Written by Penn Weinberger at The Sports Quotient
As of Nov. 30, the Syracuse Orange are ranked for the first time since the 2013-14 season. Following a historic run two years ago, where the Orange rattled off 25 straight wins and were ranked No. 1 overall, they have left fans disappointed. An early March Madness exit and not securing a berth due to NCAA sanctions (they wouldn’t have made it anyway) during the following season had fans giving up hope.
But Syracuse is finally relevant again, coming in at No. 14 in the newest Associated Press Top 25 rankings. It’s too early to call the season a success, but this youngster-led team has forced many to view them as underrated and mistakenly forgotten in the preseason.
The Orange are, simply put, doing everything better this year, minus the interior presence vacated by Rakeem Christmas and Chris McCullough. They are playing better team ball and overall look much stronger on the court. The improved play and positional switch of Michael Gbinije to point guard has worked very well for a team that struggled with guard play all of last season.
Additionally, of the two new Syracuse recruits from 2014-15, one got injured and the other turned out to be a bust. McCullough bolted for the NBA, while Kaleb Joseph now finds himself buried on the depth chart, receiving only 8.5 minutes per game compared to 27.3 last season.
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