March 29--Syracuse will be the first No. 10 seed to play in the Final Four, but nobody will call the Orange a Cinderella.
Still, even though Syracuse is hardly an up-and-comer with an unknown coach, its journey to Houston is just as unlikely as any underdog story.
The Orange started the season unranked. They started ACC play 0-4. Coach Jim Boeheim was suspended nine games. They finished 9-9 in the conference and were seeded ninth in the ACC tournament.
They had lost five of their last six games before the NCAA tournament. College basketball pundits were outraged the Orange even got into the field. Their RPI was 72 on Selection Sunday.
It's hard to find a team that made more out of its line on the bracket.
"They just kept playing," Boeheim said of his players after they came back from a 16-point deficit against top-seeded Virginia in Sunday's Midwest Region final at the United Center. "I don't think anybody has ever gone to the Final Four that started 0-4 in the league, any league. They deserve a lot of credit"
The Orange earned the right to play North Carolina, the only No. 1 seed remaining. No. 2 seeds Oklahoma and Villanova will face off on the other side of the bracket.
The Syracuse-North Carolina matchup has sparked conversations about the lack of academic integrity in college sports.
The Orange are on NCAA probation after self-imposing a one-year postseason ban last year for multiple rules violations, including academic infractions. North Carolina's academic fraud case is expected to go before the Committee on Infractions later this year.
Tar Heels coach Roy Williams bristled when the topic arose after North Carolina's victory against Notre Dame in the East Region final Sunday night in Philadelphia.
"We had a problem," he said. "We're embarrassed. We're mad. We're ticked off about what happened. But we know that men's basketball had nothing to do with it and we're very proud of that. As I said the other day, my integrity and credibility has never been questioned. ...
"The bottom line is I was able to go to practice every day. And my team made it a heck of a lot of fun. I'd like that to be the story instead of the other junk. The other junk's gotten about a million times more publicity than I care to think about."
Those questions will arise again in Houston, but so will discussions about how dominant the Tar Heels look.
North Carolina, making its first Final Four appearance since winning the tournament in 2009, has beaten its four tournament opponents by an average of 16 points.
"We feel like we can't be beat," guard Marcus Paige said. "We feel that when we're playing our best, we're happy with any matchup we get."
