On Tuesday, the Syracuse Orange men's basketball team lost its exhibition opener 72-52 against the UConn Huskies at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn.

Just hours before that, a media panel selected the Orange to finish 11th in the 18-team league in the preseason poll.

For comparison, the Syracuse women were selected to finish seventh. The Orange men went 15-17 a season ago, finishing 6-12 in the league, and ending up 14th in the final league standings. Therefore, the media panel sees this year's team as having some overall upside that it didn't a year ago.

1) Duke

2) Virginia

3) Louisville

4) Miami

5) North Carolina

6) Clemson

7) Florida State

8) North Carolina State

9) Virginia Tech

10) SMU

11) Syracuse

12) Pitt

13) Stanford

14) Wake Forest

15) Cal

16) Notre Dame

17) Boston College

18) Georgia Tech

Ultimately, the preseason polls don't mean anything, as the standings will decided on the court. However, it is interesting to note that the media sees Syracuse as likely to finish significantly better than it did last year despite having a new head coach and a mostly new roster.

The point is clear: People believe in Gerry McNamara and what he's building. It's a refrain we heard from UConn head coach Dan Hurley as well this week. He called McNamara one of the best young coaches in the country, and he's so confident in what he's building that he wants to see Syracuse and UConn play regularly in the regular season because he thinks that game will be of value to his program.

That's a sign of real trust and real belief, and it's clear that McNamara has it.

Furthermore, if Syracuse does finish 11th in the league? They'll have a chance to snap the program's five-year NCAA Tournament drought. While No. 11 wouldn't give SU great odds, there is a chance in an expanded NCAA Tournament field. Remember, the field is moving from 68-76 teams.

Syracuse will take the lessons it learned on Tuesday night into a Sunday matchup (2 p.m. ET) with the Siena Saints.

Ironically, that's the program that McNamara and three SU players (Gavin Doty, Francis Folefac, Tasman Goodrick) came from, so it will be an emotional return to Loudonville. Siena will honor each of those four people by raising the MAAC championship banner from last season at the Times Union Center.