From Steve Infanti - The new season is little more than a week old and already we've seen Michigan State lose to Grand Valley State, Cincinnati beaten by Belmont, nationally-ranked USC lose by 15 to Mercer, and the most surprising of them all -- mighty Kentucky falling by 16 at home to Belmont.
 
And there have been plenty of near misses already this season as well.  #5 Georgetown struggled to beat William & Mary in its opener. 11th-ranked Marquette trailed IUPUI by five points with 13 minutes to go before rallying to win by 8.  Heck, even Syracuse was tested by a St. Rose (a Division II school) in its first exhibition.
 
The point is that no longer are there any "easy games" in college basketball.  Some national analysts (aka ESPN's Doug Gottlieb) have gotten on Jim Boeheim for his early season scheduling.  Coach Boeheim looks at the first part of the season as a way for his team to get ready for the Big East.  You could argue that the conference schedule these days is demanding enough -- you don't want to make it next to impossible for your team to get to that magical 20-win plateau.
 
Syracuse has one major non-conference game on its fixed schedule (a trip to Virginia on December 5th), with the potential for at least two more “quality” games in New York.  At the very least, SU will play Ohio State in the semifinals of the NIT Tip-Off Tournament.
 
They'll worry about that game next week.  For now, the Orange can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that they actually made it to New York.  That was not a given ... just ask Kentucky.