After Syracuse failed to qualify for the field of 68 in the NCAA Tournament. Though they just missed out, Syracuse was given a #1 seed in the NIT Tournament. Their first round opponent is a pretty amusing bit of irony.
Syracuse will face UNC-Greensboro in the first round of the NIT. The two schools don’t have bad blood but the city of Greensboro, North Carolina sure does toward legendary Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim.
Boeheim made some comments that were none to pleasant toward Greensboro when asked about where the ACC should play its conference basketball tournament. The 2017 edition was played in Brooklyn and Boeheim wants to keep it that way instead of going back to Greensboro. It even prompted the local baseball team Greensboro Grasshoppers to have “Jim Boeheim Night.”
When it was revealed that Syracuse would face UNC-Greensboro, people expressed a bit of schadenfreude toward Boeheim and his Syracuse team.
Wow … I saw the Syracuse/UNC-Greensboro NIT stuff and thought it was a joke … They really did it? #wellplayed
— Maurice Patton (@mopatton_sports) March 13, 2017
https://twitter.com/gregroyce/status/841110253752242176
https://twitter.com/NicoleAuerbach/status/841086132527980546
I'm still chuckling over the NIT pitting Syracuse and UNC-Greensboro together. Now if only Greensboro could pull the upset….
— Ken Fang — Very Asian (@fangsbites) March 13, 2017
#BeatCuse! (Syracuse) @UNCGBasketball 😊#NIT @greensborocity ❤️ pic.twitter.com/a8hslkd74x
— Corrie (@CorrieLE) March 13, 2017
The NIT put Syracuse against UNC-Greensboro after Jim Boeheim complained about Greensboro. This is A+ level trolling.
— Allan Bell (@AllanGBell) March 13, 2017
NIT committee is savage: Syracuse vs UNC-Greensboro
— Mark Schlabach (@Mark_Schlabach) March 13, 2017
.@AdamZagoria @ACCSports We kindly disagree. But I guess you can lose in the 1st round anywhere. At least it’s a quick ride home.
— City of Greensboro (@greensborocity) March 8, 2017
Wow pic.twitter.com/Yj57xHjN6i
— City of Greensboro (@greensborocity) March 11, 2017
While the NIT Tournament gets largely ignored in favor of the bigger one, something tells me that some more people will be paying attention to this year’s tournament.
