Why Syracuse Basketball Fans Should Hit Panic Button After Early Struggles

Call me an instigator for stirring this pot, but I think three losses through just eight games is enough to cause some anxiety for you if you are a Syracuse basketball fan. 

Before I dig into the Orange’s problems this season, let's put these three early losses into historical perspective first.

Previously, there had been just six times during Jim Boeheim’s 38-year coaching tenure at Syracuse that the Orange had lost three nonconference regular-season games in a year.

Out of those six seasons, Syracuse went to the NIT four times and the NCAA tournament twice.

The last time it happened, it was during the 2007-08 season, and Boeheim’s team finished 21-14 and was knocked out in the NIT quarterfinals by UMass. 

Syracuse has not failed to make the NCAA tournament since that season.

Keeping this streak alive, however, would be a great challenge for the Orange this year. 

After suffering defeats at the hands of Cal, Michigan and St. John’s over the past three weeks, Syracuse—which started the season at No. 23—did not receive a single vote in the AP Top 25 poll (most recently released on Dec. 8) for the first time in six seasons. 

The Orange’s schedule doesn’t appear to give them any breathing room in the near future, either. 

A 7-1 Louisiana Tech visits the Carrier Dome on Sunday, and seventh-ranked Villanova awaits the Orange after that.

That’s not counting the games in the rigorous ACC that currently features six teams ranked in the AP Top 25 poll.

So just exactly what is wrong with this year’s Orange?

Well, you can point to their poor shooting as one of the main culprits so far. 

Syracuse is shooting a ghastly 44.4 percent from the field as a team this season, and its number of three-pointers made (27) ranks at No. 329 among all Division I programs.

The 27 made three-pointers were out of 129 attempts, which make up a shooting percentage of just 21.1.

Trevor Cooney, who led the Orange last year with 37.5 percent shooting from beyond the arc, is making just 28.3 percent of his attempts from there this season. 

Michael Gbinije and Ron Patterson, two players who made over 30 percent of their three-pointers last season, are combining to shoot just 12.8 percent this year.

In a radio interview with ESPN Radio Syracuse’s Brent Axe, Boeheim commented on what he would like to see from his team moving forward.

"

I don't think we have to be radical. We don't have to go from making three to making 10. We have to make five or six," Boeheim said. "You don't, maybe, want to shoot a lot some games but if you can't get near the basket you have to take some threes. We don't have to make 10 of them but we have to make some of them.

"

Which makes me wonder just exactly what is Gerry McNamara doing with this team? But I digress.

Then there’s the development of freshman point guard Kaleb Joseph, who has been playing like, well, a freshman.

Joseph has struggled on both sides of the ball this season, committing an average of 3.3 turnovers per game and still going through the learning curves in Boeheim’s zone defense.

Look, replacing three double-figure scorers in C.J. Fair, Tyler Ennis and Jerami Grant is not an easy transition to make, and no one can fault Syracuse for going through these early struggles, but for fans who have witnessed this program be so successful in the past few seasons, this year will no doubt be a downer.

Boeheim should always deserve some benefit of the doubt to turn this team around, but the ditch may already be too deep for him and his team to climb out of this season.

Oh, and there is that NCAA investigation thing going on as well, so the worst may be yet to come.