Syracuse Made The Final Four By Pressing Its Luck

This feature is part of VICE Sports' March Madness coverage.

Jim Boeheim will always tell you exactly what he thinks, so when the 71-year old coach made a bold proclamation on the court of the United Center following his team's 68-62 win over Virginia, you knew it wasn't hyperbole.

"This is the best comeback I've seen at Syracuse," he said. "I haven't been there forever, but in 52 years, this is the best comeback we've ever had."

He's right.

A 16-point, second half comeback is one thing. Doing it against a No. 1 seed is quite another. Doing it against Virginia, which has a style built to hold leads better than arguably any other team in modern basketball history, is in a league of its own. Quite literally, too—nobody has ever done it before:

Per TBS: UVa is 68-0 under Tony Bennett when leading by 10+ points at halftime.

— Jon Solomon (@JonSolomonCBS)March 27, 2016

Virginia basketball suffocates you. The Cavaliers play a slower tempo than anyone else in the country. When you're down by 16, you have far fewer possessions to get back into the game than you would against any other opponent. And worse still, UVA's offense is so efficient that the deficit just keeps mounting.

Knowing this, Syracuse was worried.

"Me being a human, absolutely," star Orange senior Michael Gbinije said.

Syracuse has a good basketball team, but not a great one. It's fair to say the Orange are one of the top 25 teams in the country, and they have had some good wins, but they were not on Virginia's level. Boeheim knew this: "You're playing Virginia, who's completely dominated us three times. I mean, let's face it."

Few teams can beat the Cavaliers by playing them straight up. Syracuse is not one of those teams. So with 10 minutes left and his team down 14 points, Boeheim gave into reality: he went to the press.

A press tends to mean desperation mode—particularly against a team so good at breaking it, like Virginia. And as a result, coaches are typically hesitant to go there, out of fear of getting blown out. Boeheim said screw it.

"They attacked it, and if they hit a couple on those right away, it would have been a 20-point game," he said. "But you have to take your chance. It doesn't matter whether you lose by 7 or 20; it's still you're going home."

From there, the lead shrunk in a way that seemed impossible against Virginia. Freshman Malachi Richardson hit three-pointer after three-pointer, scoring a stunning 21 points in the second half. The Cavaliers, who are so good at holding onto the ball, turned it over four times in the final 10 minutes of the game.

The Orange, who didn't hit a single non-putback shot in the halfcourt offense until there were six minutes left in the first half, made all seven of their shots from the time they began the press to when they took the lead.

"They made plays that were, that you would think from a basketball perspective could not be made, and they made them," Boeheim said.

Part of going on a run in March is getting lucky. Part of it is doing what it takes to get in the position to cash in on your good fortune.

By going to the press with 10 minutes left in a 14 point game—at the risk losing big and giving the pundits a case that the Orange simply cashed in on an easy schedule and weren't NCAA Tournament worthy—Syracuse beat Virginia in a way nobody ever had before.

The Orange are the first No. 10 seed to ever make the Final Four, but even though many bracketologists had them out of the NCAA Tournament on selection Sunday, they aren't your typical underdog. This is a powerful program, hated by many, and one that lost its coach for nine games due to NCAA sanctions.

Syracuse isn't your typical Cinderella, but this is a team that knows its weaknesses, and isn't afraid to break convention to pull out the most improbable of wins. That adds some underdog flavor to a Final Four that's getting a good, not great team—but one that's awesomely unpredictable.