Follow The Fizz on Twitter for the latest SU basketball news
Syracuse is undefeated no more. Dressed in throwbacks from 2003, Syracuse fell 62-59 in overtime to Boston College on Feb 19. This tacks on a small“1” in the loss column for the Orange—a column that may become a “2”or even “3.”
Anyone who thinks Syracuse had a shot at going undefeated had very high expectations. With six games left in the regular season, it seemed more likely than it did back in December. Still, looking at how the team has played against Duke, Pitt and NC State, everyone had to know this was coming—maybe just not against a 6-19 team. 
This team has been outstanding thus far. It started 25-0 and did all of that with a freshman point guard, and a shooting guard who is playing in his first full season. A loss to BC is tough, but a loss was going to happen. After all, the Orange barely got by Duke, Pitt, and NC State. 
25-1 is no reason to panic. Here’s why:
It was going to happen. Whenever a team is earning national attention because it is undefeated and No. 1 in the rankings, there’s a lot of pressure. It knows it hasn’t lost a game and it has tough opponents ahead. It’s a little disappointing it happened against a team like BC, but it goes into a road game, at Duke, which is easily one of the toughest places for a visitor to play in the entire country. This loss is a wake-up call. 
Don’t underestimate BC. The record doesn’t show everything. The ACC is a tough conference and even though the record hasn’t shown it, the Eagles have three players who at least keep the Eagles close. Olivier Hanlan, Lonnie Jackson and Ryan Anderson don’t get much attention in the media because BC hasn’t won games. First of all, Hanlan has scored double digits in all but two games this season. He averages 18 points per game. Although Jackson isn’t a huge scorer, he can hit the big three for the Eagles. And Anderson isn’t a shooter, but he’s a good player down low. He averages just under 15 points per game and just over seven rebounds. A duo of Hanlan and Anderson is dangerous, but perhaps the Eagles have just had bad luck this season winning games with talented players.
Still a good team. A loss to a lesser opponent doesn’t mean anything. This team is No. 1 in the rankings for now and it won 25 games in a row with a freshman point guard and first-year starter at the other guard position. The team has gone through a lot since the Duke game, and will make adjustments and be better prepared to play in a tough environment and against a much stronger team against Duke.
Could still be No. 1. The Fizz published a story breaking down the remainder of the season after the Pitt game. Austin Pollack predicted Syracuse would beat BC at home and lose to Duke on the road. Obviously the BC loss at home is a ranking killer for the Orange, but a win against Duke on the road could potentially keep Syracuse atop the rankings. In the end, this could just be a waste game for Syracuse because it could still be on top. 
Losses don’t mean the team is in trouble. Look back to the end of last season when Syracuse lost four of its last five. The Orange lost twice to Georgetown, at Marquette, and against Louisville. Although those were all challenging opponents at the time and Syracuse was thought to be an early exit in the Big East and NCAA tournaments, look what happened. Syracuse nearly won the Big East tournament, and went all the way to the Final Four before falling to Michigan. One loss means nothing. This is not panic time.
Syracuse looks to regroup on Saturday night when it takes on Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham.
Posted by: Austin Pollack
10 responses to “No Time to Panic: Syracuse Undeniably Championship Contenders Despite First Loss”
Every season has a hiccup….
I agree,, 30+ games without a bump in the road is lala land.
BUT…
Look at CUSE’s play since the Duke game and we’re scraping by everyone named ND(not ranked) NC State (NR) Clemson(NR) PITT( no longer ranked) and now we LOSE to 6-19 at our house.
Hiccup??
NOPE..this has gone from mild indigestion to full blown cookie tossing. We could rely on our defense to win games when occasionally the offense was off. NOW the offense is derailed and with playing so few players- 7 in the boxscore 6 in reality, the team is physically/mentally on life support.
HOUSTON we (may) have a problem.
Syracuse was due to lose,it was just a matter of when. They have 5 regular season games left to play and I expect them to lose another 2-3 games before they straighten things out and come to their senses.
With a 25-1 overall record and tied for 1st place with Virginia in the ACC is nothing to be ashamed of.
Go Cuse.
Losses are inevitable, but the manner of loss can be diagnosed. There were some major bad moves vs BC. Like Christmas taking a game winner? Or Cooney not seeing Grant to his left for a possible 2nd screen or pass? Hey, BC has 10+ losses to man to man defensive teams, and they blew the zone up, the #1 3 pt. percentage team in the league..should not have their choice of shots… HCJB played the numbers and got burned..
That said, if SU wins @Duke they should retain the #1 spot. The other side of the coin is a two game losing streak. That would suck, but I think the message has been sent, NEVER underestimate an opponent, moving forward I think they’ll play better. #1 seed in the East region is up for grabs on Saturday, SU has to bring it, because the Cameron Crazies live for this type of environment….
So I thought the D and the O were terrible last night. Keita runs the zone much better than Christmas, but it was the wings that seemed out of position all night to me. BC hit some bombs, but there were too many open looks and a seeming lack of communication on the back door cuts. As for the O, I thought Fair had one of his worst games this season and to me it looks like he’s tired. There were so many times where I thought he was going to take it strong and he would instead lob up a contested layup, that often rattled out. Cooney had a bad night too, but most problematic to me was that he seemed to rush that last attempted 3 in the OT. He didn’t catch it clean, but he had time to collect himself and take a better composed shot. He didn’t . Easy for me to say, I know, but I am just throwing out my observations. We rebounded well in the offensive paint, but that was in part because we missed a lot. We just looked flat footed to me.
For the record, I recognize some of the “flat footedness” is attributable to BC’s slow it down game plan. Good for them. That is everyone’s game plan against us. I expect to see Duke and UVa do the same. That is why Ennis has been so valuable, he is the best half court PG we’ve had in a long time.
Malone…
I think Duke will try to run us out of Cameron.
I hope you’re right. I would like to see us get out and run. I know I just said we seem tired, but I don’t like seeing caged gazelles.
Hey guys,
A loss is a loss. Syracuse was due. Little disappointing it was against a lesser opponent like BC, but good to get a bad loss out of the way before what will probably be the toughest game of the year.
A few days away….enjoy it guys.
AP
Ennis has old man foot speed lol. Although, he’s quite lethal, this is the least fast breaking SU team, maybe of all time. Watch KALEB JOSEPH highlights and witness the attacking, defensive minded guard play SU fans are accustomed to. Slow bball is horrible. Ennis isn’t to blame.. SU has 3 SGs & 1 Pg? Next season ’14-’15, if Ennis leaves.. SU will still have 3 SGs & 1 PG, that’s too much pressure for any one ball handler, let alone a frosh… for 35-40 games, like Ennis this season & Joseph next season potentially.
Recruiting is off.. Patterson, Johnson & Oboknoh are useless. With so many kids being productive around college, why can’t SU utilize its bench? Its demoralizing lol… SU could at least had recruited a backup point. Ennis and his EURO bball style is debatable!
Well been kinda waiting to say this all season and held back b/c well SU got by but it be fantastic if JB could ya know mix it up? Like run a press or have the top of the zone randomly trap? Its beyond annoying watching the other team walk the ball up pass it around until there is 10 seconds or less on the shot clock before attacking the basket or hunting a shot. I love the zone defense but it needs to be tweaked to deal with these bum ass teams that wanna sit on the ball. What compounds the problem more is SU’s defensive rebounding is atrocious. Although that is an issue when you play zone, still needs to get better though. When SU does not rebound a team could have the ball for over a minute on the offensive end. Need to mix it up throw some hard traps at the top of the zone or run a press after a made basket to speed the other team up. Otherwise SU will need to play near prefect basketball to make the final 4.