See what I did there? Since it's the post Valentine's Day updates? Moving along...
The Syracuse Orange basketball team did its job and took care of business vs. Boston College, virtually securing an #OrangeEagle Trophy and another ACC win. While it's cool that the Orange are in the conversation for a dark-horse ACC Championship run, what most of us are concerned with is their NCAA Tournament standing.
Last we checked on the SU's bracket projections, the Orange were firmly rising but still looking at no higher than an 8- or 9-seed. Over the weekend, the mothership didn't update their brackets, but two other of the notable sites did.
CBS Sports likes 'Cuse as a 7th seed in the Midwest, facing Temple in round one, before a potential matchup second-seeded Big East power Xavier (that felt weird to type).
ESPN's Bracketology guru Joe Lunardi isn't as wild about Syracuse as everyone else. He has the Orange moved up... to a 10-seed in the Midwest, where they would face star freshman Ben Simmons and LSU.
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So the general idea is that while Syracuse isn't guaranteed anything, (and who is this season?) we went from worrying about the NIT in December to firmly "in" if the Orange win the games they're supposed to.
One of the biggest things to consider if the Orange keep winning: getting into the 6-7 seed range, and potentially even higher. An 8- or 9-seed all but guarantees a match-up with one of the top four teams in the country before the end of the first weekend -- and makes it a hell of a lot less likely they're getting out of Round Two.
