Even in a lost year, there’s still one thing to play for: the conference tournament. Making that is anything but guaranteed.
The 2024-25 season for the Syracuse Orange remains disappointing, but there’s still one way it could get even a tad bit worse — missing out on this year’s ACC Tournament.
The race remains heated with just two weeks left until the regular season concludes and the conference tournament begins. Syracuse enters its Wednesday matchup versus the NC State Wolfpack on a three-game losing streak, sitting in the very last spot of the ACC Tournament.
The bottom of the ACC barrel is not too far behind. The Orange are 11-16 overall and 5-11 in conference play. The next two bubble teams, NC State and Boston College (both 4-12 against the ACC), sit just one game back in the conference standings heading into this week.
- 8th: Pittsburgh (7-9)
- 9th: Georgia Tech (7-9)
- 10th: Virginia Tech (7-9)
- 11th: Florida State (7-10)
- 12th: Virginia (6-10)
- 13th: Notre Dame (6-10)
- 14th: California (5-11)
- 15th: Syracuse (5-11)
- 16th: Boston College (4-12)
- 17th: NC State (4-12)
- 18th: Miami (2-14)
Based on these current standings, it’s hard not to say the matchup versus NC State is kind of in “must win” territory.
Rich Barnes-Imagn Images
One of the few bright spots for the Orange: the three teams below the Orange in the standings, one of which happens to be NC State, are all winless on the road. The Wolfpack are 0-8 away from the Lenovo Center.
The challenge for Syracuse is that its next three games after are sort of a mixed bag.
A road game versus the Hokies, who are surprisingly just 7-7 at home this season, is at least doable and Virginia Tech isn’t that far ahead in the conference standings (currently leading by two games). The Hokies are also the truest of ACC wild cards — just this month, Virginia Tech has split games versus Virginia, scored just 36 points versus Boston College and almost upset SMU (who is fourth in the conference standings as of Tuesday).
Speaking of SMU, that remains the Orange’s toughest remaining opponent left in the regular season. Especially in a road environment, Syracuse will enter the game as an underdog.
That leaves arguably the second-most crucial game the rest of the way for last — a home regular season finale on the night of Saturday, March 8 versus Virginia.
The Cavaliers are just 6-10 versus the ACC this year, only a game ahead of Syracuse. There’s a decent percentage chance this could even be a “win and you’re in” scenario for the Orange.
Something else to consider — who do the other conference tournament bubble teams play to end the year?
- BC: at Stanford, at Cal, versus Clemson, at Pittsburgh
- NC State: at Syracuse, at Georgia Tech, versus Pittsburgh, at Miami
- Cal: versus SMU, versus BC, at Louisville, at Notre Dame
Solely based on paper, NC State could get on the inside track here with three games against beatable opponents (‘Cuse, GT and The U). BC’s slate is probably the toughest with the West Coast trip happening now, then having to play Clemson (top-three in the conference) followed by on the road against versus Pitt. Cal still needs to play Louisville and SMU, but it also gets BC and Notre Dame.
This season has been underwhelming for many fans, but there is at least one thing left to play for.
The only question left to be answered is does Syracuse have enough in the tank.