SU Hoops: In or Out?

On February 15, the Syracuse Orange got crushed by the Cincinnati Bearcats in the Carrier Dome. From that point until now (with a short change of heart after the West Virginia game) I've held the belief that SU doesn't deserve to get in the field. I'm not talking about earning a spot with their numbers (record, RPI, SOS, last 10, etc.). I'm talking about playing like one of the 35-40 best teams in the country. We may have beat Cincinnati yesterday, and we probably outplayed them for most of the game, but that was an ugly game. We're still not playing great basketball, and we're not playing to our potential.

It makes me sad, really, because there are guys on the team that are playing well. Guys that deserve to go. In fact, let me tap those guys right now:

Senior
Yes - Gerry McNamara: No-brainer. We all know his story. Gerry isn't a superstar. He was better as a #2 guy. He's a streaky shooter. But he's clutch. He plays hard. He deserves to dance.

Juniors
Yes- Matt Gorman: Red-shirted last year so he'll be back next year. And hooray for that! I've actually gone on the record as saying he should start over Roberts next year. I'd like to formally rescind that now, but his effort off the bench is fantastic.
Yes- Darryl Watkins: His offense has improved a little, but his defense has improved a lot.

No- Demetris Nichols: Started great, but when we needed him, he's fallen short. Lacks confidence in his shot.
No- Terrance Roberts: He has the talent to average a double-double. He hasn't done that.
No- Louie McCroskey: Great rebounder, defender. Possibly the last person on the team I want to have the ball in his hands on offense. Train-wreck.
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Sophomore
Yes- Josh Wright: Maybe I just had lower expectations for him, or I'm blinded by his speed. I'm just pleased with where his game is at this point.

Freshmen
Yes- Eric Devendorf: After Gerry, he's been the most consistent player for us. Still making bad decisions, but he's going to be very good for us. One of the best guards ever, I suspect.
Yes- Arinze Onuaku: Didn't expect much. Got a lot. Like Gorman for Roberts, he'll do a good job of pushing Watkins next year, and will step right into the starting spot two years from now.


Have you ever started writing something then been surprised at how it came out? I thought there were more to blame than those three juniors. But I'm sticking with those answers. I talked a lot about not meeting expectations. I really think we had the talent to be better this year. Didn't you? I consider myself a bit of a Big East expert. Looking only at the Big East standings, and without going into an explanation, let me list the teams by talent this year(Big East standing in parenthesis):

UConn (1)
Villanova (2)
Syracuse (9)
West Virginia (3)
Pittsburgh (4)
Louisville (11)
Cincinnati (8)
Notre Dame (12)
Rutgers (10)
Marquette (6)
Georgetown (5)
Seton Hall (7)
Providence (14)
DePaul (13)
St. John's (15)
South Florida (16)

I'm clearly biased for Syracuse. And I haven't seen Marquette, Providence, or South Florida play. But this whole thing is pretty subjective, so take it as you will. I think JT Jr. did a great job with Georgetown this year (even though I tapped them as the surprise team back in January). Notre Dame lost a ton of close games. And Louisville collapsed after losing Padgett.


Conclusion
We're clearly not playing to expectations, even at this point in the season. A win against UConn today would be the only thing that could change that. We need to win today to deserve get in.

But...I really want all those guys listed above to go to the tournament. Especially Gerry, one last time. So here's my argument for us making the NCAAs if we lose to UConn...
-20 wins off the 6th hardest schedule in the country deserves to play.
-20 wins for a major conference team deserves to play

The committee always rewards tough schedules. Deserve it or not, I think we're in.