Sweet 16 2012: Wisconsin vs. Syracuse: Badgers Will End Honorable Orange Run

The Syracuse Orange have been dealt a hard season in which to win a title. Their remarkable run will end at the hands of a Wisconsin team that can flat out shoot. 

Welcome to the Sweet 16, where some teams will far exceed expectations and others will fall far short of them. 

If ever there was an exception, it would be these Syracuse Orange, who have already proved their mettle, and we really wouldn't dare ask more or less of them. 

Syracuse have had to deal with fallout from Bernie Fine allegations, a few games without their big man during the regular season and then a controversy surrounding drug policy allegations. 

All the while, Syracuse has won, and they do it now, even through a second stint without Fab Melo. The Orange can only really count on themselves and live in a tiny bubble where no outside factors can harm them, and it has worked. 

Through it all I have applauded their effort, but I can't overlook Wisconsin as the perfect foil to a battered team. They have been beaten once again by ineligibility, as Fab Melo will once again be unable to lock down the paint. 

You really want to keep Wisconsin as a one-dimensional team, a bunch of players that will live and die outside the three-point line. 

Syracuse's deficiencies in the paint will bring versatility to the Badgers. 

The Badgers can shoot the ball and can now feel all the more comfortable inside as well, but that is hardly what should worry Jim Boeheim heading into Thursday's Sweet 16 clash. 

The Badgers also come in with one of the most stifling defense in the nation. Their unrelenting attack has forced the nation to score only 52.9 points against them. 

Wisconsin is balanced and shoot 36.2 percent as a team from three. They aren't afraid to start lighting it up and will have Syracuse well on their heels. 

The Orange can't expect the same output against this defense, and that will serve to topple a team that has already been through so much as a program. 

They can hold their heads high after a loss on Thursday, but rest assured they are going home. 

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