A team that went 19-13 is not the record of a team in which you expect to see still in March Madness and going to the Final Four.  Losing five of its last six games in the regular season is not exactly a peaking team.

Zach Bernstein, a diehard Syracuse fan, did not have any expectations of Syracuse going into the tournament.  He said, “I thought that they might get past the first round and beat Dayton, but I didn’t think there was any chance of them advancing any farther.”

With Syracuse reaching the final four, they put themselves into a small class of teams to ever make it this far.  They are one of fourteen teams above a 7th seed to ever make it this far into the tournament.  In fact, only three teams with the 10th seed or higher have ever made it this far into the tournament.

They have the potential to be the lowest ranked team to ever win the national championship.  The lowest seed previously had been the 1985 Villanova basketball team.  Villanova, ranked 8th, beat the number 1 seeded powerhouse Georgetown in the National Championship.

With any team, there must be leaders who can inspire people to believe.  On Villanova, their coach got the players to buy into what he was saying.  Villanova was outmatched in size, athleticism and talent.  According to Rick Weinberg in his article for ESPN, Coach Rollie Massimino tells his team to think about two things: “One, do not play not to lose. Play to win. Two, you are good enough to win. You can beat anyone in the country. Believe it.”

Bernstein commented on the leadership on this mature Syracuse team, “They are a young team who needed a leader.  I think senior forward Michael Gbinije experience has really allowed for his young teammates to flourish. It has been impressive seeing him step up, and act as a guide both on the court and mentally for this basketball team.”

Stephen Goldsmith, a basketball manager for the Syracuse Orange and a graduate of Williston’s 2015 class, stated, “The fact that the seniors have nothing to lose but a lot to prove after being a bubble team and people saying we shouldn’t have even made it. I think the graduating seniors and leaders are leaving all they have out on the court.”

Syracuse spent all of last season having a postseason ban for NCAA violations.  After only being removed one year from the lowest point in the basketball programs history, they are making a historic run.  They are up against North Carolina, whom many consider the most complete team in the tournament.

Goldsmith commented on how the school has reacted on their historic run, “Campus has been crazy with us advancing to the final four.”

At the end of the game after erasing a space point halftime deficit, Coach Boeheim grabbed the microphone and turned to the Syracuse fan section.  “This is the best comeback I’ve seen in Syracuse,” he said. “Well, I haven’t been there forever … but this is the best comeback we’ve ever had.”