Post Standard Poll: If less than a Final Four, successful year ?

[jr4750]

I kinda feel like you play the regular season primarily to gather the best seeding you can in the tourney. Conference titles are nice, but ultimately NC's are all that matter long term. Look at UCONN 2011, marginal season but National Champs. Do you think they care? Without a FF this year is a big let down.

 

[44cuse]

Final Four.

44cuse

 

[NKR1978]

To expect to be the best out of 344 teams is naive to me. Of course I would rather win championships, but as a fan, if I define success as winning championships, I would have been disappointed in every year of my life except for one. Success for me is about the hours of hope and enjoyment I get from following this team.

I agree. I hate that one bad game in March defines the season. I can't enjoy that win in Louisville if the team doesn't have it in the sweet 16? No one is going to take 6OT from me and no loss to A&M is going to take away that 2006 run. Butler isn't going to erase 34,616 from my memory.

This regular season is special. And my frustration is channeled to sadness while it seems other people move toward anger.

I'm going to miss this team and I will be heartbroken when it loses.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

 

[MyMeloMyMan]

JB said it best...the only thing anyone remembers is how you finish in March. As Bruce Buffer says, "It'ssssssssssssssssssss...TIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIME!"

 

[Cadillac]

I want a Final Four, but this team is not invincible.

We all see flaws, unless maybe I'm reading some other team's message board. We're not rolling (yet).

At this point, plenty can go wrong and plenty is going to have to break our way to get to NOLA.

Also, if you think we need a FF run for validation, stop listening to moron UConn and UK fans. We're there.

 

[donniesyracuse]

JB said it best...the only thing anyone remembers is how you finish in March. As Bruce Buffer says, "It'ssssssssssssssssssss...TIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIME!"

That's definitely not true for me. I'm not really concerned about public perception. I suppose public perception influences recruiting, but Syracuse seems to be doing fine in that area with just one championship.

 

[FortyFourCT]

This season cannot really end in disappointment for me. What I love is to watch guys come in as freshman, grow and develope their game and enjoy every game the same, win or lose. Don't get me wrong, F4's and NC are awesome, but they are only the icing on the cake. The cake is pretty damn good to me too.

I have some friends who stress out over this stuff and are so consumed in our national reputation, national standings, elite this, elite that, this team has more of this than us, etc...

None of that matters to me.

That is not to say a 2nd round loss would crush me, but I'll get over it in a day.

 

[MyMeloMyMan]

Man, I would love to celebrate regular season Big East finishes. Wins against Providence and UCONN are nice... but, a 2nd round NCAA loss this season would just be a crusher to me, personally. I don't like the media and people laughing about JB's early NCAA ousters. "As always, Syracuse goes home early." I want to shatter that reputation to pieces. The only way to do that is to get past some Sweet 16's.

 

[jdubs30]

If there is a time that Syracuse has shown up and had a good tournament, it's when the FF is in New Orleans...

 

[br801]

The team has already had a successful season no matter what happens the rest of the way. Bad things can happen to good teams in the tournament. If Syracuse exits early, I will be disappointed, but it won't take away from what is shaping up to be their best regular season ever. I'm not a "championship or bust" fan, like so many of my fellow Yankee fans. I've learned to enjoy the ride because it often ends before one wants.

While I would be terribly disappointed if this team didn't at least reach the Elite 8, this is pretty much how I feel now. Not sure I would feel this way if 2003 hadn't happened though. But after following this team for 30+ years, I've come to understand how difficult it is to win championships. And this is coming from someone who has been a Yankee fan for even longer than that.

 

[Madbiker]

I'll be disappointed if this team doesn't make the FF but I'd consider it a failure if we don't at least make the Elite 8. A game against UNC, OSU, Missou or one of the top 8 teams is a 50-50 likelihood of winning or losing.

 

[IthacaMatt]

I agree. I hate that one bad game in March defines the season. I can't enjoy that win in Louisville if the team doesn't have it in the sweet 16? No one is going to take 6OT from me and no loss to A&M is going to take away that 2006 run. Butler isn't going to erase 34,616 from my memory.

This regular season is special. And my frustration is channeled to sadness while it seems other people move toward anger.

I'm going to miss this team and I will be heartbroken when it loses.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

But one loss can (and does) define past seasons. Billy Owens - loss to Richmond. Lawrence Moten - loss to Arkansas. Arinze & Andy's team - loss to Butler. Hak & Gerry - loss to Vermont. I could go on, but hopefully you get the point.

 

[OrangeMojo]

Personally, I vote "no". We've had too many good teams go down in flames in the NCAA tournament. We have GOT to cash in one of these opportunities. Anything less than a Final Four this year, and I will personally consider it a wasted opportunity. And you?

I'll take anything past the sweet sixteen. Tired of not seeing them on the second weekend.

 

[CorduroyG]

Final 4 or bust, dont see how you can look at it any differently, and im inching closer towards title or bust. We're gonna be a 1 seed, so we're gonna be favored to win every game at least until the final 4. If we lose in the elite 8 we'll still be losing to a lower (or is it higher? this always confuses me) seeded team.

