How does Syracuse basketball stand with NCAA Tournament hopes?

Virginia vs. Syracuse Men"s Basketball Highlights (2016-17)

Syracuse, N.Y. -- After two wins over then-top-10 teams at home and two dramatic victories on the ACC road, the logical question surfaces about Syracuse"s basketball team:

Has it fully entered the NCAA Tournament picture?

"I have them right now in the field and almost escaping (the play-in games in) Dayton. If you stack up the 36 at-large teams, they would be team 33," said Patrick Stevens, a respected bracketologist who does work forthe Washington Post. "What that goes to show you is you play well for three weeks, you might be in good shape, because the edge of the field is not remarkable in any way."

Syracuse, 16-9 overall and 8-4 in the ACC, has won five straight games, including victories over Virginia and Florida State. Both of those wins came at home. SU, winless on the road until Feb. 1, has claimed two straight victories away from the Carrier Dome.

And while North Carolina State and Clemson are not, at this point, predicted to be in the NCAA Tournament field (Clemson is one of those teams on the edge), Syracuse needed to collect any sort of road victory.

"At least they"ve won away from home," Stevens said. "They"ll still be well-served to beat somebody else on the road. But now, they"re in almost preservation mode."

Stevens looked at the Orange"s remaining games: at Pittsburgh, home against Duke and home and away games with Louisville and Georgia Tech. Sweeping Georgia Tech and winning on the road against Pittsburgh, at this point, are victories the metrics might predict.

"You get three of those wins and then you pick somebody else off and they look like they"re in solid shape," Stevens said. "If you"re them, you gotta feel pretty good about how things are turning around. Having Virginia and Florida State in the bank already helps them significantly."

Right now, SU ranks 36 in Jeff Sagarin, 48 inKen Pomeroy and 64 in the RPI. The NCAA Committee will still heavily weigh the RPI, a measure it has used for years, though the committee met with advanced metrics gurus last month to discuss implementing different analytics in the future.

The bracket matrix, which considers a collection of bracketologists, has not been updated today. In its last incarnation, last night at 7:26, Syracuse was the top team in the "first four out" category. That was before the Orange beat Clemson on the road. Clemson had been one of the last teams in the NCAA Tournament field.

syracuse basketball keeps finding ways to win with season on the line

Source: http://www.syracuse.com/orangebasketball/index.ssf/2017/02/how_does_syracuse_basketball_stand_with_ncaa_tournament_hopes.html