Preview: No. 3 Syracuse vs. No. 14 Indiana State

The Orange are in Cleveland for this weekend of the NCAA Tournament, making them the best team in the city (sorry Cavs fans; your team has played 34 more games but has only half as many wins). Syracuse is the three seed in the East region, so it will take on No. 14 Indiana State. (9:57 PM ET, TruTV).

Significance: Win or go home. Self-explanatory. Also, the sooner Indiana State goes home, the sooner we stop seeing highlights of Larry Bird and the 1979 Indiana State team playing in short shorts.

Three Pointers:

1. Indiana State's offense vs. Syracuse's defense: As Kris Joseph so eloquently described, the Sycamores have some shooters. They are below-average from the field, hitting 43% of their shots, but a respectable 36.3% from three. If the zone defense can keep Indiana State from hitting a lot of threes, this should be an easy game for Syracuse.
2. Syracuse has a big advantage: Literally. The Sycamores don't have anyone over 6'8", which points to a huge day for Rick Jackson down low. Hopefully Fab Melo and Baye Moussa Keita can use that to their advantage as well.
3. Start and finish strong: The Orange want to avoid an early deficit, and put Indiana State away in the second half when they get the chance. If they fail to do so, they could suffer the same fate as Louisville.

Prediction: Indiana State will probably hang around for a while and keep the game interesting. The Orange might not blow them out, but they should win comfortably.

Syracuse 72, Indiana State 58

Ponderism: What if Jimmer Wore Orange?

Last night was another average night for BYU's Jimmer Fredette; he scored 32 points to lead the Cougars in their round of 64 win over No. 14 Wofford.

Fredette has played basketball for the past four years at BYU in Provo, Utah. Right now he's in Denver trying to lead the Cougars to the Sweet 16 in New Orleans.

But the Jimmer hails from Glens Falls, NY, just a three hour drive from Syracuse. In fact, four years ago Syracuse looked at the Jimmer, but didn't bite:

"I looked at Syracuse a little bit, and they looked at me a little bit. But they had Scoop Jardine and Jonny Flynn coming in the same year I was and were pretty much set."

The Orange let the Jimmer get away (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

It's somewhat depressing to think the Orange could've had the nation's leading scorer and top candidate for player of the year. Don't get me wrong, Scoop Jardine has been very good at Syracuse. But he hasn't earned the nicknames "Scoopid" and "Scoop being Scoop" for nothing.

Imagine this year's team, but with Jimmer Fredette instead of Scoop Jardine. Brandon Triche would play the point guard role he did last year. The burden to lead the team would be lessened for Rick Jackson and Kris Joseph.

Dion Waiters, who loves to chuck threes, could learn from one of the best shooters in the game. And the Carrier Dome would always be buzzing, just waiting to explode from one of those trademark long range bombs.

Instead, Jimmer Fredette is at BYU and the Syracuse Orange live and die with Scoop Jardine. The only way Syracuse could meet the Jimmer again is if they faced off in this year's national championship game.

Sigh.

Kris Joseph Provides Sycamores Fuel with "White Boys" Remark

We're all told to be polite to strangers (not the sketchy guy in the van selling candy...you know what I mean), but it appears Kris Joseph doesn't abide by those same guidelines.

When asked for his initial reaction to hearing Syracuse's opponent is Indiana State, Joseph was far from being politically correct:



Joseph described the Sycamores as "a bunch of white boys that could shoot," saying "I knew they weren't a team full of athletes."

To be fair, as you can see in their response, some of Indiana State's players are in fact white. And saying they can shoot is a compliment (and they can; the Sycamores shoot 36.3% from three). But to their team lacks athletes is belittling them.

Yet just seconds later, Kris Joseph said they should "not look past anyone in this tournament." Hmmm. Sounds a little hypocritical.

I wonder what Joseph will hear from Indiana State should any of those "white boys" start hitting shots.

NCAA Tournament Day One Late Games Recap

The Big East was represented well, finishing 4-2 on the first (real) day of the 2011 NCAA Tournament.

Earlier, Pittsburgh and West Virginia both won, but Louisville was upset by Morehead State. Tonight, No. 6 Cincinnati beat No. 11 Missouri, 78-63, setting up a game against No. 3 Connecticut, which handled No. 14 Bucknell easily, winning 81-52.

No. 6 St. John's was not as fortunate. The Johnnies are going home already after losing to No. 11 Gonzaga 86-71.

