Here we go...

It seemed like an innocent enough comment.

With her last words before rolling over to go to bed on Wednesday night, Lindsey threw out the hypothesis that she thought the reason Syracuse had played so well that night against Providence was because I had finally posted a blog again.

Not because C.J. Fair continued his quiet run at a Big East Player of Year award and tallied a double-double for the 3rd time in his last 5 games.

Not because James Southerland showed off his silky smooth jumper and pogo-stick like leaping abilities in an uber-efficient, versatile 20 point performance.

And not because somebody managed to convince Michael Carter-Williams that Providence was a member of the American East conference, allowing him to return to his non-conference ways by tallying more assists than the entire Providence team.

No, it wasn't any of those impressive individual performances that led to a 31-4 run and a rare easy conference victory.  If was me finally taking 20 minutes to sit down and bang out a mediocre blog post that led to all of that.

If you're keeping track at home, that now means in the past week my mom has called me out for giving up on the blog, my sister twisted the knife by attributing my silence to a lack of things to say since the debacle that was the Villanova game, and Lindsey subliminally planted the seed that when I write, Syracuse wins.  When I don't, it's a flip of the coin.

That may not seem that big for a sane person, but as most of you are probably painfully aware, I am not a sane person when it comes to Syracuse basketball.  After all, you're talking about a man who once spent the entire six overtimes of that Cuse-Uconn classic in a squatted position in front of my chair because that was the position I happened to be in when they tied the game at the end of regulation.  For that guy, this is a troubling development.

Either my family does not know me very well after 20+ years of co-habitation, or they had a diabolical plot to force me to pick up the blogging output.  All I can do is present the facts, I'll let you decide.  Either way, expect to see an extreme uptick in blogging from here through (hopefully) the first week in April.  You know who to thank...or curse.
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As least if I'm going to make a strong comeback to the blogging game, I'm picking the right time to do it.  As we sit here today, Syracuse is tied with Georgetown and Marquette atop the Big East standings with 5 games to play.  Louisville is lurking one game back of the pack.  In the next 7 days, Syracuse plays all three of those teams once.  Then they get a breather against DePaul (knock on wood) before closing out their days as a member of the Big East in the most fitting way possible, at Georgetown.  If that game is for the Big East regular season title... I don't even know how to capture the excited, neurotic behavior I will display.

All in all, that is a brutal closing stretch.  Far more difficult than any of the other three teams they are battling for the regular season title.  In fact, none of the other three teams face anyone else in that group other than Syracuse in their final five games.

If you're a glass half-full type of person, then you're probably thinking Syracuse holds their fate in their own hands.  If they play well this next week, they could grab a stranglehold on the conference.  Plus 3 of their next 4 are at home, where the Orange haven't lost in over two years.

And although it appears unlikely right now, a #1 seed in the NCAA Tourney isn't out of the realm of possibilities.  If they were to go 4-1 or 5-0 to close the season and make a run to the finals of the Big East Tournament, I think the committee would have to at least take a long hard look.

If you're a glass half-empty type of person, then you're probably thinking Syracuse has their work cut out for them.  And you'd be right.  Without going through the schedules of all 347 Division 1 teams, I'd venture to say that Syracuse may have the most daunting closing slate of any team in the country.  4 of their last 5 games are against teams currently ranked in the top 20.

Georgetown is on an eight-game winning streak and was the last team to beat Syracuse in the Dome.  Marquette has seemed to have our number the last few years and we've struggled on the road this season against lesser competition than them.  Louisville should've beaten us the first time and will be out for a revenge.  MCW better rest up nice and good next week leading to that game, because Russ Smith and Peyton Siva will be in his face all day.

Add it all together and it's not inconceivable that Syracuse could finish the season in a mini-slump and be at risk of falling out of the top four seed lines come tourney time.

Ultimately, I think it's an optical illusion and the glass is neither half-full, nor half-empty, but rather somewhere in between.  Did you follow that?  Good, neither did I.  Forced to choose, I think Syracuse finishes 3-2 in this stretch, good for 2nd or 3rd in the Big East and a 3 seed in the Big Dance.

One thing is for certain, the picture will be a whole lot clearer 72 hours from now.

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And it all starts with Georgetown this afternoon.

Part of me thinks Georgetown isn't nearly as good as their record, and that we can handle them fairly easily.  That part of me is the part that watched Georgetown struggle to get to 50 points against Tennessee and Marquette earlier this season.  That part of me looks at the stats and sees a team that ranks near the bottom of the Big East in rebounding, one of Syracuse's strengths.  That part of me sees a team that doesn't take a lot of threes, one of Syracuse's weaknesses.

The other part of me thinks there is no way this game doesn't come down to the last possession.  I saw a stat in the paper this morning that 20 of the last 87 matchups between these two have been decided by 2 points or less.  That part of me sees Otto Porter, a prototypical zone buster.  A big man who can shoot, pass, and handle and play right in the middle of the zone.  That part of me remembers plenty of times when a seemingly less talented Georgetown team came into the Dome and walked out victorious.

At the end of the day, I think Syracuse is just a little more talented than Georgetown.  I don't think Georgetown has the pressure defenders to get up into Michael Carter-Williams and knock him off his game, which is one of the main ways to stifle Syracuse's offense.  I also think Brandon Triche shows up in a big way from here on out, with only 3 games left in his home career on the hill.  And with the electricity of the record-setting crowd to get behind them, I expect that James Southerland's irrational confidence could be off the charts, leading to a sequence of 2 or 3 threes in a 90 second span.

My prediction?

3 dazzling passes and 2 bone-headed plays from MCW.

A double-double from C.J. Fair

A rebound / putback among at least 3 significantly taller players from Brandon Triche

32 head bobs from James Southerland

1 "Oh hey, Trevor Cooney is in the game" moment

And a 67-62 victory for Syracuse.