The Orange, who are 12.5-point favorites, haven’t made it past the first round of the NCAA tournament since 2004. A four-game winning streak to end the regular season has many feeling the Orange are ready for a tourney run.

The Lumberjacks, making their first NCAA appearance, play solid defense, especially on the perimeter. SFA needs to control the tempo and have the game finish in the 60s if they’re to pull off a first-round upset.

After a game at St. John’s against the Red Storm tonight, they host Cincinnati with the winner of that game most likely finishing in the eighth spot in the Big East standings.

Syracuse ranks second in the Big East in scoring offense, but the past nine games have shown that if the Orange doesn’t play well on defense, it loses.

The Red Storm are not having a season to remember but at least they are not giving up. That certainly showed against Seton Hall on Sunday, when the team earned its fourth Big East win of the season with a hard-fought 70-65 victory before the home folks in Queens. Be sure to get your college basketball odds in the Bodog Sportsbook now.

Both injured players are expected to play, although Devendorf may again come off the bench when the Orange try to open 3-0 in the Big East for the first time since 2005-06. The Orange are only 5-6 ATS overall and 2-5 ATS at home so far this season.

Devendorf was instrumental in Syracuse's 60-55 win at DePaul last season, as he finished with 27 points.

The Orange are 2-1 against the Blue Demons since they joined the Big East in 2005-06.

The Blue Demons have just one win in their last nine conference road games. They have dropped five straight road games against Top 25 opponents since Dec. 13, 2005. Bet on college basketball games now!

Jimmy Clausen hasn’t thrown a touchdown pass in two games, but has 18 for the season and has done a better job of getting the ball downfield this season. He won’t have injured freshman standout WR Michael Floyd this week, though. Floyd suffered a sprained knee last week against Navy and will miss the final two games of the regular season.

With Greg Robinson’s coaching career at Syracuse down to two games, it will be interesting to see how the effort and energy of the Orange translates to the field. Bet on college football in the Bodog Sportsbook now.

The first half was close but Scottie Reynolds and the Wildcats blew Syracuse up in the second half. (AP Images)

Villanova exploded with a 55-point second half to blowout the favored Syracuse Orange 82-63 on Wednesday afternoon.

Eight three pointers were hit after halftime and the Wildcats were better than 50-percent overall from downtown. Syracuse actually led at the half, scoring 28 points to Villanova's 27, but the Wildcats were simply on fire after that.

Wildcats guard Scottie Reynolds led the team with 22 points and six assists off of 6 of 12 shooting and a perfect 6-6 from the line. The second leading scorer in the contest was another Wildcat, guard Corey Stokes with 18. Forward Donte Greene led the Orange with 17.

Amazingly Villanova, who are a small-ball team, out-rebounded the bigger Syracuse Orange 39-27.

Villanova blew out the Orange despite being three-point underdogs in the contest.

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Freshman Jonny Flynn dropped 17 on the Hoyas. (AP Images)

Desperate for a win, the Syracuse Orange relied on the home crowd to contribute. More than 31,000 showed up at the Carrier Dome to do just that. The raucous atmosphere fueled the Orange and rattled the No. 8 Georgetown Hoyas in a Big East matchup of arch-rivals.

Using a 24-8 first-half run to build a 20-point lead Syracuse toppled the Hoyas, 77-70, on Saturday afternoon. The victory was the first by the Orange over a ranked team since last season. At 17-9, the Orange have slim hopes of making the NCAA Tournament but a win over Georgetown will certainly help their cause.

Paul Harris led the way with 22 points while freshmen Donte Greene (18) and Jonny Flynn (17) also had big games as Syracuse rebounded from an embarrassing loss to South Florida on Wednesday.

The underdog Orange beat the point spread, which favored the Hoyas by 3.5.

In other notable Top 25 games on Saturday:

No. 3 Kansas 69, Colorado 45: Mario Chalmers had 13 points and Darnell Jackson had 12 as the Jayhawks blew out the Buffaloes. The game was a push.

No. 4 Tennessee 74, Georgia 71: After being held to just three points in the first half, Chris Lofton exploded for 19 after intermission as the Volunteers held off the Bulldogs in Athens, Ga. Tennessee failed to cover the 8-point spread.

No. 5 North Carolina 92, Virginia Tech 53: Tyler Hansbrough’s 23 points led the way for the Tar Heels, who won easily as 13-point favorites in Chapel Hill, N.C.

No. 7 Stanford 67, Arizona 66: The surprising Cardinal improved to 21-4 and also beat the point spread, which favored the host Wildcats by two.

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