The finishing touches were put on Syracuse’s 2016-17 schedule Monday afternoon. The Atlantic Coast Conference rolled out its entire slate of games, releasing relevant details on heavily-anticipated matchups for SU against Duke, North Carolina, Virginia and more. The entire schedule is available below this post.

Here are three takeaways from the Orange’s schedule release.

The road less traveled

It appears Syracuse has a more favorable road schedule compared to last year. Its toughest test will come in back-to-back conference road games against the Tar Heels on Jan. 16 and Notre Dame on Jan. 21. Aside from that, the only other consecutive conference road games come against Clemson and Pittsburgh on Feb. 7 and 11, respectively.

Last year, SU played back-to-back ACC road games on three occasions, not including a three-game road set against Wake Forest, Duke and Virginia. The Orange folded in those travel-heavy weeks, going only 1-5 during the three couplets of road games.

As per usual, Syracuse’s road schedule doesn’t really pick up until conference play begins. Two non-conference games are listed at road sites (Nov. 29 at Wisconsin and Dec. 5 against Connecticut in Madison Square Garden) and the Orange’s game against South Carolina on Nov. 26 will be played at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. SU plays five road games in February before ending its regular season at home against Georgia Tech on March 4.

Soft landing

Syracuse’s season-ending home game against the Yellow Jackets marks the first time since the Orange entered the ACC that it won’t end the regular season on the road. SU has lost its two games played in the ACC tournament, which the team has to travel to after coming back home from its regular season-ending road game.

Obviously the late-season travel didn’t bother the Orange in last year’s NCAA Tournament run to the Final Four, but it’s still something to consider after 31 regular season games. Even the physical road to the ACC tournament this year is beneficial for Syracuse. The conference tourney will be played at the Barclays Center, compared to years past in Washington D.C. and North Carolina.

Eyes up

Both Syracuse-Duke matchups in the Carrier Dome have drawn 35,446 fans to the Carrier Dome, formerly setting an on-campus NCAA attendance record in 2014. However, this year’s home game against the Blue Devils is slated for Wednesday, Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. It certainly looks like a schedule hiccup for one of college basketball’s marquee matchups.

An Elite Eight rematch with UVA will draw well, as the Orange and Cavaliers play in the Carrier Dome on Saturday, February 4 — 315 days after Malachi Richardson shocked Virginia with 21 second-half points to push Syracuse into the Final Four. Another top billing for SU fans also comes on a Saturday, when SU and Georgetown square off in the Carrier Dome on Dec. 17 at noon. Syracuse previously announced that students with season tickets will have access to the Georgetown game even though it’s in between the fall and spring semesters.

Regardless of physical attendance, viewership of Syracuse could be up. Fifteen games are set to be broadcast on one of ESPN’s networks, punctuated by a Big Monday matchup at UNC on Jan. 16.

Published on September 12, 2016 at 4:47 pm