My many reactions to Syracuse’s Men’s Basketball trip to the Final Four
In case you have been living under a rock for the past two weeks, the Syracuse men’s basketball team has made it to the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament. Let’s recap how they got here and see my reactions of each game as told by memes (and maybe a gif.)
Regular Season:
The men’s team ended the regular season 19–13 and on a two game losing streak. They ended up 9–9 in conference play and lost in the first round of the ACC tournamet. Seeing them lose in the first round of the ACC tournament left me little hope that they would do well in the NCAA Tournament. They were considered a team on the bubble for even making the tournament this year. I had a feeling they would make the tournament just because they are Syracuse but I also had a feeling of doubt. Well my feeling of doubt went away when I saw that Syracuse officially made the tournament….as a tenth seed. I didn’t expect them at all to make it to the Final Four….
Round #1: #10 Syracuse vs. #7 Dayton
Seeing that Syracuse lost against Dayton in the 2013–2014 NCAA Tournament, 55–53, I expected Syracuse to win this game. Coming from personal experience, I know that when I played sports in high school, when my team lost a close game, we wanted to beat that team the next time we played them. I was hoping Syracuse would have that same mentality, which they did, winning this game 70–51.
Round #2: #10 Syracuse vs. #15 Middle Tennessee
Middle Tennessee came into this game with a lot of momentum with just beating #2 Michigan State. That worried me, but I had hope for Syracuse. They were going against a fifteen seeded team… They should beat them, and they did, 75–50.
Sweet Sixteen: #10 Syracuse vs. #11 Gonzaga
Seeing how Syracuse has blown out the last two teams really made me confident in the team going into this game, but I still didn’t think they would make it to the Final Four. This game turned out to be a lot closer than Syracuse fans (like myself) expected… Syracuse, more than once, had to go on runs to take back the lead. To win the game, Syracuse went on a 9–3 run in the last three minutes of the game and ended up winning 63–60.
Elite Eight: #10 Syracuse vs. #1 Virgina
This was it. This was the game that I thought Syracuse’s Cinderella stroy would come to an end. Up to this point, Virgina was 29–7, Syracuse was 22–13. I lost all hope at halftime when Syracuse was down 35-21. In the second half, Syracuse would go on a very big run… I had a horrible gut feeling all of the second half. It didn’t help that the stat of “Virgina is 69–0 when leading in the second half” kept getting mentioned. But good ole Syracuse had to come back and go on a 25–4 run to win the game, 68–62. When the game ended, I couldn’t believe what I had just. I also couldn’t believe that Syracuse was now going to be in the Final Four.
Final Four: #10 Syracuse vs. #1 UNC
So here we are now, the Final Four. Syracuse, the first number ten seed to ever make it to the Final Four will now face number one UNC. Will they win? We will find out Saturday.
