When Syracuse opened the 2019-20 season at home, Carmelo Anthony, star of the Orange’s 2003 NCAA championship club, addressed Jim Boeheim’s squad in the locker room prior to the game. Any words of wisdom or exhortatory pleas seemingly felt on deaf ears as Syracuse dropped a 48-34 decision to No. 11 Virginia.
Tony Bennett’s defending national champs apparently reverted to the strength that have long sustained his program. The Cavaliers turned to their pack-line defense to dictate tempo and terms of engagement a year after losing Kyle Guy and Ty Jerome, a pair of veteran guards adept at outside shooting.