SU in the Post Season

[SWC75]

I was asked before the Big East Tournament what I expected in the post season. I hate making specific predictions. It doesn’t matter to me who was favored since I’m not a gambler. I always picture a boxer lying prone and semi-conscious on the canvas. His manager stands over him and says “At least you were favored.” But Jim Lerch, (the Manchild) had heard that story too many times and demanded a post-season prediction. I said I thought SU would win one game in New York and one in the Big Dance and finish 25-10. At that point, I thought that might be optimistic, after the 39-61 disaster at Georgetown. Obviously they did a lot better than that, winning 7 games and losing 2. I wondered how that compared, as a total post (regular) season, to past seasons. Here are the post season records of all our teams that played in a post season tournament, including the Big East Tournament, (the BET).

1946 0-1 We were in the NIT
1947 0-1 We were in something called the NCAA district 2 playoff
1951 3-0 We won the National Campus Tournament, a rival to the NCAA and NIT that didn’t last.
1957 2-1 NCAA
1964 0-1 NIT
1966 1-1 NCAA
1967 0-1 NIT
1971 0-1 NIT
1972 1-1 NIT
1973 2-1 NCAA, (including Eastern Regional Consolation game)
1974 0-1 NCAA
1975 5-2 ECAC playoffs, NCAA
1976 2-1 ECAC, NCAA
1977 3-1 ECAC, NCAA
1978 0-2 ECAC, NCAA
1979 2-2 ECAC, NCAA
1980 2-2 BET, NCAA
1981 7-1 BET, NIT
1982 1-2 BET, NIT
1983 2-2 BET, NCAA
1984 3-2 BET, NCAA
1985 2-2 BET, NCAA
1986 3-2 BET, NCAA
1987 7-2 BET, NCAA
1988 4-1 BET, NCAA
1989 5-2 BET, NCAA
1990 4-2 BET, NCAA
1991 0-2 BET, NCAA
1992 4-1 BET, NCAA
1993 2-1 BET
1994 2-2 BET, NCAA
1995 1-2 BET, NCAA
1996 7-2 BET, NCAA
1997 1-2 BET, NCAA
1998 4-2 BET, NCAA
1999 2-2 BET, NCAA
2000 2-2 BET, NCAA
2001 3-2 BET, NCAA
2002 3-3 BET, NIT, (including consolation game)
2003 7-1 BET, NCAA
2004 2-2 BET, NCAA
2005 3-1 BET, NCAA
2006 4-1 BET, NCAA
2007 3-2 BET, NIT
2008 2-2 BET, NIT
2009 5-2 BET, NCAA
2010 2-2 BET, NCAA
2011 2-2 BET, NCAA
2012 4-2 BET, NCAA
2013 7-2 BET, NCAA

So the 2013 post season ranks with 1981 (7-1), 1987 (7-2), 1996 (7-2) and 2003 (7-1). Our total post-season record is 133-80 (.624). Of course, there is one advantage teams have in the post season: you can have winning streaks but you don’t have losing streaks. (Unless you bomb out in two tournament in a row as in ‘78 and ’91).