The two squads displayed what each respective team will look like the annual Orange Madness. The event officially kicks off the start of the college basketball season.
The glitz and glamour of Orange Madness kicked off the start of the basketball season for both the men and women’s basketball team. The one night spectacle was held in front of a Syracuse crowd that got its first taste of what the 2013-2014 season may look like for both squads.
Two similar teams face off in the third round of the NCAA tournament.
The Syracuse Orange will take on a tough opponent in the California Golden Bears in the third round of the NCAA tournament on Saturday, after being handed a 48-point victory over the Montana Grizzlies Thursday night.
The Bears (20-11, 12-6 Pacific 12) have a very similar team to the Orange. California is similarly sized, has similar records, employs a successful zone defense and has an almost identical shooting percentage. Syracuse shoots slightly better from beyond the arc, but Cal shoots marginally better from the charity stripe.
A breakdown of No. 4 Syracuse's first game in the NCAA tournament against the No.13 Montana Grizzlies.
March Madness is upon us and the Syracuse University men’s hoops team (26-9) received the No. 4 seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament East region. The Orange play the No. 13 seeded University of Montana Grizzlies (25-6) Thursday in San Jose, Calif.
As far as Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim is concerned, he said he thought his team jumped four lines with its performance at the Big East Tournament.
“I think the Big East Tournament had a big effect in our seeding,” Boeheim said. “Pittsburgh is a No. 8 seed and we beat Pittsburgh.”
In the final Big East tournament for No. 19 Syracuse, the Orange could not hold on to a halftime lead, eventually falling to the No. 4 Cardinals, 78-61.
The No. 4 Lousiville Cardinals (29-5) won the Big East Championship for the second straight year and third since 2009. This time, it was a 78-61 victory over No. 19 Syracuse. The Orange (26-9) came out swinging in the first half, coasting to a 35-22 lead at halftime. However, the second half was all Louisville, who outscored the Orange 56-26, including a 44-10 run.
“I thought that they were the best team in the league from the beginning of the year,” head coach Jim Boeheim said. “They proved that today.”
On the heels of a 20-point performance against Seton Hall, James Southerland scored another 20 in a 62-59 victory over No. 17 Pittsburgh
After beating Seton Hall just a day earlier, it was unclear how No. 19 Syracuse (25-8) would fare against the extremely physical No. 17 Pittsburgh Panthers. The last time the two teams met, the Orange was without James Southerland, leading to an Orange loss. But Southerland’s presence played a major role in Thursday afternoon's 62-59 victory.
Despite a horrid first half, the Orange rallied to beat Seton Hall, 75-63, and move on to play Pittsburgh.
After an incredibly slow start, Syracuse pulled out the victory over Seton Hall in the second round of the final Big East tournament.
The No. 19 Orange (24-8) won 75-63, but were down by as many as 10 in the first half, before mounting a comeback to tie the game up at halftime. The tie allowed for a reset for the second half, which turned out to be all Syracuse.
No. 15 Syracuse snapped its three-game losing streak in 78-57 thrashing of DePaul. The win marked the final Big East game in the Carrier Dome.
The No. 17 Syracuse (23-7, 11-6) snapped a three-game losing streak, defeating the DePaul Blue Demons (11-19, 2-15) 78-57. Wednesday night’s victory also marked the final home game for seniors Brandon Triche and James Southerland.
“I didn’t think I was going to be this excited just because we had lost three straight games,” guard Triche said. “I didn’t care who we were playing; we had to win.”
Another poor shooting night for No. 12 Orange lead to the team's third straight loss in Saturday's game against No. 10 Louisville.
The losing streak continues.
No. 12 Syracuse (22-7, 10-6) lost its third game in a row, this time to No. 10 Louisville (24-5, 12-4) on Saturday afternoon, 58-53. This marked the last game between the two in Big East play. Turnovers and a poor offensive start put SU in a hole that they weren’t able to fight out of.
“You can’t make those types of mistakes in tournament type games,” said head coach Jim Boeheim. “It’s difficult to win against zone defenses when you don’t make many shots from the perimeter.”
The Orange dropped its second straight game, losing to Marquette, 74-71
Syracuse's best player is CJ Fair
Not Michael Carter-Williams, Brandon Triche or James Southerland. CJ Fair. His 20 points against Marquette was the 12th time this season he has had 15 or more points. He has nine double-doubles on the season, including five in conference play.