Syracuse (20-13, 9-9 Atlantic Coast) will play Middle Tennessee State (25-9, 13-5 Conference USA) after the Blue Raiders upset second-seeded Michigan State, 90-81. The Orange will get to face the NCAA Tournament’s darling in the Round of 32 for a chance to move on to the Sweet 16.

Check out how our beat writers think the game will unfold.

Sam Blum (20-13)
Syracuse 85, MTSU 68
Not all slippers fit

MTSU’s win over Michigan State wasn’t a fluke. This team can definitely play. But it certainly isn’t a better team than MSU, nor is it a better team that Syracuse. The Blue Raiders make this fun for a while, capture the nation’s love in the first half. But then the talents like Michael Gbinije, Malachi Richardson and Tyler Roberson take this one over late. Somehow, someway, this Syracuse Orange team is going to the Sweet 16. Who’d have thunk it?

Jesse Dougherty (21-12)
Syracuse 67, Middle Tennessee State 54
You got zoned

Let’s face it: As hard as it is for a No. 15 seed to beat a No. 2 seed, it may be nearly as hard to turn around two days later and pull off another big upset. That’s what the Blue Raiders of Middle Tennessee State will be tasked with against the Orange on Sunday, and while MTSU can stroke 3s it hasn’t seen anything quite like Syracuse’s 2-3 zone. SU clamps down on the Blue Raiders perimeter options and Gbinije and Malachi are each a matchup problem that MTSU can’t handle en route to a more-than-admirable Round of 32 exit.

Matt Schneidman (24-9)
Syracuse 78, Middle Tennessee St. 60
Clock strikes midnight

The Blue Raiders pulled off arguably the biggest upset in NCAA Tournament history when they plastered 90 points on perennial national contender Michigan State. But only once in NCAA Tournament history has a No. 15 seed advanced to the Sweet Sixteen. Don’t expect it to happen twice. Syracuse is coming off a rout of Dayton in which its two fifth-year seniors weren’t at their best, but Richardson and Roberson carried the team. MTSU shoots the lights out from 3-point range, but the Orange simply has too much talent compared to the potential Cinderella from Murfreesboro, Tennessee and Jim Boeheim and company advance to Chicago with relative ease.

Published on March 19, 2016 at 12:52 pm