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Recruiting rankings and services can obviously be misleading, and reputation and loose information can often fuel the numbers. So it’s important to remember great classes don’t always correlate to success, and poor ones don’t entirely equate to losing seasons. But right now Syracuse’s recruiting class sits at 63rd in the nation, according to 247Sports.com.

This puts the Orange right behind two other academically elite, basketball strong, but football shaky schools: Northwestern (61) and Duke (62). In the recruiting mix with the Wildcats and Blue Devils is not where any SU fan wants to be, but probably understandable.

Looking for the bright side? Syracuse actually ranks ahead of Boston College (65), Nebraska (66), UConn (67) and Kansas State (80). But if we go inside the numbers, Syracuse has 21 total commits (zero 4-star commits, 11 3-star), while for example the powerful Huskers have only 11 commits, but more than half are 4-stars (6).

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The rankings will continue to move until National Signing Day on Feb. 1st, and if Syracuse manages to finish in the Top 50 nationally, that should be considered another step forward for the program. SU did not help itself by losing the final five games of the season and missing a bowl game. The buzz from last offseason has quieted to a murmur this January. But the good news is late scholarships have opened with the losses of Chandler Jones, Dorian Graham, Philip Thomas and Adam Harris.

The Big East’s best rankings come from West Virginia (27) and Rutgers (28), which both have at least two 4-star kids. Pitt (33), Cincinnati (39) Louisville (45) and USF (50) all also stand higher than SU. The interesting (or terrifying) dynamic is when you start factoring in Syracuse’s new conference.

The ACC places four schools in the Top 15: Florida State (9), Clemson (11), Miami (12), and Virginia (14). It also owns 10 schools ahead of the Orange. But there is a chicken-or-the-egg question. Will Syracuse be submarined by better football schools on the recruiting trail in the ACC? Or will being in a stronger conference help recruit better talent? The Fizz believes it will be more the latter.

Sugar Bear Thompson, George Morris and (hopefully) Ashton Broyld are all exciting additions for SU. Devante McFarlane and potentially Wayne Morgan proves the Orange is culling the New York City region successfully. And the ability to improve the class with those late scholarships increases the potential for NSD.

These rankings are also only a rough barometer of the types of athletes each school is bringing in. It doesn’t take into account a million other intangibles which decide college football success. But Doug Marrone is looking at one of the lowest rated classes in the Big East, not to mention his future conference, the ACC. Time for a late push by the Orange.

Posted: D.A.

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With Bernie Fine controversy swirling around campus the last few weeks, it’s somewhat amazing we can even have this conversation. The play of the Orange has been sharp, and the team continues to downplay the possibility of distractions. Give The Per’fesser credit. He has not allowed the outside circus to swallow his team, and it’s evident SU is taking the right approach when hearing the athletes speak. The Fizz talked with players after the game, and everyone seemed to have the right mindset heading forward. Brandon Triche says the rankings don’t matter, it’s still just business as usual.

“It doesn’t really mean anything. We’re just trying to get better every game, and being #1 doesn’t really mean nothing. [In 09-10] we were #1, and then lost two games in a row. We just want to play our best basketball, and we know we need to get better.”

This is the best SU has played as one cohesive unit for quite some time, but the challenges continue this weekend. Expect an even more physical and aggressive team Saturday when it heads down to face NC State. How will this team play with big red X on its back? Kris Joseph told The Fizz their place in the polls won’t affect this team.

“It won’t change the way we play basketball. We won’t do anything differently. Why change what we’ve been doing? We are just going to have to improve on the things we have been doing, and get sharper on a few things, and we’ll be fine.”

This squad tapered off down the stretch of the ’09-’10 season after elevating to the #1 spot in the nation. But this year’s edition has been laser focused on the task at hand, maybe because of the national media crush that rocked the campus. Dion Waiters echoed to The Fizz, rankings don’t mean much.

“It’s great just to know all the hard work we put in, but it’s just a number aside our name. We’re playing great and we’re still undefeated. We still got ways to get better and more mature as a team also.”

When Dion is espousing maturation, you know its a special season. This is the mindset that will work best for this team. Don’t focus on the number, just win games. Syracuse is on the verge of owning the top spot in America, and appears perfectly prepared to handle the bullseye that comes with it.

