I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least take note of this.
First Pitt. Then Kansas. Now Syracuse.
Beating the big teams is getting to be old hat for Bucknell, which used its slowdown offense to rally past the 17th-ranked Orange 74-69 on Tuesday night.
“We never take the underdog role,” said Kevin Bettencourt, who led Bucknell with 20 points and keyed a late 13-2 run that decided the game. “We think we can win every game.”
And why not?
Last January, Bucknell handed 10th-ranked Pittsburgh its first loss of the season, also snapping the Panthers’ 48-game home winning streak against non-conference teams. Then in March they shocked the third-seeded Jayhawks 64-63 in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
On this night, it was the Orange’s turn. Bucknell (2-0) won for the first time in nine meetings with Syracuse (3-2) and sent the Orange to their second straight loss.
Bucknell returned most of the starters from last year. It still doesn’t remove the sting, but it is interesting considering how Syracuse absolutely destroyed Texas Tech a few days ago.
Looks like Pitt definitely won’t be the only up and down team in the Big East this year.