For Syracuse basketball fans, the wait until next season is longer than ever

Syracuse vs NC State | 2014-15 ACC Men"s Basketball Highlights

The final horn sounded on the 2014-15 Syracuse University basketball season at 1:59 p.m. in Raleigh, N.C., when N.C. State completed a 71-57 win over the Orange on Saturday.

Hence began the longest "wait till next year" ever for SU basketball fans.

The time and final score were the only formalities left to fill on Saturday as Syracuse University basketball fans settled in to watch what they knew would be the last game of the season.

Man, that still feels weird to say, doesn"t it?

What they knew would be the last game of the season.

It"s just not supposed to work like that in college basketball.

Sure, there is always the possibility that each game can be your last in the postseason.

We all know Syracuse got sent home much earlier than expected last year thanks to the Dayton Flyers.

The year before, Syracuse was one of the last ones standing at the 2013 Final Four.

So it goes for SU basketball fans. From Final Four to early exit to no postseason at all.

The question is if the recent NCAA developments surrounding Syracuse athletics will shake the deep-seated loyalty of Orange basketball fans?

Let me answer that for you:

Heck no.

It will be a tough pill to swallow to watch every other team in the ACC head for the conference tournament this week (and you said you didn"t want to go to Greensboro).

I think the ratings for "Selection Sunday" on CBS will be at an all-time low in the Syracuse market as well.

Cruelly, the NCAA Tournament East Regional will plant itself in town later this month and offer an in-your-face reminder of what we missed.

But eventually the snow will melt (I promise it will. Really. Like in July.) and we"ll occupy our sports minds with baseball, Syracuse lacrosse, Crunch hockey, the NBA and NHL playoffs or whatever keeps your interest with SU hoops on hiatus.

You"ll still check in on your beloved Orange, eagerly anticipating who Thomas Bryant will commit to and following the latest developments on the NCAA case, especially if SU appeals, as anticipated.

Eventually spring will become summer, and trudging up the hill in 10-degree weather will be the furthest thing from your mind while you put for par on the eighth hole at Green Lakes or fall asleep while drifting Oneida Lake looking for the big one.

Before you know it, The Fair will be here and you"ll notice a little bit of a chill in the air.

Football season will arrive and the Orange will keep you interested until LSU comes to the Carrier Dome on Sept. 26 and wins big, prompting the first cries of "when is basketball season?"

That"s when you will really start to wonder if Kaleb Joseph"s new-and-improved physique will help him play better defense, if Michael Gbinije will play the point and if Trevor Cooney can have a redemptive senior year like Rakeem Christmas.

You"ll debate if the front court of McCullough, Coleman and Roberson can be matched in the ACC and who among the new crop of talented freshman will get serious playing time.

Then, albeit for a brief moment, you may remember the dread of awaiting noon on March 6 when the NCAA report came out.

You"ll probably forget that you felt relief upon learning that Syracuse didn"t get a postseason ban and your shock when seeing they did get hammered with 12 scholarship losses (which cost them a shot at Thomas Bryant), a nine-game suspension for Jim Boeheim in ACC play and more penalties than you anticipated.

But will it stop you dead in your tracks and squash the usual swell of excitement Halloween brings, knowing how close the new Orange basketball season is?

No. No, it won"t.

You"ll be back.

You"ll be back and ready to settle in for the thing that brings you through the first reports of black ice in early-November to the "will-you-just-stop-snowing-for-the-love-of-G*d!" days of late-March: Syracuse basketball.

A little ruling from the NCAA won"t stop you from coming back. Ancient history by then, right?

Besides, you have to see how Mike Hopkins does in his first year as head coach.

I kid, I kid! Just making sure you made it this far into the column.

Of course you"ll want to see how Boeheim makes it happen in his 40th season at the controls, even with 1,000 wins a goal no longer attainable thanks to the NCAA taking away 108 wins, because that"s such an effective punishment for his crimes at Syracuse (commence eye roll).

The fact is, by the time November rolls around, all the nonsense we have discussed in the last two days will be long forgotten and the dawn of a new basketball will wash out any disappointment about the longest wait ever between seasons.

It may feel as long as, say, how long it took the NCAA to investigate Syracuse, but we"ll get there.

Now if you"ll excuse me, I have to go cancel my reservation for the Denny"s in Greensboro.

Contact Brent Axe: Email | Twitter

Listen to "On the Block" with Brent Axe weekdays from 5-6 p.m. on ESPN Radio Syracuse

Source: http://www.syracuse.com/axeman/index.ssf/2015/03/for_syracuse_basketball_fans_the_wait_until_next_season_is_longer_than_ever.html