Syracuse, N.Y. — Father Ryan looked out before the crowded house and had to chuckle a bit. In his many years as a priest, he quipped, he had never received applause to come out and do the announcements after mass. While I'm sure many were anticipating the details of the upcoming church bible school, wearing a Syracuse University pullover to do those announcements had to help Father Ryan win over that crowd a bit. The Syracuse University men's and women's basketball teams are in the Final Four. Together. For the first time ever. Read that again. Yes, Virginia, it's true. This is Syracuse's fifth trip to the Final Four under head coach Jim Boeheim and its sixth overall. 1975, 1987, 1996, 2003 and 2013. They are years branded on the brain of an Orange fan like their childhood phone number or your Social Security Number. No matter what happens on the courts of Houston and Indianapolis this weekend for Coach Boeheim and Coach Q, 2016's Final Four run will have its own place in basketball lore in a town crazy about basketball for two distinct reasons. 1. It didn't just come out of nowhere, it came out of a black hole. Syracuse wasn't even supposed to be here, right Doug Gottlieb? The Orange had lost five of its last six games to end the season, were 4-5 without its Hall of Fame coach and sat squarely on the bubble on Selection Sunday. All Michael Gbinije, Trevor Cooney Malachi Richardson, Tyler Roberson, Tyler Lydon and company did was prove all you need is a chance and the March Madness gods can reward you. 2. The Syracuse women's basketball team will go to the Final Four for the first time ever. Do you realize how much of a pipe dream that once was in this town? You may as well have set out to go to the moon. Coach Quentin Hillsman didn't see it as an obstacle, he saw it as a challenge and he got his team to a Final Four in about a decade, which is about the same amount of time it took John F. Kennedy's vision to come true for the United States to ‌ wait for it ‌ get to the moon. And to do it the same year the men's team will also go to a Final Four? I mean, come on. I've seen some sentimental sports movies in my day, but a Hollywood script writer laughs that story out of a room. With all apologies to the New York State Fair or complaining about a foot of lake effect, nothing brings Syracuse, N.Y., together like a Final Four run. All you have to do is shake your head and smile at a friend or co-worker and it's understood code of what these teams have accomplished. The "Marathon Men," "Cardiac Cuse," "Real Women Wear Orange" and various other T-shirts we scooped up for past Final Fours will be on full display along with the distinct brightness of the new shirts that will fly off shelves and websites this week marking the latest run to college basketball's biggest event. By the end of the week, heck by the end of Tuesday, it will be hard to find a window not dotted with an SU flag, newspaper poster or old 'Cuse in the House!' sign. The Niagara Mohawk building will shine Orange and Blue and the SU flag will fly high over the State Tower Building. Freedom of Expresso will sell plenty of "Mala-Chai's" and "Bean-ije" ice coffees this week. Bar owners did a fist pump when they saw Syracuse get the 8:49 p.m. tip time for the Final Four matchup with No. 1 seed North Carolina and set a reminder to order some extra kegs. Party store owners better stock up on anything and everything Orange this week. A Syracuse Final Four can rival Halloween or New Year's Eve in sales. How about some good old-fashioned human interaction, I mean those darn kids can't even get their heads out of their phones these days, right? Try again. (OK, maybe there were a few selfies taken. It is 2016 after all) It's certainly not just in the borders of Onondaga County where the party's at. Orange fans and alums around the world, including the Vice President of the United States , are walking with a little more...

• published: 28 Mar 2016
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