SWC75
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On November 18, 2005, the University of Florida beat Syracuse University 70-75 in Madison Square Garden. Both teams had been undefeated The game was considered an upset as SU was ranked #17 and had been national champions two seasons previously. They’d just crushed Bobby Knight’s Texas Tech team, 78-46 the night before. The Gators had never won a national title, although they’d played for one in 2000. It was thought to be a rebuilding year for the Gators. They did a pretty good job, winning the national title that year and the next. SU went down a different road.
The Orange came home to play Bucknell and shocking ling lost to the Bison 69-75. They didn’t lose again until January 16th vs. Connecticut but that game began a dreadful slump, losing 9 of it’s final 13 regular season games to finish the regular season at 19-11. They needed a strong run in the Big East Tournament to get selected to the NCAAs. They got it as Gerry McNamara led the team to a surprising Big East title. We don’t know how many wins in New York were necessary to get the NCAA bid but if we didn’t win that tournament the loss to Bucknell might have been a factor.
The next year Syracuse was 7-0 when Wichita State came into the Dome and shocked the Orange, 61-64. Our next game was in New York in the Jimmy V Classic, where we lost to Oklahoma State, 68-72. After a couple of wins a good Drexel team come into the Dome and beat SU, 79-84. We performed pretty well in the conference going 10-6 and again beat UCONN in the BET and then lost to Notre Dame. We expected to be in the NCAA tournament but some back room finagling got in an extra team from the SEC, (Arkansas), and we got the #2 seed in the NIT‘s Southern Regional, (which Arkansas had been penciled in for). The losses to Wichita State and Drexel clearly made a difference. If we’d been 24-8 rather than 22-10, (and 10-6 in the Big East), we would not only have been in the tournament but probably gotten a pretty good seed.
In 2007-08, We lost in New York to Ohio State. That wasn’t so bad but we came back to the Dome and got run out of our own place by Massachusetts, 100-107. A couple of weeks later another Atlantic Ten team, our old friends Rhode Island beat us in the Dome, 89-91. We went on to go 9-9 in the conference and lost in the first round of the BET to Villanova, putting us in the NIT again. When we blew a 24 point lead to UMASS and lost to them in the Dome for the second time that season, it was a very long drive home. If we hadn’t lost to Massachusetts and Rhode Island early in the season we’d have been 21-11 and 9-9 in the conference, which would have at least put us on the NCAA bubble.
Without GMAC’s heroics in the 2006 BET, that’s three straight NIT teams for a program that views being in the NIT as a dismal embarrassment. Since then, we’ve been lights out in November and December, losing one game in four years prior to the start of the Big East season and that came on a 70 foot shot. We have been to three straight NCAA tournaments, being seeded no worse than #3 and getting our first #1 seed in 30 years. At present we are ranked the #1 team in the nation. The fact that we are 51-1 in non-Big East regular season games, (we’ve actually won 55 of 56 dating back to the 2007 Rhode Island game), has certainly helps us, at least in getting the high seeds, (we are 42-19 in the conference, including the BET in those three years).
Of course some will argue that SU’s early season record is simply the product of scheduling: we are beating up on cupcakes. We aren’t leaving our home states. Of course our scheduling isn’t any different than it was in 2005-2007. I decided to look at who we have beaten these last four years and where we beat them.
11/16/08 in the Dome we beat LeMoyne 85-51 They finished 20-11. They are a Division II team and have no RPI
11/18/08 (Dome) we beat Richmond 76-71 They finished 20-16 RPI 129
11/21/08 (Dome) we beat Oakland 86-66 They finished 23-13 RPI 122
11/24/08 (Kansas City) we beat Florida 89-83 They finished 25-11 RPI 54
11/25/08 (Kansas City) we beat Kansas 89-81 They finished 27-8 RPI 11. They won the Big 12 They were ranked #10 and seed 3rd in the NCAA tournament. They lost in the Sweet 16.
