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Syracuse, N.Y. – The Syracuse Orange men’s basketball team is 2-0 on the season, but the wins have seemed more like losses to many fans.
Syracuse followed up its 86-82 win over Le Moyne in the season opener with a 74-72 squeaker over Colgate on Tuesday.
The questions coming into the Mailbox indicate a nervous fan base. We might as well get started.
(If you have a question for the Mailbox, email it to [email protected]).
Q: These non-conference games completely (hurt) our resume with the KPI. That’s not just talk, those are facts. We’ve already dropped 50 spots in the KenPom.
Shane D.
Mike: I love questions about Syracuse’s schedule. I’ve been getting them for years, going back to when the phrase “Syracuse won’t leave the state of New York until … ‘’ was first coined.
The main reason I like questions about the schedule is I get to debunk some commonly held beliefs that just aren’t true.
So far, Syracuse has played two games, beating Le Moyne and Colgate by narrow margins.
Syracuse began the season at No. 68 in Ken Pomeroy’s statistics-based rankings. The Orange dropped to No. 86 after barely beating Le Moyne and then plunged to No. 101 after the escape against Colgate.
Note: KenPom.com is different from the KPI referenced in Shane’s question. The KPI was developed by Kevin Pauga, an associate athletic director at Michigan State. The formula ranks teams’ resumes on a game-by-game basis, adjusting the wins and losses on a positive-to-negative scale. The KPI is used by the NCAA in the selection and seeding of teams for the tournament.
In my opinion, Syracuse’s schedule is fine. Everybody plays a few games against teams with low ratings. The key is beating those teams by more than an average of 3.0 points.
And you can’t point to just two games and make a blanket statement about the non-conference schedule. Syracuse has plenty of challenging non-conference games.
The Orange still has games against Texas, Tennessee, Maryland, Georgetown and either Texas Tech or St. Joe’s coming up. Of those, only the Georgetown game is at home.
Q: I’ve read and heard Adrian Autry talk about playing 12 guys. Autry continues to use a ridiculous number of player combinations. I understand the need to play a lot of guys. Are all these combinations helping or hurting the team?
West Coast Cuse
Mike: I don’t think Adrian Autry is using a ridiculous number of lineup combinations. Coaches often use the early part of the season to get a handle on which combinations work well together, which ones can be used in certain situations and which ones won’t work at all.
In Tuesday’s game against Colgate, Autry used 10 players. That’s not extreme. In fact, that’s the same number that Colgate coach Matt Langel played.
Autry wants to play at a faster tempo. In order to do that, he will have to go deeper into his bench than Jim Boeheim did in recent years when the Orange played at a much slower pace.
Q: Syracuse had nine fouls against Colgate. The whole game. And five of those were by one guy! When was the last time, Syracuse committed so few fouls in a game?
Chris F.
Mike: Syracuse did commit just nine fouls in Tuesday’s win over Colgate. That is a pretty low number. But it’s not a record and, in fact, we saw the Orange with fewer fouls in a game just last year.
Syracuse committed just seven fouls in its 69-59 win over Boston College on Jan. 10, 2024 at the dome.
The number of fouls is something to watch. Syracuse committed just 11 fouls in the season opener against Le Moyne. It could be a sign of playing smart defense or it could be indicative of Syracuse’s lack of physicality.
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