82 - 77 
Against the Wildcats on Saturday, the Orange suffered their fourth loss of the season in what might have been the best game they've played to date.
At risk of being labeled a homer, I'm just going to say it: the Syracuse Orange got robbed today. And it takes a lot for me to go that far, which should indicate to you just how atrocious that officiating was.
It certainly felt like almost every call, especially those that were most crucial, went in favor of the Villanova Wildcats, who needed overtime to beat Syracuse 82-77 at Wells Fargo Center on Saturday afternoon.
Villanova was called for 10 fewer fouls than Syracuse was, but perhaps the most influential call of the day was one that wasn't made.
After Nova's Josh Hart drilled a three to pull the Wildcats within two with under 10 seconds to play in regulation, it appeared that Trevor Cooney was shoved to the ground as Kaleb Joseph looked to give him the ball on the ensuing inbound play. But a whistle wasn't blown, and Joseph forced a pass to Rakeem Christmas, which resulted in a turnover that led to the overtime-forcing layup.
In some ways, did Syracuse blow it? Sure, you could say that. The Orange led 43-31 at halftime and had their chances to put this one away. But I've been watching basketball for a long time, and it hasn't been often that I've seen such poor officiating.
Christmas and Michael Gbinije had 18 points to lead Syracuse in the loss, while Trevor Cooney went 3-of-5 from deep and added 17 points of his own. And after turning the ball over eight times against Louisiana Tech six days ago, Joseph had four more turnovers but also recorded a season-high 10 assists.
JayVaughn Pinkston scored 25 points for the Wildcats to lead all scorers.
If you're focusing on the bigger picture, today's loss probably wasn't all that bad. That Syracuse forced overtime in a game in which Villanova was favored by 12 points is pretty encouraging. But, right now, this one hurts. Because they had it. They really did.
We'll have more recapping to come, but for right now, go ahead and sound off in the comments section here.