11/28/08 (Dome) we beat Virginia 73-70 They finished 10-18 RPI 114
12/1/08 (Dome) we beat Colgate 86-51 They finished 10-20 RPI 278
12/3/08 (Dome) we beat Cornell 88-78 They finished 21-10 RPI 115. They won the Ivy league and were seeded 14th in the NCAA tournament, losing in the round of 64.
12/13/08 (Dome) we beat Long Beach State 79-55 They finished 15-15 RPI 156
12/15/08 (Dome) we lost to Cleveland State 69-72 They finished 26-11 and were seeded 13th in the NCAA tournament, losing in the round of 32.
12/17/08 (Dome) we beat Canisius 82-60 They finished 11-20 RPI 196
12/20/08 (Memphis) we beat Memphis 72-65 They finished 33-4 RPI 7 and won Conference USA They were ranked #9 and seeded #2 in the NCAA tournament, losing in the Sweet 16.
12/22/08 (Dome) we beat Coppin State 82-71 They finished 13-19, RPI 221
The thirteen teams had a combined record of 254-176, (254-163 against teams other than Syracuse- .609).One team won 30 games and seven others won 20 games. Eight teams had a winning record, one and even record and four teams had losing records. The average RPI of the 15 teams that had one was 121, (if you count LeMoyne as having an RPI of 344- there were 343 Division 1 teams- it would be 138). We outscored these 13 opponents by an average of 14.1 points. Three teams won their conferences. Two teams were ranked. Four teams made the NCAA tournament. We went 9-1 in the Dome and 3-0 outside of it. Three games were outside of New York State. We had one virtual road game in the home state of the opponent, (Kansas) and one true road game at Memphis.
11/9/09 (Dome) we beat Albany 75-43 They finished 7-25 RPI 300
11/11/09 (Dome) we beat Robert Morris 100-60 They finished 23-12 RPI 129 They tied for the Northeast Conference title and were a #15 seed in the NCAA tournament. They lost in the round of 64.
11/19/09 (MSG, NY) we beat California 95-73 They finished 24-11 RPI 20 They won the Pac 10 and got an 8 seed in the NCAA tournament. They lost in the round of 32.
11/20/09 (MSG, NY) we beat North Carolina 87-71 They finished 20-17 RPI 92
11/24/09 (Dome) we beat Cornell 88-73 They finished 29-5 RPI 46 They won the Ivy league, were 17th ranked and got a #12 seed in the NCAA tournament. They lost in the Sweet 16.
11/27/09 (Dome) we beat Columbia 85-60 They finished 11-17 RPI 252
11/30/09 (Dome) we beat Colgate 92-58 They finished 10-19 RPI 290
12/5/09 (Dome) we beat Maine 101-55 They finished 19-11 RPI 154
12/10/09 (Tampa) we beat Florida 85-73 They finished 21-13 RPI 56
12/13/09 (Dome) we beat St. Francis (NY) 75-51 They finished 11-18 RPI 294
12/19/09 (Dome) we beat St. Bonaventure 85-72 They finished 15-16 RPI 156
12/22/09 (Dome) we beat Oakland 92-60 They finished 26-9 RPI 52. They won the Summitt League and got a #14 seed in the NCAA tournament and lost in the round of 64.
(We then played Seton Hall and Pittsburgh in conference, losing to Pittsburgh)
1/6/10 (Dome) we beat Memphis 74-57 They finished 24-10 RPI 53
The thirteen teams had a combined record of 240-183, (240-170 against teams other than Syracuse- .585). Seven teams won 20 games. Eight teams had winning records, 5 losing records. The average RPI was 146. Our average margin of victory was 25.2 points. Three teams won their conferences. One team was ranked. Four teams made the NCAA tournament. We were 10-0 in the Dome and 3-0 outside of it. One game was outside New York State and was a virtual road game, being in the home state of the opponent, Florida.
