Syracuse is coming off a season where it finished 9–11 in ACC play, but that doesn’t matter as much to head coach Jim Boeheim. The only thing that matters is returning to the NCAA tournament for the first time in two years.
“At the end of the day, you play for the [NCAA] tournament,” Boeheim said, via ESPN’s Myron Medcalf.
As for why conference play and the conference tournaments aren’t important, Boeheim said all you have to do is look towards another prominent conference.
“You can say what you want about the Big Ten. They sucked in the tournament,” he said. “To me, that’s what they did. All of their wins were in their league. If you can’t play in the [NCAA] tournament, then you’re not good.”
A team hasn’t won the NCAA Tournament while playing in the Big Ten since Michigan State did in 2000. Since then, eight ACC teams, five Big East teams, three SEC, three Big 12 and one AAC team have all won national titles.
Syracuse, meanwhile, embodies the idea that the NCAA tournament is all that matters. The Orange have made four tournaments since 2014, none of which as a seed higher than eight, but made the second weekend three times including a Final Four appearance in 2016. Boeheim’s Syracuse program has also won a title more recently than any Big Ten team, doing so in 2003.
“I’ll take the Sweet 16 if we finish [sixth in the ACC] overall,” Boeheim said, via Medcalf. “Would I like to do better in the regular season and [reach the Sweet 16]? Sure. But I’ll take that every year. We’ve been very good in the tournament.”
Last year, the ACC shined in the tournament as both North Carolina and Duke made Final Four runs, while the Big Ten had every team eliminated by the Elite Eight, despite nine total teams in the tournament.
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