Syracuse fans, it doesn’t look good for your NCAA Tournament chances on Sunday.
“I have them out, and they’re going to stay out,” ESPN’s Joe Lunardi said Thursday morning on “Mike & Mike.”
Lunardi has Syracuse (19-13) among his First Four Out along with UConn, Tulsa and Valparaiso. His Last Four In currently includes Monmouth, Pittsburgh, St. Bonaventure and Saint Mary’s.
The Orange appear headed to the NIT.
Pitt beat Syracuse, 72-71, on Wednesday in the ACC Tournament in Washington, D.C.
Afterward, Jim Boeheim was asked about his team’s tournament chances. Boeheim served a nine-game suspension earlier this year for NCAA violations.
“I thought, and I’m not talking about me, I’ve always thought the NCAA committee was not the infractions committee, I thought it was the NCAA basketball committee. I thought it’s their job to pick the best teams for the tournament.
“I have read where some people think we should be punished by the basketball committee as well. I think we’ve had our punishment. I don’t think we should now be punished by the basketball committee. We’ve gotten pretty heavy punishments.
“The players on this team didn’t do anything wrong and were not involved in anything. They should be evaluated on how well they played when they played their best. That’s the only thing that I think should happen. We should be evaluated on what kind of team we are.
“I think everybody has their own opinions. The chairman of the committee said a coach not being there can be taken like a player not being there. How much is that important? I don’t know.
“I know we’ve beaten four teams in the top 30 or 35 in the country. We’ve beaten eight teams in the top 100. If there are teams better than that, so be it. We’ll see what happens.”