11/12/10 (Dome) we beat Northern Iowa 68-46 They finished 20-14 RPI 112
11/14/10 (Dome) we beat Canisius 86-67 They finished 15-15 RPI 181
11/16/10 (Dome) we beat Detroit 66-55 They finished 17-16 RPI 143
11/21/10 (Dome) we beat William & Mary 63-60 They finished 10-22 RPI 228
11/26/10 (Atlantic City) we beat Michigan 53-50 They finished 21-14 RPI 52 They were a #8 seed in the NCAA tournament and lost in the round of 32
11/27/10 (Atlantic City) we beat Georgia Tech 80-76 They finished 13-18 RPI 168
11/30/10 (Dome) we beat Cornell 78-58 They finished 10-18 RPI 210
12/4/10 (Dome) we beat North Carolina State 65-59 They finished 15-16 RPI 125 They finished 15-16 RPI 125
12/7/10 (MSG, NY) we beat Michigan State 72-58 They finished 19-15 RPI 45 They were a #10 seed in the NCAA tournament and lost in the round of 64
12/11/10 (Dome) we beat Colgate 100-43 They finished 7-23 RPI 313
12/18/10 (Dome) we beat Iona 83-77 They finished 25-12 RPI 68
12/20/10 (Dome) we beat Morgan State 97-55 They finished 17-14 RPI 209
12/22/10 (Dome) we beat Drexel 93-65 They finished 21-10 RPI 74
The thirteen opponents had a combined record of 210-207, (210-194 vs. teams other than Syracuse- .520). Four teams won 20 games. Seven teams had winning records, 1 even and 5 losing records. The average RPI was 158. Our margin of victory was 18.1 points. None of the teams won their conference. None of these teams wound up in the final rankings. Two teams made the NCAA tournament. We were 10-0 in the Dome and 3-0 outside of it. Two games were outside of New York State but there were no true road games
11/12/11 (Dome) we beat Fordham 78-53 They are 5-6 RPI: 248
11/14/11 (Dome) we beat Manhattan 92-56 They are 8-4 RPI: 138
11/15/11 (Dome) we beat Albany 98-74 They are 7-5 RPI: 161
11/19/10 (Dome) we beat Colgate 92-47 They are 5-6 RPI: 223
11/23/11 (MSG NY) we beat Virginia Tech 69-58 They are 10-3 RPI: 57
11/25/11 (MSG NY) we beat Stanford 69-63 They are 10-2 RPI: 100
11/29/11 (Dome) we beat Eastern Michigan 84-48 They are 5-7 RPI: 182
12/2/11 (Dome) we beat Florida 72-68 They are 10-2 RPI: 41 They are ranked #11/#12
12/6/11 (Dome) we beat Marshall 62-56 They are 9-2 RPI: 44
12/10/11 (Dome) we beat George Washington 85-50 They are 4-7 RPI: 157
12/17/11 (Raleigh) we beat North Carolina State 88-72 They are 8-4 RPI: 65
12/20/11 (Dome) we beat Bucknell 80-61 They are 8-5 RPI: 73
12/22/11 (Dome) we beat Tulane 80-61 They are 11-2 RPI: 162
The thirteen opponents have a combined record of 100-55, (100-42 against teams other than Syracuse- .704). Nine teams have winning records, 4 have losing records. The average RPI is 127. Our margin of victory has been 21.7 points. There was one ranked team. We don’t know who will be in the NCAA tournament but four teams have an RPI of 68 or less. We were 10-0 in the Dome and 3-0 outside of it. The NC State game was the only game outside the state and the only true road game, (and we won it).
Overall the 52 opponents have had a record of 804-569 vs. teams other than Syracuse, (to date, obviously), .586. Including the teams so far this year, 32 have had winning records, two even and 18 losing. One of the 39 teams in the first three years has won 30 games, 18 have won 20. Counting LeMoyne as #344 in 2008, the average RPI has been 142. The average margin of victory has been 19.8 points. There have been four teams that were ranked either at the end of the previous three season or currently. Six of the 39 teams in the first three years have won their conferences and 8 have made the NCAA tournament. We are 39-1 inside the Dome and 44-1 in New York State. They’ve had 2 true road games, (in the other team’s arena) and 2 virtual road games, (in their state) and won all of them.
