Syracuse Basketball Blow Shot At Quality Win

When Trevor Cooney gets hot, he’s like a virus, you’ve just got to sweat him out and hope he doesn’t kill you. Step-back threes, step-back twos, spot-up threes, and runners — Cooney was torching them all against the North Carolina Tar Heels on Monday night.

with the Cooney strain early, but they weathered the assault, and it was the Syracuse Orange who looked fatigued in the end.

Syracuse entered Monday ranked 68th in RPI, and desperate for a conceivable quality win on the road. North Carolina turned the ball over frequently, but Syracuse couldn’t consistently take advantage, and squandered a shot at an upset.

North Carolina is now 7-1 in college basketball’s toughest conference top-to-bottom, and barring catastrophic collapse, the Heels will earn an NCAA Tournament bid. Meanwhile, an RPI of 68th and falling stares Syracuse right in the resume. The Orange will get a few more tests, but these contests now carry a lot more pressure after the loss to the Tar Heels.

The Duke Blue Devils (twice), Virginia Cavaliers, Louisville Cardinals, and Notre Dame Fighting Irish — all teams currently ranked higher than North Carolina — await the Orange as hurdles in front of the hopes of Syracuse basketball.

The Orange have eight days to learn how to adapt or prepare to fold. One road game in North Carolina will not decide their season, but it will put long odds on extending it.

There’s a lot of talk about Mike Krzyewski and his unprecedented milestone of 1,000 wins, but very few seem to notice that Jim Boeheim is right there with 962. Who better to figure out this dealt hand than Boeheim? It’ll be tough to fix a thin bench, but not as imposing as improving the inside-out harmony of Trevor Cooney and Rakeem Christmas.

The weapons may be in short supply, but at least they’re potent. It’s a tough road ahead in the ACC, but Syracuse still has the shot, and the shot-makers, to take it head-on.
Jerry Landry is a writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow Jerry on Twitter at @Jerry2Landry, “Like” him on Facebook or add him on Google.