
  • Louisville (should win), Duke (should lose) and UVA (should lose) at home
  • At UNC (blowout loss), at wake (should win), at Clemson (toss up)

If things played out this way then SU would squarely be on the bubble but maybe not in a comfortable position.

• Only top tier wins would be at Ohio State (better hope they keep winning)
• Second tier wins: home against Louisville and Clemson and a collection of okay looking road wins (at ND, at BC, at Pitt, at Wake)
• No bad conference losses
• Bad non-conference losses to (neutral to bubble teams Oregon, Uconn and at home to ODU (only in if win CUSA) and a top 15 Buffalo team.

I think that’s a fairly bland resume and another high profile win or two needs to be sprinkled in. Of course, you would never know until seeing how the rest of the country shakes out.

Meanwhile, as disgusted as I am I will not give up hope until the last breath comes from Marek and Paschal’s bony chests. I’ll still cheer for the team (perhaps while throwing things at the TV, cursing the lack of movement and pining for the old days).

Believe!

I actually was just about to make a post like this, but you did it much better than I would have. Great job.

 

[Acesn8s]

Is it spring football season yet?/ listen this team should have lost to a horrible Georgetown team, they got outplayed 90 percent of that game, lost to ODU, lost to a not good UConn team and got out hustled and coached last night. Bottom line and I will be more then happy to eat crow this team is not making the tourney. I hope they do, but I just don't see it.

 

[pearl31]

I actually was just about to make a post like this, but you did it much better than I would have. Great job.

It’s obv not what anyone wanted (figuring out yet again how to get on the right side of the bubble) - but it’s the reality of the situation right now for the team we’re fans of

 

[newmexicuse]

I gave you a like because I appreciate the effort that went into developing that path.

However, there is zero path to the dance the way we are playing right now.

The real path to the playoffs at this point is for us to start playing up to the pre-season expectations most posters on this forum had for this team.

Improvement starts with better play from almost every individual on the team and then some sort of a successful melding of that improvement into better team play.

Much of that comes from within. As I watched the Buffalo game it was very clear to me that at some point they would jump in front. If this group had fortitude they would have responded with positive play, instead, the play got worse and worse as the game ground down to the bitter end.

In my mind it was a major gut check opportunity and we failed abysmally.

At this point, probably the best we can hope for is to continue the streak and that will not be easy.

 

[realorange]

Don’t even care. I won’t be happy if that’s how we finish. We need to start competing at the top of the conference.

Well that won't happen this year so why don't you just excuse yourself until next year.

I'm just tired of all the whining and bthching. Are any of us happy with the way things have turned out so far? No. But it doesn't do any good to beat the horse to death again and again.

I doubt there is any new negative that can be written. As the expression says, "It is what it is."

 

[Fly Rodder]

Road conference games are tough wins to come by. Even if the home team is down on their luck at the moment. Using KenPom, Syracuse is the underdog or favored by a possession in all of their conference road games this season, except Wake Forest. I think they pick one or two up, but they'll probably choke one or two away as well. Syracuse in the ACC ...

 

[Brooky03]

Lulz

 

[Newhouser]

Okay, we can all agree last night was horrible and the non-conference season has been largely a failure. Prospects look bleak and hope is fading. Pre-season expectations have changed from high seed and comfortably in to hoping to squeak in once again. I won’t debate that this is bad and not the area where Cuse should be existing. However, given our current status here’s how things could play out.

• Step 1: Finish off the putrid non-conference season by dispatching two cupcakes and standing at 9-4. Games do nothing but inflate the record.

• Step 2: take care of business in the opening 6 game stretch of the ACC season. This is by far the easiest portion of the schedule. Go 5-1 and raise overall record to 14-5. Have to get at least 4 wins out of the first 6 to have any chance.
  • At Notre Dame (highly winnable), home against Clemson and Ga Tech
  • Brutal blowout loss against Duke
  • Home wins against Pitt and Miami
• 
  
• Step 3: Manage to go 3-3 and bring record to 17-8 overall, while playing 4 of the next 6 on the road;
  • including likely losses to Buzz and the boys and at NC State
  • win at BC and at Pitt
  • should win against BC at home
  • FSU at home a toss up

• Step 4: Survive the hardest stretch. Going 3-3 puts you at 20-11 and 11-7 in the ACC.
  • Louisville (should win), Duke (should lose) and UVA (should lose) at home
  • At UNC (blowout loss), at wake (should win), at Clemson (toss up)

If things played out this way then SU would squarely be on the bubble but maybe not in a comfortable position.

• Only top tier wins would be at Ohio State (better hope they keep winning)
• Second tier wins: home against Louisville and Clemson and a collection of okay looking road wins (at ND, at BC, at Pitt, at Wake)
• No bad conference losses
• Bad non-conference losses to (neutral to bubble teams Oregon, Uconn and at home to ODU (only in if win CUSA) and a top 15 Buffalo team.

I think that’s a fairly bland resume and another high profile win or two needs to be sprinkled in. Of course, you would never know until seeing how the rest of the country shakes out.

Meanwhile, as disgusted as I am I will not give up hope until the last breath comes from Marek and Paschal’s bony chests. I’ll still cheer for the team (perhaps while throwing things at the TV, cursing the lack of movement and pining for the old days).

Believe!

Excellent work - not sure I believe at that level but can see the process. If we win 11 games in the league we are in. That said Step 1 and Step 2 look doable so let's get that done and re-visit.

 

[kingtidge]

I don't believe. baby jeezus hates us.