Syracuse, N.Y. - With Syracuse set to open the season Nov. 2 against New Haven, the questions are starting to stack up, and plenty of them are landing in Mike’s Mailbox.
This week’s batch touched everything from the state of the ACC to a trivia check on Syracuse’s football and basketball teams winning on the same day, plus the NCAA tournament’s newly expanded field.
On the conference front, the ACC does appear headed for a more competitive season, with Duke, Virginia and Louisville sitting in the top tier. Miami, North Carolina and Florida State also fall into the next group of solid teams, while Clemson, N.C. State and SMU make up the next level Mike pointed to when sizing up the league.
But for Syracuse, that stronger league may not be the kind of lift some fans are hoping for. Mike wrote that he does not see this as a situation where a better ACC helps everyone.
Instead, he thinks it could make the Orange’s path to an NCAA bid harder. After seeing Syracuse in three exhibition games, he said he has “real concerns about the Orange” and that “an NCAA Tournament bid is the least of my concerns.”
Another reader asked when Syracuse’s football and men’s basketball teams last won on the same day, and the answer did not require much digging. Last Saturday, both teams won: football rallied past North Carolina in overtime, and basketball finished off a 71-58 exhibition win over Niagara.
Mike went a step further and found a regular-season example. On Nov. 16, 2024, Syracuse football beat California 33-25, and later that day the basketball team survived Youngstown State in a 104-95 double-overtime win.
The mailbag also tackled the NCAA tournament’s latest overhaul. The field has grown from 68 to 76 teams, the first expansion since 2011, when the event moved from 64 to 68.
The biggest change is in the opening portion of the bracket. The First Four has become the Opening Round, with 24 teams now playing 12 games on the Tuesday and Wednesday before the traditional 64-team bracket begins Thursday. Dayton, Ohio, remains a host city, and Wichita, Kan., has been added as a second site for those games.
The 24 teams in that round will be made up of the 12 lowest-seeded automatic qualifiers - eight No. 16 seeds and four No. 15 seeds - along with the 12 lowest-seeded at-large teams. In effect, the expansion adds eight more at-large bids.
Those Opening Round games will be staged as triple-headers in both Dayton and Wichita on Tuesday and Wednesday.
In Other News...
Syracuse Just Got A Strong Fran Brown Message From Its New AD
Syracuses football leadership got a clear public vote of confidence this week when athletic director Bryan Blair talked about Fran Brown on ESPN Radio. Blair did not dance around the subject, stressing Browns value to the program and pushing back on the old-school idea that a new athletic director has to immediately bring in his guy to make his mark.
Blair also used the interview to touch on the broader changes happening inside the athletic department, while giving a look ahead at the Oranges upcoming football schedule. For a program trying to build momentum under Brown, the message from the top was less about change for changes sake and more about keeping the focus on what Syracuse already has in place. [Read more 🡒]
Syracuse Turns To An Unconventional Kicking Fix Before Its Next ACC Test
Syracuse is trying something a little out of the ordinary as it gets ready for its next ACC test, adding mens soccer midfielder Quinn Olcott as a kicker, according to coach Fran Brown. The move comes after missed field goals from current options Shay Barker and Tripp Woody, a reminder that the Orange are still searching for more certainty on special teams.
Olcott is not a finished product at the position, but Syracuse is willing to take a look after he showed some range in practice, including a 55-yard field goal. For a team trying to steady itself before another conference game, the bigger question now is whether an unconventional crossover can give the Orange a more dependable answer when they need one most. [Read more 🡒]
Syracuse Kicking Woes Just Forced An Unexpected Roster Move
Syracuse has turned to an unusual solution to help steady a kicking game that has been too shaky for comfort. The Orange have added soccer player Quinn Olcott to the roster to provide depth at kicker, a move that speaks to how much the staff wants more options after missed field goals and extra points have become part of the conversation.
Olcott is expected to sit behind Shay Barker and Tripp Woody, with Woody also dealing with injuries, giving Syracuse another body at a spot that has suddenly become a concern. At 3-4 and with SMU next on the schedule, the Orange are trying to patch one of the most unforgiving parts of the game before it costs them again. [Read more 🡒]