ST. LOUIS — After Syracuse beat Dayton, 70-51, on Friday, several of the Orange’s coaches watched the Midwest Region game between No. 15-seeded Middle Tennessee State and No. 2-seeded Michigan State at Scottrade Center. They knew they would be playing the winner.
And so when Middle Tennessee State won, setting up a matchup Sunday against Syracuse, Griff Hopkins, the adolescent son of the Syracuse assistant Mike Hopkins, turned to another Syracuse assistant, Adrian Autry, and said, “It’s going to be a long night.”
After all, No. 10-seeded Syracuse (20-13) could not possibly have already prepared for a team that had just pulled off one of the biggest upsets in N.