Will traveling an exorbitant amount of miles eventually affect #2 Syracuse (19-0, 6-0)? Probably not as much as you'd think, given the program has gotten used to making similar trips while in the Big East (to Indiana for Notre Dame; to Wisconsin for Marquette; to everywhere else that isn't in central, NY). You've got to enjoy the travel if you're a basketball prospect considering Syracuse. Of course, you've also got to enjoy playing zone defense. The Orange will do both against Wake Forest (14-6, 4-3) in North Carolina tonight at 9:00 pm EST.

Jim Boeheim's team is ranked among the elite on the defensive end and below average offensively, a trend I'd predict is rather typical for his teams (but don't have the available information to back it up). Their offense is a lot better than those numbers would indicate, while their defense is probably about as good. In their big win over Villanova about a month back at least, the Orange looked nearly as complete as Arizona, with freshman point guard Tyler Ennis creating offense off the dribble, senior C.J. Fair doing a little bit of everything from the forward position (including managing his streaky three point shot), sophomore Trevor Cooney unleashing one of the sweetest three-point strokes in the country with some conscience, and sophomore Jerami Grant demonstrating more potential than all of them from the power forward/small forward position. If that sounded like a lot of "ophomore" and "eshman" sounds, it was. (Those four players account for 45 of the 72 points per game the Orange average.) If it also sounds like I like this Orange team, I do. But I always do, and they always seem to fail me come tourney time.

On a per game basis, Wake Forest's offense is nearly the same as Syracuse's. They do a slightly better job of delegating points, if that is indeed an asset. But I haven't yet watched the Demon Deacons this season, and I probably won't tonight, given my weekly schedule of Catan and the Iowa St - Kansas game also on at 9:00. Thus, enough individual statistics and on to their overall and most current results.

Like Syracuse, that part of their season looks better than the individual side, especially recently, where they've won three of their last four. Their two biggest wins this year came earlier, however, against North Carolina State (13-7, 3-4) and North Carolina (12-7, 2-4), though losing to North Carolina only seems to mean you're not good enough for them to beat you (see wins against Michigan State, Kentucky, and Louisville).

Rather than playing with the ten points, I'm going to give them to Wake Forest and take Syracuse for the cover. Their lack of huge blowout potential (given their offensive numbers) is a little worrisome, but they've been consistently beating teams by 10-20 points.

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Regular season: 10-7 (won 8 of 9)

Picking Schedule:

Butler @ Creighton: L (picked Butler, +10.5)

UConn @ Memphis: L (picked Memphis, -7.5)

Depaul @ Villanova: W (picked Villanova, -17.5)

Pittsburg @ Syracuse: L (picked Syracuse, -5.5)

Creighton @ Villanova: L (picked Villanova, -6.5)

Baylor @ Kansas: W (picked Baylor, + 10.5)

Indiana @ Michigan State: L (picked Michigan State, -12)

Iowa @ Michigan: L (picked Iowa, + 1.5)

Colorado @ Arizona: W (picked Colorado, + 14.5)

Illinois @ Ohio State: W (picked Illinois, + 11)

Michigan @ Michigan State: W (picked Michigan, + 4.5)

Villanova @ Marquette: W (picked Villanova, -3)

Utah @ Arizona: W (picked Utah, + 15)

Oklahoma @ Oklahoma State: W (picked Oklahoma, + 4.5)

Villanova @ Georgetown: L (picked Villanova, -6.5)

Michigan State @ Iowa: W (picked Michigan State, + 5)

St. John's @ Creighton: W (picked St. John's, + 12)