Posted: Kevin Fitzgerald

Photo Credit: Kevin Rivoli/AP

99. Scoop Jardine, Syracuse (Jr., PG)

“There are a lot of people who think Scoop has an overconfidence problem. Regardless of the validity of that assertion, Jardine is one of the better passers in the country and is a reasonably efficient scorer, even when taking on a heavy load in the Orange offense.”

This analysis is pretty accurate, but the words “reasonably efficient scorer” punch you in the face so hard you feel like Uzzy. Jardine’s numbers dropped off significantly last year in the efficiency realm.

PPM = Points per minute
**PPS = Points per shot

Yes, he carried a large offensive load because no one else seemingly wanted to shoot and a lot more responsibility as the starting point guard, but 2010-11 Scoop was nothing remotely close to efficient when it came to scoring. These are simple stats, without the need for advanced metrics to prove that. Not to mention anyone with two working eyeballs knew Scoop forced as many shots as anyone. Additionally, many of them were bad shots early in the shot clock.

Then there is Dion.

74. Dion Waiters, Syracuse (So., SG)

“Per possession, Waiters’ season was almost identical to teammate Brandon Triche’s, but Waiters is a year younger and forced a bunch of extra turnovers on the defensive end. I wouldn’t be remotely surprised to look back at the end of 2012 and see Waiters as the Orange’s best player.”

As an unabashed Brandon Triche fan and someone who’s called Triche the best NBA prospect on the team, my first instinct was to laugh hysterically. It’s not that Dion is bad and he was the best Orange player by far against Marquette, however the idea his stats could go possession for possession with Triche was laughable to me.

And then I looked it up.

You could make the argument Waiters is actually better than Triche. What?!?! Yup. But wait there’s more.

What the writer is missing is what we can call “the Scoop theory” (see above). Part of the reason Jardine’s numbers were better two years ago than in 2010-11 is that he actually had less of a sample size to work with, not to mention playing worse competition. Scoop would come in and his mission was to be instant offense against an inferior backup guard. This is exactly what Dion did last year while Triche played starter’s minutes against starting guards. Switch the roles and you switch the numbers.

The one laughable implication is that Waiters is a better defender. Both of them are terrible, but if you are picking the lesser of two evils, it’s Triche. Dion is the guy Boeheim benched for his defense (whether you believe that or not is irrelevant. His defense is bad enough that the story was believable) in mid-January.

Waiters showed doubters plenty of looks during the Marquette game that are rare from a young guard. He made good decisions, took smart shots and attacked the rim with a quickness we hadn’t seen all year. If he can (now that he’s staying on the team and all) take that into the 2011-2012 season, his critics may have to change their tune. Waiters, not Triche (or Kris Joseph or Fab Melo) might just be the best pro prospect and player on the Orange.

The one thing all these numbers don’t look at, though, is what doesn’t show up in the box. Both players want the ball in their hands late, are comfortable late in games because and make their free throws (the only two guys on SU you can say that about). The difference comes in attitude. The blowups with Dion are well documented while Triche is as trouble free as they come (if you discount Twitter…#smh). Scoop is no doubt the leader of the Orange and for Syracuse to be successful Joseph is going to have to grow into the player everyone waited for last year. However if either Triche or Waiters grows into a dominant player, the Orange could live up to their pre-season love.

After the tumultous off-season The Per’fesser’s squad has had, they’d take any sort of pleasant surprise.

Posted: Craig Hoffman

Jim McIsaac/Getty Images

Posted: D.A.

The BBC of sports blogs, Bleacher Report, has listed the Big East football coaches in order of “onions” and made us all question the intellect of the blogosphere while doing it.

This could be a “me” problem. Somehow, I’m looking for educated reason behind the rankings. What I’m getting is a sloppy blog list created to lazily draw some readers in the middle of the summer. Excuse me while I go back to getting my sports debates from the Deadspin reader comments.

For the record, Greg Schiano and Randy Edsall ranked 1-2. Seems more appropriate to simply list these two as the biggest d*cks in the league. But guts? The reason Rutgers’ head coach was atop the list was a recruiting visit in which Schiano used a helicopter.