Losing in the elite 8 as a 1 seed isnt gonna change our reputation as ncaa tourny chokers. Nobodys gonna care or remember that we made it to the elite 8, all people will remember is that we were 1 of the best teams in the regular season, a 1 seed, and still didnt make the final 4. We need at least a final 4 run, no question about it.

 

[donniesyracuse]

Nobodys gonna care or remember that we made it to the elite 8, all people will remember is that we were 1 of the best teams in the regular season, a 1 seed, and still didnt make the final 4.

Most of us will remember that we made the elite 8. I assume you're talking about the national talking heads, but they're a not a concern for me. Trying to manage other people's perceptions is self-defeating in my opinion.

 

[Sgt Cuse]

I'll take anything past the sweet sixteen. Tired of not seeing them on the second weekend.

The sweet sixteen is in the second weekend.

The sweet sixteen is referenced so much around here only because JB has his worst record in it. Losing in the sweet sixteen or in the elite eight does not matter much to people outside the program. It has been brought up mostly by haters. You don't see these people discussing who is the best coach not to win a championship any more.

I would be disappointed in not making the elite eight this year. I would be disappointed in not making it because I believe that would mean we suffered an upset of semi-significant proportions.

 

[donniesyracuse]

But one loss can (and does) define past seasons. Billy Owens - loss to Richmond. Lawrence Moten - loss to Arkansas. Arinze & Andy's team - loss to Butler. Hak & Gerry - loss to Vermont. I could go on, but hopefully you get the point.

I guess we think differently. While all of those losses were terribly disappointing to me, they don't define those seasons.

 

[CorduroyG]

Most of us will remember that we made the elite 8. I assume you're talking about the national talking heads, but they're a not a concern for me. Trying to manage other people's perceptions is self-defeating in my opinion.

Yea most of us will remember that we made the elite 8. Just like most of us remember when we made the sweet 16. Most of us remember where we finish every year. But is the elite 8 really that big a deal? I guess it is for us cuz we get there so rarely, but is the '89 team held in some high regard cuz we made the elite 8? Not really. Thats not the goal of most teams, the goal is to make the final 4. Its 1 of the biggest sporting events of the year. If we wanna be considered elite we need to make a final 4 this year.

 

[EastCoast2]

Anyone else sick of hearing how SU chokes in March? A FF would quiet SOME haters. A NC would quiet MOST haters.

 

[OrangeMojo]

The sweet sixteen is in the second weekend.

The sweet sixteen is referenced so much around here only because JB has his worst record in it. Losing in the sweet sixteen or in the elite eight does not matter much to people outside the program. It has been brought up mostly by haters. You don't see these people discussing who is the best coach not to win a championship any more.

I would be disappointed in not making the elite eight this year. I would be disappointed in not making it because I believe that would mean we suffered an upset of semi-significant proportions.

Nope - the sweet sixteen games are on Thursday and Friday - I want to have an elite 8 game to look forward to that weekend (ie weekend = Sat/Sun)

 

[MyMeloMyMan]

Anyone else sick of hearing how SU chokes in March? A FF would quiet SOME haters. A NC would quiet MOST haters.

Yeah, when you have 2+ titles or 8+ final four appearances...everything else becomes periphery... no one is going to talk about Jim Calhoun's bad NCAA moments, because he has 3 huge trump cards. If JB can win one without Carmelo, it will quiet every detractor.

 

[rstone7727]

Keep it in perspective. Had we lost to Florida by 4 points, lost to WVU by 2 points, lost to Ville' by one and lost to G-Town in OT. We'd be 22-5 and looking at a probable 2 maybe even 3 seed. Expectations would probably be elite 8 at best, but we won all of our close games because we have a great coach, so expectations now are playing in the NC game...? I'll be thrilled if we play in the final four, and happy to make elite 8!

 

[dollarbill44]

Anyone else sick of hearing how SU chokes in March? A FF would quiet SOME haters. A NC would quiet MOST haters.

A little bit.

 

[rstone7727]

Anyone else sick of hearing how SU chokes in March? A FF would quiet SOME haters. A NC would quiet MOST haters.

Haters only get worse as you get better.

 

[moqui]

for me, this year has already been wildly successful. I came into the season believing that this was going to be a mid-pack team in conference and a 1st weekend team in the NCAAT.

The fact that this team won a school record 20 in a row, has been in the top 5 all year long, tied a school record with 6 weeks at #1 (and could still break the record with a 7th week if things fall right), and is likely to win its 2nd outright conference title in 3 years is remarkable to me. It is still the same team I thought I saw in October - no true low post presence, poor rebounding, mediocre outside shooting, an often-painful-to-watch half court offense. And yet, here we are just some botched coursework away from being undefeated both in and out of conference, with long losing streaks to our nemeses assigned to the dustbin of history. To me, this season has been incredibly successful already, regardless of how it plays out. This will go down as one of the most memorable Orange seasons in history no matter how it ends, IMO.

I had low expectations, so I am very happy. I still look at the flaws I listed and think it will be hard for this squad to get past the Sweet 16, so even getting to the Regional Finals will be a huge accomplishment in my book. And, of course, I would love to eat heaping plates of crow and see them go even further.