Orange Watch: Plenty of intrigue in latest edition of Syracuse v. Georgetown

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Ewing has returned to Georgetown as its head coach
gtown
Ewing has returned to Georgetown as its head coach

Item: Syracuse basketball’s next opponent, Georgetown, is one of only seven unbeaten teams (as of Dec. 12) left in Division I, and off to its best start since 2010-11.

We give new Georgetown coach Patrick Ewing credit for one important early season element; he sure knew how to schedule prior to Big East conference play to build his team’s confidence.

Before the Hoyas (8-0) renew their longtime, now non-conference rivalry hosting Syracuse (8-1) Saturday (12:30 p.m. ET/CBS) at Capital One Arena, GU has faced a soft-as-marshmallow schedule consisting of Jacksonville, Mount St. Mary’s, Maryland Eastern Shore, Richmond (only road game), Maine, Coppin State, Howard and North Carolina A&T (only team with an above .500 record) who have a combined record of 21-62 (as of Dec. 12), and an average RPI of 273 (out of 351 Div. I programs).

» Related: Howard Washington has been a solid defender at the top of Syracuse’s zone

Hardly the competition it seems to fully prepare for the Orange and subsequently the likes of No. 1 Villanova and Top 25 ranked Xavier and Seton Hall in league play.

With Syracuse off to its best start since the school record 25-0 start to begin the 2013-14 season, there’s certainly plenty of intrigue to the 93rd meeting between the old Big East’s all-time greatest rivalry as the Orange are motivated to not only continue growing towards a competitive ACC schedule, but looking to hand Georgetown and Ewing loss number one.

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About Brad Bierman 848 Articles
Now in his sixth decade of covering SU sports, Brad was sports director of WSYR radio for eight years into the early 1990s, then wrote the Orange Watch column for The Big Orange/The Juice print publication for 18 years. A Syracuse University graduate, Brad currently runs his own media consulting business in the Philadelphia suburbs. Follow him on Twitter @BradBierman.