NCAA Basketball Buy or Sell: Where do St. John’s and Seton Hall stand?

Syracuse Orange – Sell

There are few things in college basketball that are certain. One of those certain things is that no matter the talent level of the Orange, once they are written off as a non-factor, they always seem to make a miracle run to the NCAA tournament. While in the NCAA Tournament, Coach Jim Boeheim always leads them on a deep run. It has happened so many times like that, it is almost expected each and every year. The Orange are, once again, one of the most inconsistent teams in the country.  They looked fantastic in a huge win over Ohio State. The Orange had no problem scoring that night and were hitting shots from all over the floor.  Syracuse also has looked miserable on offense some nights as well. In the intrastate rivalry between Syracuse and upstart Buffalo, the Orange got ran out of their own gym by a fantastic Buffalo team.

No matter how good or bad the Orange are each year, they should never get run out of the Carrier Dome by a MAC school. Even if that MAC school is turning into a national power. Early in the season, Syracuse was without their floor general in point guard Frank Howard.  He makes a tremendous difference for the Orange, especially on the defensive side of the ball. When Howard returned, I like many others went on record as saying Syracuse is a Final Four team with him. The way the Orange have played lately, that does not appear to be a likely scenario.  Syracuse’s focus should be on making the NCAA tournament before worrying about a deep run.

The “sell” designation is given the Orange because this team does not appear to be good enough to even make the tournament, especially in a loaded ACC conference. They do defend well, but they cannot score consistently enough to beat the powerhouses in this conference. It should surprise no one that Syracuse looks dead in the water entering the middle of February and rattles off 8-10 wins in a row, finds themselves as a No. 10 seed in the NCAA tournament and ends up in the Final Four. That kind of talent is on the current roster. This season for some reason just feels different for Syracuse and they do not appear to be getting any better. They appear to be getting worse, and that is not what you want entering conference play.