There may have been teams that player tougher schedules but ours hasn’t been bad and we’ve certainly taken care of business.
The Orange came home to play Bucknell and shocking ling lost to the Bison 69-75. They didn’t lose again until January 16th vs. Connecticut but that game began a dreadful slump, losing 9 of it’s final 13 regular season games to finish the regular season at 19-11. They needed a strong run in the Big East Tournament to get selected to the NCAAs. They got it as Gerry McNamara led the team to a surprising Big East title. We don’t know how many wins in New York were necessary to get the NCAA bid but if we didn’t win that tournament the loss to Bucknell might have been a factor.
The next year Syracuse was 7-0 when Wichita State came into the Dome and shocked the Orange, 61-64. Our next game was in New York in the Jimmy V Classic, where we lost to Oklahoma State, 68-72. After a couple of wins a good Drexel team come into the Dome and beat SU, 79-84. We performed pretty well in the conference going 10-6 and again beat UCONN in the BET and then lost to Notre Dame. We expected to be in the NCAA tournament but some back room finagling got in an extra team from the SEC, (Arkansas), and we got the #2 seed in the NIT‘s Southern Regional, (which Arkansas had been penciled in for). The losses to Wichita State and Drexel clearly made a difference. If we’d been 24-8 rather than 22-10, (and 10-6 in the Big East), we would not only have been in the tournament but probably gotten a pretty good seed.
In 2007-08, We lost in New York to Ohio State. That wasn’t so bad but we came back to the Dome and got run out of our own place by Massachusetts, 100-107. A couple of weeks later another Atlantic Ten team, our old friends Rhode Island beat us in the Dome, 89-91. We went on to go 9-9 in the conference and lost in the first round of the BET to Villanova, putting us in the NIT again. When we blew a 24 point lead to UMASS and lost to them in the Dome for the second time that season, it was a very long drive home. If we hadn’t lost to Massachusetts and Rhode Island early in the season we’d have been 21-11 and 9-9 in the conference, which would have at least put us on the NCAA bubble.
Without GMAC’s heroics in the 2006 BET, that’s three straight NIT teams for a program that views being in the NIT as a dismal embarrassment. Since then, we’ve been lights out in November and December, losing one game in four years prior to the start of the Big East season and that came on a 70 foot shot. We have been to three straight NCAA tournaments, being seeded no worse than #3 and getting our first #1 seed in 30 years. At present we are ranked the #1 team in the nation. The fact that we are 51-1 in non-Big East regular season games, (we’ve actually won 55 of 56 dating back to the 2007 Rhode Island game), has certainly helps us, at least in getting the high seeds, (we are 42-19 in the conference, including the BET in those three years).
Of course some will argue that SU’s early season record is simply the product of scheduling: we are beating up on cupcakes. We aren’t leaving our home states. Of course our scheduling isn’t any different than it was in 2005-2007. I decided to look at who we have beaten these last four years and where we beat them.
11/16/08 in the Dome we beat LeMoyne 85-51 They finished 20-11. They are a Division II team and have no RPI
11/18/08 (Dome) we beat Richmond 76-71 They finished 20-16 RPI 129
11/21/08 (Dome) we beat Oakland 86-66 They finished 23-13 RPI 122
11/24/08 (Kansas City) we beat Florida 89-83 They finished 25-11 RPI 54
11/25/08 (Kansas City) we beat Kansas 89-81 They finished 27-8 RPI 11. They won the Big 12 They were ranked #10 and seed 3rd in the NCAA tournament. They lost in the Sweet 16.
11/28/08 (Dome) we beat Virginia 73-70 They finished 10-18 RPI 114
12/1/08 (Dome) we beat Colgate 86-51 They finished 10-20 RPI 278
12/3/08 (Dome) we beat Cornell 88-78 They finished 21-10 RPI 115. They won the Ivy league and were seeded 14th in the NCAA tournament, losing in the round of 64.
