Let's Talk About A Team Everyone Can Hate

[nyg]

Six points, two on free throws, in the last nine minutes will do that.  No Cuse turnovers in half.  Wow.

Cuse's press was fantastic, rattled Virginia in speeding up their game, turnovers and jacking up threes which were missed. 

Freshman Richardson with awesome second half and impressive. 

Been worst chokes, but not in Virginia NCAA history.

Go NOVA.

[naginiF]

Its not even the first or second biggest choke in this tournament.
absolutely, it's behind the UNI meltdown that 99% will forget about in a week

BTW Kevin Harlan: "Back from the dead on Easter Sunday."  Cmon...
we laughed but we're not reflective of my alums beliefs

[GooooMarquette]

In a way Syracuse doing well kind of helps us via the transitive theory. Georgetown St. johns and Wisconsin all beat them. We beat Georgetown St. Johns and Wisconsin. So a modest bit of credibility upgrade for our cause.

So we're pretty damn good this year, eh?  Someone ask Crean if we should hang a banner.

[4everwarriors]

Crean sucks

[CountryRoads]

Good comeback for the cuse. They are making the NCAA look like fools. Just saw Bennetts post game. He is a class act. The polar opposite of bo Ryan who proves time and time again that he is a class A a-hole in situations like that.

[4everwarriors]

Who?

[Tugg Speedman]

What probability do you assign to the idea that JB can now retire with this FF run?  That way he can end the "Syracuse crime family"masquerading as a basketball team.  Then he can turn it all over the Mike Hopkins.

[4everwarriors]

So they don't do it da right way, hey?

[Tugg Speedman]

So they don't do it da right way, hey?

Syracuse to vacate wins, lose 12 scholarships; Boeheim suspended
By Matt Norlander | Staff Writer
March 6, 2015 12:17 pm ET

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/eye-on-college-basketball/25095512/syracuse-will-have-to-vacate-wins-lose-12-scholarships-boeheim-suspended-9-games

The NCAA's Committee on Infractions has announced significant punishments against the Syracuse men's basketball program and its longtime, Hall of Fame coach, Jim Boeheim. Boeheim will be suspended for the team's first nine ACC games next season and the school will lose three scholarships per year through 2018-19 as punishment for infractions that occurred with the men's basketball program over the past 10 years.

The trangressions include "academic misconduct," repeated drug violations and a booster doling out cash to Syracuse players and staff members.

"Over the course of a decade, Syracuse University did not control and monitor its athletics programs, and its head men's basketball coach failed to monitor his program," the NCAA's release states.The school and Boeheim will also be forced to vacate its victories "in which ineligible men's basketball students played in 2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07, 2010-11 and 2011-12." Boeheim won 135 games in those five seasons; 106 of the wins will be taken out of the record books. His 2012-13 team, which reached the Final Four, was not found in violation of NCAA rules.

The NCAA also retroactively fined Syracuse $500 per game for contests that featured an ineligible player.

"The school must return to the NCAA all funds it has received to date through the former Big East Conference revenue sharing for its appearances in the 2011, 2012 and 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament," according to the NCAAA's release.

The men's basketball and football programs have been placed on five years' probation, which will expire on March 5, 2020. The basketball program will also only be allowed to have two coaching staff members recruit on the road from June 1, 2015 through May 31, 2017.

[Tugg Speedman]

WSJ article about how Syracuse is a rare underdog everyone hates and will be rooting against.

I guess the forgot Syracuse is only the second dirtiest program in the country ... They will be playing the dirtiest (UNC).

Syracuse: The Unsympathetic Underdog
Previous trips and NCAA sanctions overshadow a surprising Final Four run

http://www.wsj.com/articles/syracuse-the-unsympathetic-underdog-1459291029?mod=e2tw

You'd like to think that this occasion would bring about some soul-searching for the NCAA, but the fact of the matter is—crime pays," says Jay Smith, a history professor at North Carolina and co-author of "Cheated: The UNC Scandal, the Education of Athletes, and the Future of Big-Time College Sports." "These two programs cheated pretty egregiously, yet here they are competing for a national title on a national stage."

Smith said he believes the matchup might actually encourage other schools to break the rules. "While you might have some embarrassment on your hands, you're now seeing that it's not going to be a long-term hindrance on your program."



Interesting factoids ...

The team got off to an 0-4 start in the Atlantic Coast Conference, making it the first team in NCAA history to reach a Final Four after losing its first four games in conference play.

After dropping five of its final six games heading into March Madness, the team's No. 72 ranking in RPI, the metric the NCAA selection committee uses to set the field, was the worst ever for a team that earned an at-large bid. Syracuse's 13 losses this season ties it for the most ever for any Final Four team.

[brewcity77]

Syracuse is the last team I have  standing in a small national title pool that we drafted at the Sweet 16. While I'd win some money on them taking home the title, I'll still be rooting against them. Hate the team, the coach, the cheating, and the flawed system that allowed an undeserving team into the NCAA Tournament. Plain and simple, Syracuse did not have a good enough season to play in the tourney. Screw those smug asshats.

[tower912]

I don't like Carolina or Syracuse.  But I have to root for Syracuse because I don't think villanova can beat the heels.  Size and depth are too much.  Jay has seen that zone often enough to have a plan to attack it.

[MerrittsMustache]

Syracuse is the last team I have  standing in a small national title pool that we drafted at the Sweet 16. While I'd win some money on them taking home the title, I'll still be rooting against them. Hate the team, the coach, the cheating, and the flawed system that allowed an undeserving team into the NCAA Tournament. Plain and simple, Syracuse did not have a good enough season to play in the tourney. Screw those smug asshats.

I can't stand the notion that getting to the FF justified Cuse's position in the field. Actually, all it did was prove what massive underachievers they were in the regular season yet they still got rewarded for it because of their name, conference and whiny coach.

[Dawson Rental]

Syracuse is the last team I have  standing in a small national title pool that we drafted at the Sweet 16. While I'd win some money on them taking home the title, I'll still be rooting against them. Hate the team, the coach, the cheating, and the flawed system that allowed an undeserving team into the NCAA Tournament. Plain and simple, Syracuse did not have a good enough season to play in the tourney. Screw those smug asshats.

+1

[Tugg Speedman]

America's long national nightmare is over .... Syracuse lost.

Remember Syracuse is not a university, it is a criminal organization.