BUFFALO — As they sat waiting to hit the court for practice, right there above them, on the flat-screen TV, was all the evidence Syracuse’s players needed Friday afternoon to hammer home what this time of year can do to any air of superiority.
The closing minutes of Mercer’s shocking upset victory over Duke resonated within the walls of First Niagara Center, where Saturday night No. 3 seed Syracuse faces No. 11 Dayton in a South Region game, with the winner heading to Memphis for the Sweet 16 and the loser, well, you know the rest.
The Orange dispatched Western Michigan so easily (77-53) in their first NCAA Tournament game that failing to move on was never an option. Syracuse as a heavy favorite is often part of the landscape in late March, but that doesn’t mean anything unless the Orange make their lofty status stand up.
“There’s upsets every year that happen and they happen for a reason,’’ sophomore sharpshooter Trevor Cooney said. “You got to come ready to play for 40 minutes. If we didn’t come out with the start we had the other day it could have been a totally different game. You can’t let anyone get going. They’re all good teams, they’re all here for a reason. You can’t let anyone think they can play with you.’’
This is the 26th time Jim Boeheim has taken Syracuse past the first round and standing in his way of an 18th appearance in the Sweet 16 is one of those upstart opponents coming off a program-changing moment. Dayton has won 11 of its last 13 games, none bigger than Thursday’s thrilling 60-59 victory over in-state top dog Ohio State, a result that seemingly smoothed out the paved road that leads Syracuse to Memphis in the next round.
“You don’t catch a break in the NCAA Tournament at all,” said Cooney. “No one has an easy game.’’
Well, the Orange made it easy against Western Michigan with a forceful early defensive barrage and with Cooney re-locating his missing shooting touch. It was a rare coast-to-coast blowout for Syracuse, a team that often has difficulty scoring enough to get too comfortable.
“I think it helped a little bit to know that we could do it,’’ said sophomore forward Jerami Grant, an ascending and ultra-athletic player who soared for 16 points in the opening tournament game. “We all knew we could win a game in that fashion, to do it on a big stage is definitely good for us.
“We can do that to anybody, as long as our defense is top-notch. I feel like we can do that these next few games.’’
Let Dayton be forewarned. The Flyers got a good look at Syracuse for nine days in November at the EA Sports Maui Invitational. Boeheim thought Dayton was the best team he saw out there. He figured he’d play the Flyers in the final, but Dayton was beaten by a point by Baylor and the Orange then beat the Bears for the title. Since then, Dayton overcame a mid-season four-game losing streak to barge into the tournament for the first time since the 2008-09 season.
“It’s a typical Syracuse team. … They’re very good and they’re very big,’’ said Dayton coach Archie Miller, whose club wants to speed up the tempo against the Orange. “Obviously the size and the length and the zone can consume you if you let it.’’
Boeheim, a noted TV hoops junkie, said he got a chance to watch nearly the entire Duke-Mercer game and surmised: “Just watching them play, I thought [Mercer] was the better team.’’
Then he added: “Whoever is playing Mercer is in trouble.’’
Boeheim is hoping late Saturday night no one is saying that about Dayton.
“It doesn’t matter what your seed is any more,’’ Cooney said. “It’s just two good teams going at it.’’