12/13/08 (Dome) we beat Long Beach State 79-55 They finished 15-15 RPI 156
12/15/08 (Dome) we lost to Cleveland State 69-72 They finished 26-11 and were seeded 13th in the NCAA tournament, losing in the round of 32.
12/17/08 (Dome) we beat Canisius 82-60 They finished 11-20 RPI 196
12/20/08 (Memphis) we beat Memphis 72-65 They finished 33-4 RPI 7 and won Conference USA They were ranked #9 and seeded #2 in the NCAA tournament, losing in the Sweet 16.
12/22/08 (Dome) we beat Coppin State 82-71 They finished 13-19, RPI 221
The thirteen teams had a combined record of 254-176, (254-163 against teams other than Syracuse- .609).One team won 30 games and seven others won 20 games. Eight teams had a winning record, one and even record and four teams had losing records. The average RPI of the 15 teams that had one was 121, (if you count LeMoyne as having an RPI of 344- there were 343 Division 1 teams- it would be 138). We outscored these 13 opponents by an average of 14.1 points. Three teams won their conferences. Two teams were ranked. Four teams made the NCAA tournament. We went 9-1 in the Dome and 3-0 outside of it. Three games were outside of New York State. We had one virtual road game in the home state of the opponent, (Kansas) and one true road game at Memphis.
11/9/09 (Dome) we beat Albany 75-43 They finished 7-25 RPI 300
11/11/09 (Dome) we beat Robert Morris 100-60 They finished 23-12 RPI 129 They tied for the Northeast Conference title and were a #15 seed in the NCAA tournament. They lost in the round of 64.
11/19/09 (MSG, NY) we beat California 95-73 They finished 24-11 RPI 20 They won the Pac 10 and got an 8 seed in the NCAA tournament. They lost in the round of 32.
11/20/09 (MSG, NY) we beat North Carolina 87-71 They finished 20-17 RPI 92
11/24/09 (Dome) we beat Cornell 88-73 They finished 29-5 RPI 46 They won the Ivy league, were 17th ranked and got a #12 seed in the NCAA tournament. They lost in the Sweet 16.
11/27/09 (Dome) we beat Columbia 85-60 They finished 11-17 RPI 252
11/30/09 (Dome) we beat Colgate 92-58 They finished 10-19 RPI 290
12/5/09 (Dome) we beat Maine 101-55 They finished 19-11 RPI 154
12/10/09 (Tampa) we beat Florida 85-73 They finished 21-13 RPI 56
12/13/09 (Dome) we beat St. Francis (NY) 75-51 They finished 11-18 RPI 294
12/19/09 (Dome) we beat St. Bonaventure 85-72 They finished 15-16 RPI 156
12/22/09 (Dome) we beat Oakland 92-60 They finished 26-9 RPI 52. They won the Summitt League and got a #14 seed in the NCAA tournament and lost in the round of 64.
(We then played Seton Hall and Pittsburgh in conference, losing to Pittsburgh)
1/6/10 (Dome) we beat Memphis 74-57 They finished 24-10 RPI 53
The thirteen teams had a combined record of 240-183, (240-170 against teams other than Syracuse- .585). Seven teams won 20 games. Eight teams had winning records, 5 losing records. The average RPI was 146. Our average margin of victory was 25.2 points. Three teams won their conferences. One team was ranked. Four teams made the NCAA tournament. We were 10-0 in the Dome and 3-0 outside of it. One game was outside New York State and was a virtual road game, being in the home state of the opponent, Florida.
