When the season started, the expectations for Syracuse were high — as they usually are. But they weren’t quite as high as they would soon become.

A group that started as the No. 8 team in the country quickly catapulted to No. 2 by Week 7 and moved up to No. 1 seven weeks later when Arizona was dethroned. Eventually the Orange was 25-0, but has since lost four of five and has spiraled into a rut.

On Friday afternoon, at a press conference at the Carmelo K. Anthony Basketball Center, seniors C.J. Fair and Baye Moussa Keita reflected on the growing expectations surrounding the team. Not even Fair expected such a hot start with as many new key pieces.

“Before the season started I expected good things from this team,” Fair said, “but I didn’t really expect us to go 25-0.

“I thought we’d have some growing pains early, but we overcame a lot of situations where we were in a position to lose.”

Syracuse was down 25-7 to then-No. 8 Villanova but came back to win. It trailed in the final minute against Pittsburgh and North Carolina State, but two improbable finishes — including Tyler Ennis’ 35-foot buzzer-beater — kept the undefeated season alive.

As the Orange kept winning, Fair said teams grew even more excited to have the chance to knock off No. 1. He talked to a few friends around the Atlantic Coast Conference, and said they all marked the Syracuse game on their calendar.

“It’s just something about playing Syracuse that gets everyone riled up,” Fair said. “Us getting a lot of attention and being No. 1 and we’re going to new arenas, everyone wants to say that they beat Syracuse.”

He said SU has been getting every team’s best game, but he feels that just brings out his and his teammates’ best.

Lately, though, the trend has taken a surprising twist. Syracuse has lost four of five, even falling to conference bottom-feeder Georgia Tech in the Carrier Dome on Senior Night. The Orange has fallen back to No. 7 and will likely take another hit in the rankings when the Associated Press Top 25 poll is released Monday.

SU is no longer a No. 1 seed in Joe Lunardi’s Bracketology and is in danger of dropping to a No. 3 or 4 seed with a loss to Florida State on Sunday and an early departure from the ACC tournament.

“Everybody now is talking about it because we lost four games,” Keita said.

But that doesn’t faze Fair. He remembers last season when a similar situation unfolded. Syracuse lost four of its last five games to close the regular season, including a 22-point thumping from Georgetown.

Yet once the Big East tournament started, the Orange’s poor finish to the regular season was irrelevant. Michael Carter-Williams, James Southerland and Co. played better basketball before losing to eventual national champion Louisville in the finale.

And as the NCAA Tournament rolled around, Syracuse got even hotter, knocking off Montana, California, Indiana and Marquette en route to its first Final Four since the 2003 championship season.

So Fair isn’t worried. He’s using last year’s run as fuel and a measuring stick going forward. He said many teams would fold and falter in the Orange’s current slide, but he knows that won’t be the case for Syracuse. It wasn’t last season, and it won’t be this year either.

He said people don’t remember the losses at the end of the regular season from last year. They remember the wins leading up to the Final Four.

Fair’s hoping the same thing happens this time around.

Said Fair: “We’ve got a great chance to get back to the Final Four. Anything short of that would be a disappointment.”

Published on March 7, 2014 at 5:13 pm

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