Other notable winners tonight included No. 5 Kansas State and No. 7 UCLA, both of which fought off comeback attempts by their respective opponents. In a game that appeared it would never end, the Wildcats downed No. 12 Utah State, 73-68. And the Bruins held on against No. 10 Michigan State, 70-68.

For the latest updates, check the live bracket of this year's NCAA Tournament.

NCAA Tournament Update: Buzzer Beaters Abound on "First" Day of March Madness

Just half of today's games are completed and already we've seen four buzzer beaters and two upsets.

The first game winner came when No. 8 Butler's Matt Howard scored on a put back to give last year's Cinderella a 60-58 win over No. 9 Old Dominion.

Louisville was the first giant to fall. Morehead State's Demonte Harper hit a three with less than seven seconds left to give the 13th seeded Eagles a 62-61 victory against the No. 4 Cardinals.

Brandon Knight saved the Bluegrass State from a total meltdown, hitting a game winner, his only field goal of the game, against No. 13 Princeton, giving No. 4 Kentucky the 59-57 win.

Penn State's Talor Battle hit a deep three to tie the score against No. 7 Temple, but the Owls' Juan Fernandez hit a leaner at the buzzer, sealing the 66-64 win over the 10th seeded Nittany Lions.

Richmond pulled off the classic 12 over 5 upset, beating Vanderbilt 69-66 thanks to a late floater by Kevin Anderson.

The Big East saw two of its teams advance. No. 5 West Virginia beat No. 12 Clemson 84-76, and the top seeded Pitt Panthers handled No. 16 UNC-Ashville, 74-51.

Elsewhere in the Big East, No. 3 Connecticut is already underway against No. 14 Bucknell. Later tonight No. 6 St. John's will play No. 11 Gonzaga and No. 6 Cincinnati will take on No. 11 Missouri.

Breaking Down the Orange Brick Road

When the brackets were announced, I gave a brief overview of how far Syracuse could advance in the NCAA Tournament. Now let's delve a little deeper and look at some possible match ups round by round:

Round of 64 (which is what I will call it because calling it the second round just sounds stupid):

No. 14 Indiana State (20-13,12-6): The Sycamores were the 3 seed in the Missouri Valley Tournament but beat both teams above them, Wichita State and Missouri State, to secure an automatic bid. Indiana State does a solid job on defense, allowing 64.1 ppg, but they don't have enough offense to score against Syracuse's 2-3 zone.

Round of 32:

No. 11 Marquette (20-14, 9-9): The Golden Eagles can fill up the basket (76.1 ppg) but have really let down on defense in the second half of the season, giving up 77.9 ppg since Big East play began. On paper Syracuse is better, but the Golden Eagles beat the Orange before and they can do it again.

No. 6 Xavier (24-7, 15-1): We all know about Tu Holloway (20.2 ppg, 5.5 apg, 5.1 rpg) but the Musketeers have three others averaging over ten per game. This is a scary match up for the Orange, but I think they could pull through by winning the rebound and turnover battles.

Tu Holloway and Xavier could send the Orange home prematurely (Jeff Roberson/AP)

Syracuse a 3 Seed in the East Region

The 2011 NCAA Tournament field has been announced. It may be a surprise to some, but the Orange are the No. 3 team in the East Region. They will begin playing Friday in Cleveland against No. 14 Indiana State.

Should Syracuse win its first two games, the team will go on to Newark for the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight. And if they win the regional, the Final Four in Houston awaits.

So, what are Syracuse's chances of dancing from March into April? Let's see:

Best case scenario: The Orange handle the Sycamores easily, and get revenge against No. 11 Marquette, which beat Syracuse in January. In the Sweet 16, Jim Boeheim beats Roy Williams like he did the '03 title game as Syracuse downs No. 2 North Carolina to advance to the Elite Eight. The Orange punch their ticket to Houston by beating another storied program, No. 4 Kentucky, fresh off an upset win over No. 1 Ohio State.

We could see a finish like Hakim Warrick's sophomore season... (Stephen D. Cannerelli/The Post-Standard)

Worst case scenario: The Orange fail to get out Cleveland as the Ghost of Larry Bird wills Indiana State to victory and Syracuse loses to a 14 seed once again. Either that, or they fall to the Golden Eagles in the next round.

...or like Warrick's senior season (Dennis Nett/The Post-Standard)

Somewhere in the middle: Syracuse gets to Newark to face the UNC. The teams are evenly matched but the Orange catch a few bad breaks and can't hit free throws, falling to coach Williams and the Heels in the Sweet 16.