Edgar Sosa, former guard for the Louisville Cardinals, on the court during the 2009 men's basketball final against Syracuse. Louisville won its first Big East championship, defeating Syracuse 76-66. Can it happen again? Photo by allenmock

It was pre-season college basketball in the Dome, with the Orange taking on the Le Moyne Dolphins. Syracuse was heavily favored, but the Dolphins managed to squeeze out an 82-79 victory. That was an embarrassing loss for the Orange, a loss that created many speculations for the Orange from people all over the world.

The Orange silenced those critics by opening up their season to a 13-0 record. At the time, the Orange were ranked fifth in the top-25 polls. The Orange would face a then-unranked Pittsburgh team that was looking for an upset – upsets come often in the Big East.

The game was tight in the first half, though the Orange held a 30-27 lead. The Panthers would bounce back in the second half and take advantage of the Orange’s missed shot attempts – 28 for 66 from the field and 1 for 13 from the 3 point line to be exact, and a miserable 25 fouls as Arinze Onuaku and Rick Jackson both fouled out. The Orange would fall to 7^th in the polls as they lost to Pittsburgh 82-72.

The Orange bounced back, winning their next 11 games. Before the Valentine’s Day match against Louisville, Syracuse had built a record of 24-1, tied with Villanova at the top of the Big East conference.

On Sunday, February 14, the Orange faced another unranked Big East opponent at the Dome: Louisville. The Cardinals needed a win to revive their hopes of going to the big dance in March. Sure enough, the Cardinals would find themselves down by only 1 at halftime.

The game was close all the way up until the end of the game. The Orange trailed by two points after a dunk by Kris Joseph. The Orange would get the ball back, and Wes Johnson would try for a reverse lay-up and miss – which could’ve been a foul but wasn’t called. Then, when Johnson missed another shot, Jerry Smith of Louisville came down with the rebound, which caused the referees to call an intentional foul on Kris Joseph.

This call was a very questionable one because Joseph and Smith, while trying to get the rebound, collided; Smith, the weaker of the two, fell to the court. The Orange would eventually get the ball back after 4 free throws from the Cardinals, and now trailed by 4. The Orange missed two critical 3 pointers at the end, falling to Louisville 66-60.

Syracuse wasn’t the only Big East team to be upset on Sunday; the Georgetown Hoyas joined them after a 3-point loss to Rutgers.

For a day, Villanova stood alone at the top of the Big East conference. In an 84-75 coup, the Wildcats were upset by the Connecticut Huskies. After the U-Conn win, Connecticut head coach Jim Calhoun, who missed time throughout the season after taking a medical leave of absence, had some things to say about the win.

“We gave a great effort, a terrific job quite frankly, slowing the tempo down and then speeding it up, you know a wonderful job with that, defensively a pretty good job and I thought most importantly, we stayed together as a team, rebounded and did the things that we needed to do.”

These upsets stirred up the Big East and the picks for the upcoming selection Sunday. It brought up questions such as “Should Louisville be in?” or “Should The Orange be a number 1 seed?”

Though the Louisville Cardinals upset over the Orange was a big win against a team that could be a number 1 in the polls, the upset doesn’t give them an automatic bid. It doesn’t because that’s just one game out of a long season, even though sometimes one day and one game can make or break a team and help them to get a ticket to the “Big Dance”.  The Cardinals still have much more to prove with their upcoming games; if they can get some more wins, expect to see them playing in March.

Syracuse isn’t giving up its quest to be the best and return to the glory of the National Championship. They have what it takes to be a number 1 seed in the college brackets this year, and they probably will be, even though they are not a strong #1 pick in the eyes of the selection committee at this moment. As of right now it’s Kansas, Kentucky, Villanova, and Syracuse, with Purdue on the outside, knocking on the door.

One game can determine the remainder of the season for Syracuse and Villanova. With a sold-out crowd of over 30,000 fans, the February 27 match-up at the Dome will be a key factor in determining if one or both teams are number-1 seed contenders come March.

Until next time, have fun telling your friends…Did You See That?!