Rachel is currently a Digital Production Assistant at ESPN. She has previously interned at SportsNet New York and has contributed to Dime Magazine and covered beats ranging from Big East basketball to men’s soccer for The Daily Orange. She is originally from Maryland. Follow her on Twitter @rachelnmarcus.
So football can do its thing. I’ll still watch. But as the weather drops more, half of my brain will drift over to basketball. That’s where the party really starts.
Villanova, Bye, Central Michigan, Maryland. Four weeks. Three games. Three must-wins for the Syracuse football team. Why? Because the next three games are against Notre Dame, Louisville and Florida State.
This isn’t just Year 2 in the ACC. Terrel Hunt is in Year 2. That is supposed to be better than Year 1. Scott Shafer is in Year 2, too. Consistency and familiarity will be key. The Orange must pick up on the momentum of last year’s bowl win.
Let’s take a look at expectations versus reality for recent Syracuse draft picks. Two years ago I looked back at recent picks, so it’ll be interesting to see what’s changed since.
I recently was part of a conversation regarding college basketball venues. The general consensus among my peers seemed to indicate that arenas like Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium and Kansas’ Allen Fieldhouse were the best arenas. They’re cozy, loud, and full of antiquated history.
As a freshman during the 2009-2010 Syracuse basketball season, the Orange ascended to the No. 1 ranking in March, a culmination of a season spent emerging from the ranks of the unranked.
There appears to be a regular pattern now. Every time Syracuse basketball loses a significant portion of its team, it somehow manages to get better the next season. Lose a couple NBA draft picks? No worries, the Orange will just have other players step up.