“Yep the man with the biggest onions literally landed on the roof of the school. Whether he does it for transportation purposes, or because it makes an impact on recruits, this move by Schiano puts his at the top of the list.”

(Sigh.) So if Steve Kragthorpe jumped off a Duck Boat, he’d be in the Top-3? Why am I even still writing? Edsall comes in second, since he “gave Notre Dame an ultimatum” about joining the Big 10. Oy. If Edsall was offered the Irish job, he would’ve sold his children to the Uzbekistan slave trade this afternoon to pay his buyout clause.

That renegade Butch Jones is listed third – merely because he threw the football a lot in the MAC. (I suppose this makes Mouse Davis Clint Eastwood).

The most entertaining rationale behind the rankings is Charlie Strong, Louisville’s new head coach, coming in at four. Why? Because he once was an assistant under Urban Meyer – and by simple osmosis, he must have guts. In other news, Seal has evolved into a six-foot, blonde, German supermodel since he’s married to Heidi Klum. Thanks for the insightful commentary BR.

The bumbling Dave Wannstadt is fifth. Joke. The boisterous, yet completely unproven Skip Holtz at sixth. Bigger joke. And the Orange’s leader Doug Marrone comes in seventh, just ahead of the piddling Bill Steawart.

First, Marrone waxed half of the roster before coaching his first game last summer. Dougy also waved goodbye to the most talented player on his depth chart in Mike Williams midway through the season. He handed the quarterback reigns to an ACC point guard. He has looked Orange Nation in the eyes and admitted the program failed it the past five years.

I’ll go ahead and pull a lever for Marrone being respected just a little more for his onions. Of course, by doing this I’m admitting I did a little research before casting a vote – which apparently makes me ineligible for the ballot.

Along with Dick Weiss (pictured) of the New York Daily News, Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News becomes the second to so boldly have Syracuse jump to the top of their polls.

On his blog Wilner writes, “As with my football rankings, the emphasis is on strength of schedule and quality wins/losses.”

And in a nutshell that explains how Syracuse got to #1 with wins on the road over Cal, North Carolina and Florida.

However Wilner draws special attention because of a mistake he made last year in sending a ballot with a typo. The poll he sent to the AP after Syracuse beat Memphis did not have the Orange on it, when he meant to list them at #17.

Fear not ‘Cuse fans, this is not Wilner’s version of a Dick Bavetta make up call:

“No, no I’ve probably forgotten about what happened since last year. I’ve done a lot of polls since then – I’ve done half a season’s worth of basketball polls, an entire season worth of football. I can’t possibly remember one week to the next.”

Back then, Wilner says he had Syracuse ranked the week before and after, so it was just an error of omission.

As for whether or not recruits can be swayed by rankings:

“I can’t believe that would be the case. I would hope the players would take a lot more into account than where one team is ranked one week compared to another team. In an ideal world the rankings wouldn’t play any role in where high school players go. They would pick their school based on the location, the relationship with the coach, the academic offerings.”

But he did add that if certain schools stay in the top of the rankings consistently, it can be used as a tool to help sway players. The more a team gets ranked high in the polls, the more they’ll be on television.

The Fizz does give Wilner big time props for having seen the Gait brothers play in person too. Although he won’t be back to buy anyone ribs at Dinosaur anytime soon, he did know his Syracuse history.

Maybe he’s onto something with this #1 ranking.

Temple’s upset of Villanova opens the door for the Orange to enter Top-5 territory.

Ironically, this isn’t great for the Big East, which has been absolutely stunning in the preseason. But as a Syracuse fan you love it, because saying your team is Top-5 is at least five times better than saying your team is Top-10.

Does it help recruiting though? Absolutely!

Top-5 teams simply get more coverage than those in the Top-15 or Top-25. Even in the Top-10, Syracuse still manages to end up on the front page of SI.com when they crush lowly St. Francis.

How does it translate? Check out the Rivals Team Recruiting Rankings for 2010.

1. Memphis

2. Ohio State

3. North Carolina

4. Tennessee

5. Syracuse

Now let’s check out the latest A.P. poll.

Four of the five are in the Top-15, two are Top-10, and Memphis is the only team unranked (though they sit at 26th, unofficially).

That right there is a case study. The more exposure, the better your recruiting odds are. If only Tobias Harris had seen the Carolina game before announcing.