a sporting word

Well, my apologies to everyone - Syracuse was not considered a #1 seed for the grand NIT afterall. Nope, these Cusemen are now the 5th (or 8th?) best team not to be included in this year's 2007 NCAA Championship bracket, dropped by the NIT committee to a #2 seed so they can host the South Alabama Jaguars on Wednesday (The mighty Jaguars have now lost 4 of their last 5, including defeats to Florida International, Florida Atlantic, and Troy).

Am I wrong here? Was Syracuse really 39th on an at-large list built for 34? Is little Dougie - the Oklahoma St. Cowboy that left the "weak " Big East because he couldn't cut it at Notre Dame - the top analyst in the game? He was the only one who could point out all the reasons why the Orange didn't deserve a bid yesterday - maybe he had a valid point. True, he declared Syracuse a solid stove pipe lock as recent as last week during his ESPN.com online chat (tip courtesy of Adam from Voteprime) but perhaps that was just a momentary lapse in judgment - we've seen it happen before with other guys just like him, such as Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt, so maybe we should forgive him for the mistakes he made with his predictions...

Somehow, though, I just can't get to that point. I don't think I have enough of Dougie's contempt for Mr. Boeheim. Shame on me, I suppose, but I have to maintain that Syracuse absolutely belonged in that selection show. Also, unlike the Hall of Famer who must remain diplomatic, I am willing to name the teams that did not deserve to be anywhere near the NCAA's - we'll start the list small, perhaps only stretching to the few teams who clearly could not defeat the Orange in a seven-game series:

Arkansas - 12 seed, East Region

Record: 21-13, 7-9 in the SEC

RPI: 35 SOS: 10

Big Wins: Vanderbilt (47, twice)

Bad Losses: Auburn (114), South Carolina (110), Missouri (93), Mississippi St (64), Georgia (63)

Stanford - 11 seed, South Region

Record: 18-12, 10-8 in the Pac 10

RPI: 65 SOS: 32

Big Wins: UCLA (2), Oregon (21), Washington St (26), USC (40), Texas Tech (53)

Bad Losses: Santa Clara (99), California (82), Washington (81)

Purdue, 9 seed Midwest Region

Record: 21-11, 9-7 in the Big Ten

RPI: 44 SOS: 44

Big Wins: Michigan St (24), Indiana (28), Illinois (29), Virginia (55),

Bad Losses: Minnesota (190), Indiana St (139), Iowa (96)

Texas Tech, 10 seed East Region

Record: 21-12, 9-7 in the Big 12

RPI: 53 SOS: 39

Big Wins: Kansas (11), Texas A&M (17, twice), Arkansas (35)

Big Losses: Baylor (141), Nebraska (103), Oklahoma (102), Missouri (93), Stanford (65)

And now we compare those four winners to the Syracuse Orange:

Syracuse, 2 seed NIT South

Record: 22-10, 10-6 in the Big East

RPI: 50 SOS: 46

Big Wins: Georgetown (9), Villanova (19), Marquette (22)

Bad Losses: St. John's (133), Connecticut (111), Wichita St (100)

Obviously, Syracuse was badly hurt by the loss to UConn. If the Orange won in Storrs back on February 5th, my feeling is that the committee would have included them in the field. It's unfortunate, too, because no matter how bad the Huskies are they will always have a shot to beat the Cuse - Calhoun knows The Zone too well to lose to get swept by the Orangemen during any season. If UConn was the #1 team in the country again and SU lost to them three times instead of just once, the Cuse's RPI would have been in the mid-30's and they surely would have been playing for the championship, even at 20-12 (like Arkansas, who sucks, but gets in because they played a top 10 schedule. Who cares that they lost to five teams outside the top 60 - they played Florida twice!).

The worst of it is that we feel personally slighted by the committee's decision to omit the Orange. Our team deserves a shot at the Final Four - sure, they probably wouldn't have won more than a couple games, but they should at least be there to try. It's almost like to selection committee passed judgment on us as fans. We know they screwed up, losing to a few teams that didn't get in, but they also rallied and showed they can play with the best down the stretch. It's going to be monumentally disappointing to watch the games on CBS this weekend knowing that there's no 1st round action to get especially excited about, and it's even more depressing to think that the seniors - two time champs of the Big East conference - are now forced to play for a lesser title.

So, what do we do now?

Well, we can't allow ourselves to sit at home and wallow in the sadness that is the National Invitation Tournament. We can't urge our coach to reject a chance for his team to play ball again, just so we can say, "He sure showed them!" We can't boycott the game in the Dome because it's beneath us. We gotta be fans.

Go to the game Wednesday night - give the Orange something to play for. Even if right now you're thinking it isn't worth two hours of your time, you owe it to these players to support their run to The Garden. These Syracuse Orangemen don't want to be in a second-rate tournament anymore than you like seeing them there, but they're still going to get out on Jimmy B's Court and play. What's done is done. We get one more game at home with Demetris, Terrence, Mookie, and Matt - let's make it worthwhile.

# posted by eric boye @ 12:21 PM