11/12/10 (Dome) we beat Northern Iowa 68-46 They finished 20-14 RPI 112
11/14/10 (Dome) we beat Canisius 86-67 They finished 15-15 RPI 181
11/16/10 (Dome) we beat Detroit 66-55 They finished 17-16 RPI 143
11/21/10 (Dome) we beat William & Mary 63-60 They finished 10-22 RPI 228
11/26/10 (Atlantic City) we beat Michigan 53-50 They finished 21-14 RPI 52 They were a #8 seed in the NCAA tournament and lost in the round of 32
11/27/10 (Atlantic City) we beat Georgia Tech 80-76 They finished 13-18 RPI 168
11/30/10 (Dome) we beat Cornell 78-58 They finished 10-18 RPI 210
12/4/10 (Dome) we beat North Carolina State 65-59 They finished 15-16 RPI 125 They finished 15-16 RPI 125
12/7/10 (MSG, NY) we beat Michigan State 72-58 They finished 19-15 RPI 45 They were a #10 seed in the NCAA tournament and lost in the round of 64
12/11/10 (Dome) we beat Colgate 100-43 They finished 7-23 RPI 313
12/18/10 (Dome) we beat Iona 83-77 They finished 25-12 RPI 68
12/20/10 (Dome) we beat Morgan State 97-55 They finished 17-14 RPI 209
12/22/10 (Dome) we beat Drexel 93-65 They finished 21-10 RPI 74
The thirteen opponents had a combined record of 210-207, (210-194 vs. teams other than Syracuse- .520). Four teams won 20 games. Seven teams had winning records, 1 even and 5 losing records. The average RPI was 158. Our margin of victory was 18.1 points. None of the teams won their conference. None of these teams wound up in the final rankings. Two teams made the NCAA tournament. We were 10-0 in the Dome and 3-0 outside of it. Two games were outside of New York State but there were no true road games
11/12/11 (Dome) we beat Fordham 78-53 They are 5-6 RPI: 248
11/14/11 (Dome) we beat Manhattan 92-56 They are 8-4 RPI: 138
11/15/11 (Dome) we beat Albany 98-74 They are 7-5 RPI: 161
11/19/10 (Dome) we beat Colgate 92-47 They are 5-6 RPI: 223
11/23/11 (MSG NY) we beat Virginia Tech 69-58 They are 10-3 RPI: 57
11/25/11 (MSG NY) we beat Stanford 69-63 They are 10-2 RPI: 100
11/29/11 (Dome) we beat Eastern Michigan 84-48 They are 5-7 RPI: 182
12/2/11 (Dome) we beat Florida 72-68 They are 10-2 RPI: 41 They are ranked #11/#12
12/6/11 (Dome) we beat Marshall 62-56 They are 9-2 RPI: 44
12/10/11 (Dome) we beat George Washington 85-50 They are 4-7 RPI: 157
12/17/11 (Raleigh) we beat North Carolina State 88-72 They are 8-4 RPI: 65
12/20/11 (Dome) we beat Bucknell 80-61 They are 8-5 RPI: 73
12/22/11 (Dome) we beat Tulane 80-61 They are 11-2 RPI: 162
The thirteen opponents have a combined record of 100-55, (100-42 against teams other than Syracuse- .704). Nine teams have winning records, 4 have losing records. The average RPI is 127. Our margin of victory has been 21.7 points. There was one ranked team. We don’t know who will be in the NCAA tournament but four teams have an RPI of 68 or less. We were 10-0 in the Dome and 3-0 outside of it. The NC State game was the only game outside the state and the only true road game, (and we won it).
Overall the 52 opponents have had a record of 804-569 vs. teams other than Syracuse, (to date, obviously), .586. Including the teams so far this year, 32 have had winning records, two even and 18 losing. One of the 39 teams in the first three years has won 30 games, 18 have won 20. Counting LeMoyne as #344 in 2008, the average RPI has been 142. The average margin of victory has been 19.8 points. There have been four teams that were ranked either at the end of the previous three season or currently. Six of the 39 teams in the first three years have won their conferences and 8 have made the NCAA tournament. We are 39-1 inside the Dome and 44-1 in New York State. They’ve had 2 true road games, (in the other team’s arena) and 2 virtual road games, (in their state) and won all of them.
There may have been teams that player tougher schedules but ours hasn’t been bad and we’ve certainly taken care of business.
