Hopes and Fears

The local reaction to the Pitt loss was interesting. "Nobody's perfect" was the headline for the Post-Standard, and most Syracuseans seemed to share my dad's point of view that, "a loss is good for them in the long run."

Meanwhile, with no other sports on TV the past couple nights, (What? The BCS? Isn't that the thing where college football teams play meaningless exhibition games?) I've had plenty of time to develop a more cynical attitude towards the Orange. Isn't it possible we're over-rating the big-name wins so far this season? UNC, who just lost to College of Charleston (without Marcus Ginyard), is relying on a PG named Larry Drew II, or as I call him "Larry Drew Two." Florida followed their defeat against the Orange with losses against Richmond (neutral) and South Alabama (home). And Cal might be the 5th best team in a horrible Pac-10.

Pittsburgh followed up their upset with a nice road win at Cincy. The Panthers are good: like, top-15 good. Plus, as I noted, Jamie Dixon's system just seemed to work against Boeheim.

However, tonight's game is a key test. If Syracuse is really as good as we thought they might possibly could just maybe be, Memphis should be no problem, even at home. So, instead of writing a reaction to tonight's game, I'm going to tell you the three things we could learn from tonight's result:

1. If Syracuse wins big, like those early big-name wins, then they still have the title-contender potential we thought they have.
2. If Syracuse wins a tough one, we need to temper our expectations and expect a healthy dose of losses in the Big East schedule.
3. If Syracuse loses, this is either a continuing doldrum situashe* that will test the Orange's character and "be good for them in the long run," or a wake-up call that Syracuse is really just a well-balanced, yet streaky top-25 team.

Bottom line: I'm worried.



*Short for situation, in case you didn't know...