The Cinderella Story is Syracuse's Mojo This March

The worst RPI in the entire NCAA Tournament. 8-10 record against Top 100 schools. 5-5 in their last 10 regular season games. First round exit in the ACC Tournament. Syracuse should not have gotten into the NCAA Tournament.

That’s all you heard by each and every college basketball spectator on Selection Sunday when the Syracuse Orangemen were selected as a #10 seed in the Midwest bracket. Even Syracuse fans made it known that they didn’t believe their team deserved to be in the tournament.

But here they are. The 10 seeded, Syracuse Orangemen, headed to the Elite Eight as hands down the most Cinderella team in the NCAA Tournament. Not even 11 seeded Gonzaga was supposed to lose to the Orange. Not even Gonzaga. It’s beautiful. Not a soul in the world gives them a chance and they continue to prove every soul wrong. Even if they’re probably the most successful Cinderella story of all time, they’re still a Cinderella story and everyone loves it.

As Michigan State’s head coach, Tom Izzo, once said, “We build teams for March.” Well, this team is built for March. Hopefully. Because it sure wasn’t made for any other month.

After a strong 6-0 start to the season, before losing head coach, Jim Boeheim, for the first nine ACC games of the season, Syracuse fell into a pit of doom for the rest of the season. It was like they didn’t know how to play basketball anymore. All the juice was gone. They were hands down one of the worst Syracuse teams in recent years.

None of this had to do with their players, though. Guys like Trevor Cooney, Michael Gbinije, Tyler Roberson, and the rest of the Syracuse squad make up one of the most talented rosters in the NCAA. But for some unknown reason, they couldn’t play this season until March.

Who cares about the past though? Complaining about the seeding of the NCAA Tournament, who got in, and who didn’t, just like we do every year, isn’t going to change anything. Syracuse is in the Tournament, whether you want them to be or not.

Enough of the past talk though. It’s not Selection Sunday anymore, it’s the Elite Eight, a time where most of the Cinderellas are gone and the true talent have emerged great once again. Why Syracuse is still here, many question, but if you look at them, the answer is in the play.

As mentioned earlier, the team is full of talented players. Of course, Boeheim is one of the greatest coaches in college basketball history. And, let’s not forget that anything can happen in March. Ok, ok, maybe the fact that they had to play Middle Tennessee State in the Round of 32 instead of Michigan State helped a little, but if you didn’t count upsets as victories in March Madness, then my bracket would be perfect year after year, Butler would’ve never made it to the Championship, and no one would have any idea who George Mason University was. As far as underdogs go, Syracuse isn’t a George Mason, but they’re still looked down upon. It seems strange or wrong to consider Syracuse basketball a Cinderella story, but what do we do if they end up in the Final Four as a 10 seed?

This team is exactly what they want to be. They weren’t good as a big name, they didn’t do well as the bad team, and so they now have become the Cinderella, giving them all the attention, but none of the responsibility. They don’t have to go out and win because no one expects them to, but they still have all the cameras around. That’s what makes them so scary. You combine a truly talented team with no pressure to succeed and all the hype they thrive off of as a big school, and you have a dangerous Tournament team.

Jim Boeheim said it best after their victory over Gonzaga, “You took it from them.”

That’s what Syracuse is thriving from, taking victories. Even though Virginia is a totally different story then Gonzaga, it’ll be hard to see Syracuse come out like they need to win.

If they don’t, watch out NCAA.