Syracuse is out.

This happens every season. Teams thought they were in, the committee makes their decision and Jim Nantz has that goofy look on his face when he debates the brackets with Billy Packer. Then they talk about the schools left out, prefacing each sentence with ‘I don’t want to take anything away from…’ before they take something away from them.

But it’s not supposed to happen to Syracuse, right? Syracuse fans are supposed to debate the path to the Sweet 16, not the RPI of Xavier. Plus, not this season. Not after it beat Georgetown. Not when it went to New York City and beat Connecticut in the Big East tournament. That was supposed to be the tongue on the envelope. Everyone thought they were in.

Even Doug Gottlieb.

You pick the adjective – shocked, amazed, surprised. All would be applicable. None will put Syracuse in the NCAA Tournament.

The Orange was snubbed, however you want to slice it. Pundits will continue to regurgitate SU’s merits. You’ll hear claims about the Orange’s schedule – it played 10 Tournament teams, going 5-5. But then the issue of the non-conference schedule will come up, which included two Tournament teams, both at the Carrier Dome.

Boeheim will answer back with the fact that even a home-heavy non-conference schedule featured better opponents than some of the teams in the Tournament. Plus, he’ll cite the Big East schedule and how SU beat Marquette on the road, Providence on the road, was the only team to beat Georgetown in two months, split with Villanova and had to take on Louisville and Pitt, too. But that won’t put Syracuse in the Tournament.

You can go back throughout the season and find games when SU was soclose. You’ll cringe at Demetris Nichols’ botched lay-up against Wichita State. You’ll curse the 14-point lead the Orange surrendered against Louisville – a Tournament team – and ask what if Eric Devendorf didn’t foul St. John’s Avery Patterson while shooting a 3-pointer or SU hit a few more free throws against Notre Dame on Thursday. But that won’t put Syracuse in the Tournament.

Maybe the blame – or at least part of it – can fall on the shoulders of the Big East. When the conference expanded to 16 teams in 2005-06, most of the new teams were basketball schools. Programs like Louisville and Marquette were reaching the Tournament when they were in Conference USA. The Big East was regularly earning five bids. So theoretically, if the Big East was getting five or six teams in when it was 12 teams, a 16-team Big East conference should place at least seven or eight teams in the Tournament. Instead, the Big East still had only six teams. And that won’t put Syracuse in the Tournament.

The reality is this happens every season to a handful of teams. Even this year, central New Yorkers aren’t the only ones complaining. Philadelphia has a soft spot for Drexel today and Manhattan, Kan., can’t believe Kansas State was held out of the Tournament. The barbershops in Tallahassee, Fla., will curse Tournament committee chairman Gary Walters’ name the same way pilots will complain about Air Force’s exclusion.

It’s not just Syracuse. And it might sting today, but Boeheim has said it for weeks. There are so many teams and so many slots, and an argument could be made for more teams than slots. Syracuse’s argument sounds convincing, but if the roles were reversed, Arkansas fans would argue or Stanford fans would argue.

That’s where the advocates for expanding the Tournament enter. All types of numbers are thrown out – 80 teams, 96 teams, 128 teams. Though the numbers sound like a good idea in theory, it’s akin to college football fans asking for a playoff. The NCAA hasn’t exactly been very accommodating about major changes.

But try this one – expand the Tournament to 68 teams. As it stands now, there are 65 teams with a play-in game between two schools fighting for the chance to lose to a No. 1 seed. That’s foolish. No No. 16 seed has ever beaten a No. 1 seed anyway. What four play-in games will provide is stronger No. 16 teams, stronger No. 15 teams and three more quality teams – this year that could be Syracuse, Drexel and Florida State – will be in the Tournament. The Tournament doesn’t become any longer and there are no major changes, save for three more games on Tuesday night between the Jackson States and Central Connecticut States of college basketball.

The expanding-the-Tournament argument, which Boeheim has been trumpeting for years, could be the best solution, although it won’t do anything for this season. Neither will complaining about the Big East nor overtaking Arkansas’ message boards. That won’t put Syracuse in the Tournament.

Zach Berman is the sports editor for The Daily Orange, where his columns will appear Wednesdays. E-mail him at zberman@syr.edu.

Published on March 13, 2007 at 12:00 pm