Out of the country so wasn't able to watch, but it seems like it may have been a good game to miss.
Taking a 1,000 foot view the result is not too surprising or calamitous for the Orange's season. I had three games penciled in as what I thought would be likely losses this year (Harvard, Princeton, and UNC) along with the possibility of losing another ACC game (just wasn't sure which one). It's a shame I'm not a gambling man.
The Orange are still in a great spot for a home game in the opening round and a top 4 (probably still top 3) seed. Of course they'll need to put this behind them and take care of business moving forward.
However, taking a much closer view of the result is where the alarm bells start going off. From all your wonderful commentary, it never seemed like the game was close or that Cuse had a fighting chance (unlike Princeton where it was fairly even after the opening frame if I remember correctly). The same issues we've all been bemoaning all season were on full display. Lack of leadership, sloppy and careless play all over the place, poor shot selection, turnovers, and an inability to adjust to get the offense going against a defense that had a good game plan. Limited urgency and lack of precision. It seems like the team that is just playing around in the backyard and not serious about winning a national championship.
Now, of course, all the issues are fixable. But they are not new issues and could have been fixed already, raising doubts about if this team has what it takes to get it together and put the necessary work in to truly get good enough to win it all. Talent alone is not enough. I felt like some on this board were a little cavalier about UNC's ability to pull it together with Breschi at the helm but as I cautioned then, he has amassed a critical mass of talent so that he might just not be able to screw it up.
The Tarheels have shown serious improvement over the course of the season. Syracuse has not. Same old team. Same old issues. They're running out of runway. There needs to be urgency and senior leadership that gets everyone's butts in gear. The coaches have not shown the ability to change this team for the better. It's up to the players to do it themselves. It's not ideal or fair or whatever you want to call it, but for the seniors especially, they've got to drive this team from here on out.
It's amazed me over the last few seasons but especially this year - for all the talk and buzz of Cuse being a high flying, fast paced team, they really struggle against teams that out pace them. Princeton and UNC played Syracuse's game and took their lunch money doing it.
If you're going to dish that type of firepower out to other teams, you better be prepared to handle it yourself and overcome it. This team hasn't really gotten there.
All that to say, their season is still objectively in more than fine shape. This team can easily be a quarterfinalist and maybe a semifinalist. But . . . they have a lot of work to put in still to make sure they can hoist the trophy.
