Syracuse Will Outlast Louisville in the Polls

By Melissa Bronson-Tramel

The Los Angeles Lakers ended the preseason 0-8 and began the regular season 0-3. Sorry Lakers fans, I had to do it. While the preseason does not necessarily determine how well a team will perform in the regular season, it sure is telling of a team’s strengths and weaknesses.

The same notion applies to college basketball exhibition games. Although it’s the preseason and there isn’t not much room for analysis, I am not sold on USA Today’s projected Top 10, more specifically those in the Big East. Ok, I will just say it, Louisville.

AP Photo/ Kevin Rivoli

Number 2 in the country?  That’s a bit of a stretch. Even though they did make a run that seriously screwed up many brackets, I fail to be convinced that Louisville is better than Syracuse.

Now let me state my case. Prior to the preseason, Syracuse lost 4 key players, Dion Waiters, Fab Melo, Scoop Jardine, and Kris Joseph. Louisville lost two, Rakeem Buckles and Kyle Kuric.

Syracuse plummeted to No. 9 in the polls, respectively because coach Jim Boeheim lost in the Elite Eight and he had the essential construction of a new team while Louisville catapulted to No. 2 after a Final Four appearance.

But much like the Lakers, the preseason can most certainly be defining of your season and Cardinals, I’m just not sold. In Louisville’s first exhibition game, they beat Pikeville by 36 points. However, the team still has only one playmaker, senior point guard Peyton Siva. He is very much the team leader with the most points and assists for the night. However, Gorgui Dieng is Louisville’s lead defender, with 10 blocks on the night. His defensive efforts limited Pikeville to 57 points. But in order to cruise like this in the regular season, the team needs to find more than one leader—when Siva has an off game, it can change the dynamic of the team.

Syracuse does not have this problem. After winning its two exhibition games by an average of 40 points, everyone contributed, even bench players. With a constant rotation of 9 players, many players ended the night in double digits, showing that what one lacks the other makes up for. The lead scorer for each night was different, as were the lead rebounders, and so forth. Balance is key this season for Syracuse. The Orange, however, had a number of turnovers that must be cleaned up to add merit to this argument.

While I won’t argue that both teams are Top 10 teams, don’t be surprised if Louisville slips from its No. 2 spot early and No. 9 Syracuse rises quickly. It’s all the name of the game in the Big East.