Syracuse, N.Y. – Joe Lunardi is aware of his reputation in Syracuse.
The longtime ESPN bracketologist, the guy who pioneered the postseason art form, was here Thursday night when SU defeated St. Joseph’s 71-63 in the JMA Wireless Dome. Lunardi, a St. Joseph’s graduate, does color commentary for Hawks radio broadcasts.
For years, Syracuse fans railed against Lunardi and either a) his Orange bubble talk or b) his inability to predict SU’s postseason fate.
“Nobody’s thrown anything at me yet,” he quipped before the game.
Syracuse beat the Hawks on a snoozy, late-night encounter. It was not the Orange men’s best effort.
Lunardi was asked, before a minute of basketball was played Thursday, about his early outlook for Syracuse. The Orange is now 6-3, with a signature win over Tennessee, a near-signature win over Houston and losses to nationally ranked Kansas and Iowa State.
Lunardi said he’d watched two SU games in their entirety: The loss to Houston and the win over Tennessee.
“They are a free throw away from having two, not just Quad 1 wins, but two quad 1A wins,” he said.
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Syracuse Men’s Basketball 2025-26 : Syracuse vs St. Joseph’s
The Orange missed 17 free throws in its overtime loss to Houston. And Lunardi is fully aware that SU is still without Donnie Freeman, its leading scorer who remains sidelined with a “lower body” injury.
“I see the makings of a tournament team,” he said. “I’m not ready to say I’m seeing a tournament team, but I do see the makings of a tournament team.”
That distinction, of course, comes with a caveat: Syracuse needs to win some big games in the ACC.
The conference this year, Lunardi said, allows the Orange and every other ACC team more opportunities to add quality wins and bolster their postseason resumes.
“It’s too early to really talk about the bubble and numbers and all that,” Lunardi said. “What I look for, and what I think is pointing in a positive direction for Syracuse, is that they’re in a group of teams this year that is going to help them instead of hurting them. Now whether they take advantage of that is up to them.
“But that’s opposed to being 11th in the ACC in December and that being a death sentence, which it has been the past couple years.”
Syracuse, at this moment, is 81st in the NCAA’s NET, 67 in KenPom and 55 in Bart Torvik’s statistical analysis. The NCAA uses its own NET and considers KenPom and Torvik when determining and seeding its postseason field.
