There are only nine games left in the regular season for Syracuse to polish up its NCAA resume. Since last week, Syracuse has added two solid wins to its resume, both “Quad 2” wins over Pittsburgh and Boston College on the road.
Initially, the Pitt win counted as a Quad 1 win since the Panthers were ranked 69th at the time in the NET rankings, and a Quad 1 win is awarded to a road win over a top 75 NET team. But Pitt has since dropped to 81, sliding SU’s road win back to a Quad 2 win and its home win over them earlier in January to a Quad 3 win.
The Orange is also making some noise in the polls. Though SU is still outside the top 25, they are in the “receiving votes” category, checking in with three votes, which would place them 33rd overall.
In other metrics, Syracuse was ranked 49th in the NET rankings last Tuesday, and with the two road wins is now up to 42. Here’s the remainder of what SU’s NCAA resume looks like:
- NET: 42 (+7)
- BPI: 31 (+3)
- SOS: 59 (No Change)
- SOR: 36 (+10)
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In terms of the quadrant wins, Syracuse’s win/loss record breaks down like this:
- Quad 1: 2-2
- Quad 2: 3-2
- Quad 3: 7-2
- Quad 4: 5-0
Between now and the next time we run back through our resume analysis next week, Syracuse will play a Quad 2 game, hosting No. 22 Florida State (31 NET) at home, and then on Saturday, a Quad 3 game against Boston College (135).
Florida State could wind up being a Quad 1 win at the end of the season. A Quad 1 win is awarded for a home game if the NET ranking of the opposing team is in the top 30. So the Seminoles fall one rank short of that, but there’s plenty of season left for them to move back into Quad 1.
The Quad 2 and 3 wins have made a small dent in terms of Syracuse’s latest projections in the bracketologies. Last week, I mostly saw Syracuse on the 9 line. Many of the projections this week have moved the Orange into the 8s:
- SB Nation: No. 8 Seed
- ESPN: No. 9 Seed (West) v. No. 8 Seed Oklahoma
- USA Today: No. 8 Seed (West) v. No. 9 Seed Washington
- CBS Sports: No. 8 Seed (South) v. No. 9 Seed St. John’s
- Fox Sports: No. 8 Seed (West) v. No. 9 Seed Texas
- Bracket Matrix: Average Ranking 9.21
Obviously, the potential matchup against Washington in the first round is the most intriguing possibility. The Huskies are currently the first team outside of the top 25, so they are in the same area as Syracuse. CBS Sports’ projection of an old school Big East matchup with a resurgent St. John’s program could be interesting as well.
A win over a ranked Florida State team could move Syracuse up in projections in the next week. We’ll have to see how it plays out in the meantime.
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