The ACC schedule is winding down with every team having just one or two games remaining in the 2017 season. Syracuse sits ninth in the ACC, meaning that if the season ended today the Orange would be playing their first ACC tournament game Wednesday at noon against the eight seed, which is currently Virginia. The Orange still have a chance, albeit a somewhat slim one, of moving up to seventh place. Surely every Syracuse fan is rooting for this so the Orange can get, in theory, an easier path to a deep run. Not to mention, it would give Syracuse fans who are planning on attending the ACC tournament an extra seven hours to get to the Barclays Center.
Last night did Syracuse no favors in their pursuit of a higher seed in the ACC tournament. Virginia upset North Carolina in Charlottesville and now, in order for the Orange to jump the Wahoos, Pitt has to upset UVA on the road on Saturday. Unlikely.
A path still remains however. Including Virginia, Syracuse can still leapfrog three teams and they have to jump two of them. The other two are Miami and, believe it or not, Duke. The Orange need to beat Georgia Tech on Saturday and have one of those three teams lose out. Duke has a tough road ahead and it begins tonight. They host Florida State tonight and they may be without Grayson Allen and Amile Jefferson. Then the Dookies have to travel down Tobacco Road to play UNC on the last day of the season. Good luck with that. If these results go Syracuse’s way there would either be a three or four way tie in the ACC, depending on the result of Virginia Tech’s home game against Wake Forest. Syracuse has beaten Duke, Miami and Virginia this year and would jump them in the standings based on the tiebreaker of head-to-head record between the tied teams.
Miami did the Orange a favor last night when they lost on the road to Virginia Tech. The Orange would also need them to drop their last game of the season. Fortunately for Syracuse fans, their last game is on the road, in Tallahassee, against Florida State who are one of the best teams in the country on their own floor. In short, Syracuse fans should be doing the tomahawk chop and saying “Let’s Go ‘Noles” this week.
Be sure to follow @OrangeFizz on Twitter for live updates from the ACC Tournament, starting either March 7th or March 8th. 
