Syracuse Basketball is off to its worst 13-game start in over 50 years! If history tells us anything, this may not be a fun season for the Orange faithful. In that 1969-1970 season, ‘Cuse began the year 6-7 and finished 15-22 overall comes season’s end. Unless this defense gets fixed and the ship is righted soon, this may be a historically bad year for Jim Boeheim and Company.
Now history alone isn’t much to base an argument on so we did what any college basketball fanatic would do… go to KenPom. Now it may still be far to early to tell what this SU team could be in say mid-February but this isn’t a very promising start. As of right now, Syracuse is 7-6, 1-1 in the ACC and really doesn’t have much of a tournament resume. KenPom thinks that will remain the same come March.
The database projects ‘Cuse to finish 15-15 overall and 9-10 in the ACC. For a year in which the conference is wide open, being sub-.500 is a massive disappointment. Of the Orange’s 17 remaining contests, six of those are below 40% win probability, according to KenPom. How much of a chance does Syracuse have against Duke? Oh, 10%.
The projected wins are Pittsburgh (x2), Wake Forest, NC State, Louisville, Boston College (x2), and Miami. Now there are definitely some toss ups in there in which the win probability is between 40% and 50%. Those games include SU’s next matchup @ Miami (43%), vs Florida State (49%), and vs Clemson (48%). These are a trio of games that Syracuse MUST win if it has tournament aspirations.
We don’t want to alarm you with this projection but Syracuse certainly hasn’t lit the world on fire and inspired any confidence through non-conference and early ACC PLAY. This record prediction is more of a worst case scenario for SU in 2022 but if things don’t change soon, this crystal ball will become a reality.
The Orange have a grade-A chance to build momentum with a toss-up win on the road in Coral Gables Wednesday night.
