We absolutely, positively MUST make the 2013 Final Four

[OrlandoCuse]

No ifs, ands, or buts about it. It is inexcusable that we could possibly have over a decade plus gap in between final fours if we don't make it there next year. Watching teams like UK, KU, UConn, Duke, UNC, Mich St and Lville routinely making final fours while we routinely flame out makes me absolutely SICK.

 

[All4SU]

I'm not sure you can call 2010 or 2012 "flaming out." Bad luck, yes.

 

[OrlandoCuse]

I'm not sure you can call 2010 or 2012 "flaming out." Bad luck, yes.

What bad luck did we have this year?

 

[PoppyHart]

It's better to burn out than fade away.

my my hey hey

 

[All4SU]

What bad luck did we have this year?

Losing our starting center just prior to the tournament.

 

[CorduroyG]

What bad luck did we have this year?

seriously?

Sent from my SCH-R720 using Tapatalk

 

[OrlandoCuse]

Losing our starting center just prior to the tournament.

Not doing the minimum academic work in order to remain eligible has absolutely nothing to do with luck.

Not making sure your players are meeting their minimum academic expectations has absolutely nothing to do with luck.

Injuries are bad luck. Flunking out of college, no luck involved in that at all.

 

[Marsh01]

With who we lose I dont think its a necessity.

 

[All4SU]

Not doing the minimum academic work in order to remain eligible has absolutely nothing to do with luck.

Not making sure your players are meeting their minimum academic expectations has absolutely nothing to do with luck.

Injuries are bad luck. Flunking out of college, no luck involved in that at all.

I don't really think it's that simple. But whatever.

 

[OrlandoCuse]

I don't really think it's that simple. But whatever.

It really is that simple, don't think too much about it. Don't make excuses about it either.

 

[OrlandoCuse]

With who we lose I dont think its a necessity.

Plenty of talent on the team next year to make a final four. Hell, we've had enough talent on various teams over the last 9 years to make at least 1 or 2 final fours. We've fallen short enough times to not already make excuses for next season. Butler, VCU, George Mason, LSU, and quite a few other teams in the past decade have been to the Final Four with far less talent than we have on the team next year.

 

[MadNY3]

I like this thinking process.

Let's not factor in the team we have vis-a-vis others across the nation. No. Lets lay it all on MAN-I-FEST DESTINY!



I'm frustrated as well. Losing to Butler in '10 was SO frustrating as that was not self-induced and we should have beaten them without Arinze, period. But we didn't. Then we lost this year to what really was a better team given that we were Fab-less.

I'll take the state of this program (on the court) any day. Especially as I look across the way at the Football program which is...getting there. I guess. Excellence has standards. I agree. I just think Hoops wise we are doing pretty damn good.

 

[cuseincincy]

Plenty of talent on the team next year to make a final four. Hell, we've had enough talent on various teams over the last 9 years to make at least 1 or 2 final fours. We've fallen short enough times to not already make excuses for next season. Butler, VCU, George Mason, LSU, and quite a few other teams in the past decade have been to the Final Four with far less talent than we have on the team next year.

Not only will we have more talent next year than those teams you mention did. But we had more talent than those teams in the years those teams went to the final four. That is what frustrates me as a fan of SU. Don't get me wrong, I love where this program is and that we have a chance almost every year. But sometimes it is more frustrating to be good but not close the deal than it is to not even have a chance.

 

[br801]

Can we have one of these threads Monday night too? These are almost as much fun as the "are we elite?" threads.

 

[SWC75]

No ifs, ands, or buts about it. It is inexcusable that we could possibly have over a decade plus gap in between final fours if we don't make it there next year. Watching teams like UK, KU, UConn, Duke, UNC, Mich St and Lville routinely making final fours while we routinely flame out makes me absolutely SICK.

What do we do if we won't? :noidea:

 

[omniorange]

Plenty of talent on the team next year to make a final four. Hell, we've had enough talent on various teams over the last 9 years to make at least 1 or 2 final fours. We've fallen short enough times to not already make excuses for next season. Butler, VCU, George Mason, LSU, and quite a few other teams in the past decade have been to the Final Four with far less talent than we have on the team next year.

2003 obviously had enough talent to get to a Final Four.

2004 was headed there until Edelin had his issues.

2009 had the talent, but ran into a buzz-saw in Blake Griffith.

2010 had the talent until AO's injury.

2012 had the talent but then got blind-sided by Fab's issues and the refs (although OSU was still good enough to win that game even if the refs weren't so bad).

It's disappointing that we have only made two Elite 8s in that 10 year span, but sometimes these things happen.

Louisville once went 18 years in between Final Fours, Michigan State 19 years, and even Kentucky had an 11 year span without making a Final Four.

Cheers,
Neil

 

[HOFCeluck]

Not only will we have more talent next year than those teams you mention did. But we had more talent than those teams in the years those teams went to the final four. That is what frustrates me as a fan of SU. Don't get me wrong, I love where this program is and that we have a chance almost every year. But sometimes it is more frustrating to be good but not close the deal than it is to not even have a chance.

You may want to look at the roster of that LSU team from 2006.

 

[kirbivore]

2009 had the talent, but ran into a buzz-saw in Blake Griffith.

If they somehow got past Oklahoma they weren't beating UNC in the regional final anyway.

 

[orange03]

If they somehow got past Oklahoma they weren't beating UNC in the regional final anyway.

Neither was the buzz saw Blake Griffin

 

[SBU72]

No ifs, ands, or buts about it. It is inexcusable that we could possibly have over a decade plus gap in between final fours if we don't make it there next year. Watching teams like UK, KU, UConn, Duke, UNC, Mich St and Lville routinely making final fours while we routinely flame out makes me absolutely SICK.

If your support is determined by making the FF once a decade, then maybe you should root for one of those teams.

 

[MyMeloMyMan]

When people look back on it years from now, they'll know SU should have had two more titles. Its common knowledge..not any shortcoming of JB or SU. We've had more bad luck than any program in D1 the past few years.

 

[orangenirvana]

Louisville once went 18 years in between Final Fours, Michigan State 19 years, and even Kentucky had an 11 year span without making a Final Four.

Actually, it was 13 years.

Making the Final Four is really, really, really hard. Even for the powerhouse Top 20 programs.

 

[bigf1973]

What bad luck did we have this year?

Losing mookie

 

[SWC75]

What bad luck did we have this year?

I would define 'bad luck' as anything not related to the performance of the players on the basketball court that creates an obsticle to our success in obtaining a reachable goal. Melo's problems were not happenstance or an act of God but they had nothing to do with how good a basketball team we were with him. The refs deciding to call 29 fouls on SU and send Ohio State to the line 42 times when vs. Kansas it was 15 and 15 has nothing to do with how good a team we were in a fairly officiated game.

But if you ask the fans at Duke, UNC, Kentucky, Kansas and UICLA if they've ever had things like that happen to them I'm sure they could come up with many examples. Bud Wilkinson said "I'd rather be lucky than good." To win it all, you need both.

 

[otto123]

When people look back on it years from now, they'll know SU should have had two more titles. Its common knowledge..not any shortcoming of JB or SU. We've had more bad luck than any program in D1 the past few years.

It's only common knowledge to some Syracuse fans. What happened to Cinn with Kenyon Martin was common knowledge. SU was never the best team going into those tourneys.