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Beat writers predict mixed outcomes in Syracuse’s final game of season

Beat writers predict mixed outcomes in Syracuse’s final game of season

A Syracuse team that's playing its last game of the season will go up against an N.C. State team fighting for a tournament berth. Our beat writers have mixed feelings on the outcome of the Orange's season finale. Chase Gaewski | Staff Photographer

Phil D’Abbraccio (22-8): Syracuse 63, N.C. State 55
Pack it up
To go home, though. Rakeem Christmas bullies an N.C. State frontcourt that has one player averaging more than 5.0 rebounds per game. Maybe Michael Gbinije and Trevor Cooney capitalize on the Atlantic Coast Conference’s 10th-best 3-point shooting defense — Gbinije simultaneously stirring up speculation he could leave for the NBA and Cooney heading into the offseason with a personal high. But what happens in those 40 minutes on the court will either be a last piece of the argument that this was a Tournament team anyway, or a fitting finish to a season that goes nowhere. The only game that remains, and matters, is the waiting game between now and next year’s season opener.

Jesse Dougherty (23-7): Syracuse 67, N.C. State 60
It’s only a game
With the NCAA dropping sanctions on Syracuse yesterday, Saturday’s game against N.C. State is just a speck on the radar. Not many people are focusing on the actual game considering what the athletic program is currently going through, but that isn’t a reason to count SU out of this one. The Wolfpack isn’t a team to win a game from beyond the arc — especially now that T.J. Warren isn’t around to haunt the Orange — and Syracuse gets revenge in the same state where NCSU prematurely ended its ACC tournament a season ago. This time, the Wolfpack will prematurely end the Orange’s season, but that won’t be due to what the scoreboard reads at game’s end.

Jacob Klinger (23-7): N.C. State W, Syracuse L
Who cares?
Not me. Syracuse Athletics is a hot garbage fire right now. So I really don’t think that I, as a reporter, should spend any serious amount of mental energy thinking about which set of man-children will put a ball through a basket more times. I mean, good luck to them; I’ll watch, but the TV will be my second screen. The first will have the NCAA report on it.