Campus Coverage: Syracuse fans eager for March Madness

Glass of orange juice definitely looks half full on the Syracuse campus

By: Eric Lyons

The Cuse' may have lost their only game in their inaugural ACC Tournament appearance last week to NC State and dropped five out of their last seven, but nearly everyone on the SU campus has high hopes and is picking the Orange to move past the No. 14 seed Western Michigan in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday.

Civil engineering major Jon Culp said, " We are not going to blow out any teams and we definitely won't get blown out. If Cooney is productive and we shoot well, we'll be fine." When asked what the score will be against the MAC champs in the first round, Culp said "If I had to put a number on it 68-59-Cuse' all the way."

"I think we're gonna smoke them," Vince Makowski, senior civil engineering major said, as he drove both Culp and himself to his hometown of Buffalo, New York to root on the Orange in person. "We need to rebound more like we did when Grant was on his game and calm down when we have possession of the ball. If we do that we'll dominate the game."

Magazine journalism major, Riyana Straetker, who admits she doesn't really know that much about basketball, but is definitely a fan thinks the Orange will win 67-50. After deliberation with her roommate, nutrition major Shelagh Ramsden, they both agree C.J. Fair will have a good game.

While the student body definitely is looking at the proverbial glass of orange juice as half full, History Professor and long time basketball season ticket holder, Margaret Susan Thompson is a little more skeptical following the team's recent performance. "SU will either blow out WMU or lose by 3. The key to winning is that the team that played Duke in the Dome, or even FSU in Tallahassee, needs to show up. I am hoping for a breakout game by Michael Carter-Williams or James Southerland (oh, wait...). Since CJ thinks Ka'zoo reminds him of Boston College, I fear the worst. Seriously, anyone who predicts ANYTHING about this team is foolhardy."

Whether you are completely on the Orange bandwagon or think the team will be a disappointment, the Syracuse campus is definitely crazy over the NCAA Tournament. It is anyone's guess whether the invincible 25-0 team we saw in the beginning of the year or the deflated team that lost NC State last week will show against Western Michigan in the opening round, but at 2:45 classes will be skipped or games will be streamed live to laptops because everything comes down to tomorrow.