The win over Georgia Tech was big for a number of reasons. There are NCAA tournament implications. The win gave the Orange a bye in the ACC Tournament, and allowed them to finish 8th in the ACC. But also, as Danny Schayes and I talked about on Burdick Toyota Countdown to Tipoff, the Orange needed a big win, and they got it winning by 29 points and really controlling the game, outside of a stretch to start the second half.

It was important for the Orange to come out and blow out a team, something SU hadn’t done since mid-January beating Boston College by 23. It was important to jump out to a double-digit lead rather than go down by double-digits. And the Orange did just that.

Of course, though, this game was most important for the Orange’s NCAA Tournament hopes. If I were building a bracket, the Orange would be in at the time of this writing. Unfortunately for the Orange, I am not on the selection committee, and that meeting doesn’t take place for another week.

With that being said, the Orange likely needs to win a game in Brooklyn to truly solidify their spot in the NCAA Tournament. No at large team in NCAA Tournament history has had fewer than 3 road or neutral site wins on the season, right now Syracuse has 2. No team has made the NCAA Tournament with an RPI worse that 67th, Syracuse is 80th right now.

The Orange has a chance to improve both those numbers, with a meeting slated with a top-50 RPI team in Miami. With a win, the Orange would meet North Carolina, the 4th best RPI in the country.

It sure feels like Syracuse could use one more win to really lock in their place in the NCAA Tournament. And a win in Brooklyn against a top 50 Miami team might be enough to have the Orange feeling good.