A Lament For The Orange ... And Then We're Done With It

Now that the brackets are officially out, it's inevitable that everyone's talking about the snubs. (Ironically, one of the major "snubs" last year was supposedly Hofstra, who was overlooked in favor of George Mason.) The biggest snub of all is Syracuse, of course, which remains befuddled by its absence. The tournament committee has been squawking about unbalanced schedules in conference, saying Syracuse had an easier conference schedule and therefore didn't earn its 10 Big East wins, and we suppose that makes sense, except you can't really blame Syracuse for that. But regardless; Syracuse is out of the tournament, and as odd as that sounds, we're all going to have completely forgotten about it in 24 hours anyway.

And, not for nothing, but Syracuse isn't the top seed in NIT either; they didn't even get one of the top four seeds. (Those went to Mississippi State, Air Force, Clemson and West Virginia.) The tournament brackets are almost too information to absorb when we first receive them, and it's only natural to poke the bracket for leaks when it is presented to us. But — and apologies to Syracuse, Drexel, K-State, so on — the snub effect inherently can't last long. When the Oscar nominations come out, everyone complains that so-and-so didn't get nominated, and then everyone just moves on and focuses on who is actually in play. And the NCAA Tournament is damned sure a helluva lot more fun than the Oscars.

So, one last moment to hang our heads for the Orange, and the Wildcats, and the Dragons. Sorry, guys; it's probably not fair, but hey, it happens. We feel your pain. Now, let's move on.

Orange Shocked By Snub [Syracuse.com] NIT Brackets Released [New York Times]