The Orange will go for the Battle 4 Atlantis title when they take on Texas A&M today.
Teams: Syracuse Orange (5-0) vs. Texas A&M Aggies (6-0)
Day & Time: Friday, November 27, 3:00 p.m. ET
Arena: Imperial Arena, Paradise Island, Bahamas
TV: ESPN
Announcers: Dan Shulman, Jay Bilas, Andy Katz
Radio: Syracuse IMG Network, WAER 88.3
SB Nation Blog: Good Bull Hunting
Rivalry: 1-0, TAMU
Current Streak: 1, TAMU (duh)
First & Only Meeting: On the heels of Gerry McNamara's epic run through the Big East Tournament, the Orange earned a 5-seed in the 2006 NCAA Tournament. The 12-seeded Aggies took advantage of G-Mac's debilitating groin injury and even though SU pulled within three late, TAMU pulled away for a 66-58 win.
Head Coach: A 1986 graduate of Southeastern Louisiana, Billy Kennedy spent much of the 80's and 90's as an assistant for taking the head job at Centenary, which didn't go great. However, he parlayed into the HC gig at SE Louisiana where he led the team to the NCAA Tournament in his sixth season. He spent one year at Miami as associate head coach and then took over at Murray State where he led the Racers to the NCAA Tournament and NIT in his final two years. He landed the TAMU job in 2011, saying this was "his destination job and he plans to retire there." In October,he announced that he had been diagnosed with early-stage Parkinson's Disease. After a brief absence, he returned and has since coached the team back to respectability with each of his four seasons.
Last Year: The Aggies finished the season 21–12 (11–7), losing in the second round of the SEC Tournament to Auburn. They were invited to the NIT where they defeated Montana in the first round before losing in the second round to Louisiana Tech.
Last Game: In the other Battle 4 Atlantis semifinal, TAMU upset No. 10 Gonzaga 62-61 thanks to a late defensive effort and 19 points from Danuel House.
"Fear Me, I've Killed Hundreds of Timelords": The aforementioned Danuel House is the team leader in scoring (15.8) but Tyler Davis is an even tougher match-up, averaging 15 points as well as 7.4 rebounds per.
If Syracuse Wins: They will have won the Battle 4 Atlantis, re-affirming that we should just play all of our games outside of the Continental United States.
If Syracuse Loses: It'll be a bit of a letdown following the great effort vs. Charlotte and emotional victory over UConn, but, it's not the worst thing in the world.
Fun Fact: Syracuse started 6-0 for five-straight years before last season. They could get back to it with a win here.
