I must be out of touch. Is CBB really this mediorce. re: Syracuse

I don't watch CBB near as much as I used to, so I'm clearly not up to date with the current makeup of the field. Anyways, I just clicked on ESPN, and I see Syracuse beat Duke at the buzzer at home, and I see this headline: Cardiac Cuse making another late-season push into March

Then I saw a 17-12 record, an 86 RPI before the game (although a 32 BPI), and a so-so 5-6 (now 6-6) RPI against the Top 50. That seemed strikingly mediocre, especially since it seems be a foregone conclusion that this win put them solidly within the tournament. But I was really thrown off by this justification:

quote:

---

the Orange now can point to three wins against teams that were in the top 10 when they played them -- Florida State, Virginia and Duke -- as proof that they belong.

---

Clearly these impressive wins, but are we really at a point where "look where they were when they beat them" argument to justify their belonging? That justification doesn't even fly here. So is CBB really that mediocre that we've resorted to asinine justifications to support a >80 RPI team being solidly within the tournament?