Yogi does the math

[SWC75]

Syracuse needs to get to the ACCT finals to preserve the winning season streak and to win the tournament to get to the NCAAs. If we got to the Finals, that would probably get us an NIT invite but SU might not take it, due to the injuries to young players who might have benefited from additional games. We are unlikely to accept bid to the College Basketball Invitational or the Basketball Classic, the other two post-season tournaments Losing in the semi-finals would leave us at 17-17 with maybe an NIT invite. if we turned it down, we would still have a non-losing season streak, (which is already 52), Kentucky holds that record with 60. Losing in the finals would give us an 18-16 record and a probable NIT invite. if we took it, we couldn't wind up with an even or losing season because the NIT is a single elimination, tournament as are the others.

That involves beating Florida State, Duke and either U of Miami, Wake Forest or Boston College. I'm going to assume that won't be BC so I'll focus on those first four teams and how they did vs. common conference opponents. Where on team played a foe once and the other twice, I'll use the scores at that venue. If they both played a foe once, I'll ignore the venue.

Syracuse beat Florida State 63-60 in their place = Syracuse +3
Syracuse lost to Florida State 71-76 in our place = Florida State +5\
Syracuse lost to Virginia 69-74. FSU beat them 64-63 = FSU +6
Syracuse lost at Miami 87-88. FSU won there 61-60 = FSU +2
Syracuse lost at Wake Forest 74-77. FSU lost there 54-76 = SU +19
Syracuse beat Pitt here 77-61. FSU lost to them at home 51-56 = SU +21
Syracuse beat Clemson here 91-78. FSU beat them at home 81-80 = SU +12
Syracuse lost at Duke 59-79. FSU lost there 70-88 = +2 FSU
Syracuse beat Wake Forest here 94-72. FSU lost to them 60-68 at home = SU +14
Syracuse beat NC State there 89-82. FSU won there 83-81 = SU +5
Syracuse beat Louisville 92-69. FSU beat them 79-70 = SU +14
Syracuse won at Boston College 73-64. FSU lost there 55-71 = SU +25
Syracuse lost to Virginia Tech 59-71. FSU lost to them 72-85 = SU +1
Syracuse beat Georgia Tech 74-73. FSU lost to them 61-75 = SU +13
Syracuse lost to Notre Dame 69-79.. FSU beat them 74-70 = FSU +14
Syracuse lost to Duke at home 72-97. FSU beat them at home 79-78 = FSU +24
Syracuse lost at North Carolina 79-88. FSU lost there 74-94 = SU +11
Syracuse lost at home to Miami 72-75. FSU beat them at home 65-64 = FSU +2
TOTAL: Syracuse +79/18 games = +4 We won 11 of 18 comparisons.
What the numbers don't show is that we've lost Jesse Edwards and Benny Williams to injury while "The Seminoles were 13-5 and tied for first place in the ACC standings with a 6-2 record on Jan. 22, but injuries to forward Malik Osborne (foot), center Naheem McLeod (hand) and guards Anthony Polite (hand) and Caleb Mills (ankle) sent the team in a tailspin. In February, Florida State went 2-6 as Hamilton and his coaching staff dealt with a young and depleted roster. The veteran coach used 13 different starting lineups to mix and match available players. The return of Polite and Mills sparked the Seminoles to a three-game winning streak entering this week’s conference tournament." (MSN) Syracuse has lost 4 games in a row to the top four teams in the conference, who have a combined conference record of 60-20. Florida State has won three in a row over teams that have a combined conference record of 31-29. Our record in conference games decided by 5 points or less or in overtime is 2-6. Theirs is 8-2. We may be shell-shocked after the second Miami loss.

I don't have time to do all the typing, but I did similar comparisons to:

Duke: We won 4 of 17 = -177/17 = -10 We lost both games by a combined -45
Miami: We won 5 of 17 = -99/17 = -6 We lost both games by a combined -4
Wake: We won 4 of 18 = -128/18 = -7 We split but outscored them by +19.