Syracuse faces early survival test in 2023-24 season

It will not take long to find out how good Syracuse is at the start of the season.

After three home games, the last being against Colgate, who will enter that matchup with a two-game win streak over SU in the series, the team travels to Hawaii for the Maui Invitational.

The schedule kicks into overdrive about the time the wheels hit the runway upon landing.

SU will open the event against preseason #9 Tennessee, then face either #3 Purdue or #11 Gonzaga the following day.

The other half of the bracket includes #1 Kansas, #5 Marquette, a UCLA team that got enough votes to be three spots out of the inaugural top 25 poll, and host team Chaminade, who plays in Division II.

Winning either of its first two games all but guarantees SU will miss the tournament hosts and get a third heavyweight opponent in three days.

After the Orange return to the mainland with games against Ken Pomeroy preseason top 50 opponents LSU, Virginia, and Oregon in the next three weeks.

In short, there may not be a team in the country looking forward to the holiday break more than Syracuse.

That Virginia contest also doubles as the ACC opener for the two schools. The conference slate as a whole is… fine.

The Orange will have home-and-home series with Boston College, Clemson, Louisville, #19 North Carolina, North Carolina State, and Pittsburgh.

#2 Duke and #13 Miami are the only other top-25 teams in the conference and Virginia was the only other squad to get votes in the opening poll.

The matchups with Virginia and Duke are on the road, while Miami will travel to the JMA Wireless Dome for that contest.

Three of the four games against conference foes ranked in the preseason polls come in an 18-day span, but the team is off for a week after the first game (Duke).

If you want to complain about the timing of the two dates the Orange are out of the playing rotation (Sat, Jan 6 and Sat, Mar 9) because one is too early – after the third conference game and shortly after the holiday break – and the other is too late – SU is off the last weekend before the ACC Tournament – have at it.

But do so knowing there are no quick turnarounds on the schedule. There are only two times when Syracuse plays on Wednesday night, then on Saturday.

Both Wednesdays are home games and only one of the following Saturday outings is a road game (a 1:00pm start at North Carolina).

The worst combination of travel and timing comes for the final two games – an 8:00pm start on a Saturday at Louisville followed by a 7:00pm Tuesday tip at Clemson.

All told, the slate has nothing too terribly grueling when you are required to play two games a week, save for those off times in the schedule cycle.

Nov 6 (Mon) NEW HAMPSHIRE

Nov 8 (Wed) CANISIUS

Nov 14 (Tue) COLGATE

Nov 20 (Mon) Tennessee (Maui Invitational)

Nov 21 (Tue) Purdue or Gonzaga (Maui Invitational)

Nov 22 (Wed) TBA (Maui Invitational)

Nov 28 (Tue) LSU

Dec 2 (Sat) at Virginia

Dec 5 (Tue) CORNELL

Dec 9 (Sat) at Georgetown

Dec 17 (Sun) Oregon (Sioux Falls, SD)

Dec 21 (Thu) NIAGARA

Dec 30 (Sat) PITTSBURGH

Jan 2 (Tue) at Duke

Jan 10 (Wed) BOSTON COLLEGE

Jan 13 (Sat) at North Carolina

Jan 16 (Tue) at Pittsburgh

Jan 20 (Sat) MIAMI

Jan 23 (Tue) FLORIDA STATE

Jan 27 (Sat) NC STATE

Jan 30 (Tue) at Boston College

Feb 3 (Sat) at Wake Forest

Feb 7 (Wed) LOUISVILLE

Feb 10 (Sat) CLEMSON

Feb 13 (Tue) NORTH CAROLINA

Feb 17 (Sat) at Georgia Tech

Feb 20 (Tue) at NC State

Feb 24 (Sat) NOTRE DAME

Feb 27 (Tue) VIRGINIA TECH

Mar 2 (Sat) at Louisville

Mar 5 (Tue) at Clemson

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