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Message: [QUOTE="General20, post: 5308659, member: 724"] This just isn't a good comparison. DePaul didn't rise for the same reasons Syracuse did and they didn't fall off for the same reasons Syracuse did. The comparison I think you want is comparing Syracuse basketball to Syracuse football. Syracuse basketball got big when recruiting was largely regional. There were exceptions of course. But most players played high school basketball in their home city and went to college somewhere relatively close to their home city. Syracuse was close enough to NYC, DC, and Philly to pull recruits from each, and those were 3 of the most talent rich areas in the country. Syracuse also had a coach who built a system that worked with players he was able to land. The result was four decades of unprecedented stability. Recruiting is no longer even regional for high school at the highest level, and definitely not regional for college. Now recruiting is about whose fanbases can raise the most money. I have never seen any evidence to think Syracuse will be elite at this game. It's hard for a private school embraced only by the city of Syracuse to compete with public schools embraced by entire states. Football was ahead of basketball in this regard. It became all about money and you saw the SEC dominate when they were happy to set the market while most other more academically inclined schools were willing to sit back and see how things shook out before jumping in. Basketball is at that point now with SEC having a huge percentage of the best teams. I, personally, am encouraged to see the direction football has gone in. The field is more competitive and the SEC while good is not the best conference. I think basketball will follow this pattern and things will level out once the market is set. Of course there may be a seismic shift in how college sports are run between now and then. No way to predict really. But until then, or until the market is set and the playing field evens out, I think most people who feel Syracuse belongs at the top of the sport are going to be disappointed. [/QUOTE]

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