Hello friends. Miami is just over 24 hours away from their AC Tournament opener vs Syracuse. These teams met only once during the ACC regular season. Syracuse won that matchup 70-55.

To get ready for the game, I joined our SBNation brothers over at Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician for a little Q&A action, which you can read here:

Turnabout is fair play, so I asked James Szuba from TNIAAM a few questions about the Orange and the upcoming 8-9 ACC tournament matchup. Here are James’ answers:

State of the U: Tell me about the Syracuse's season since the first Miami game?

Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician: It's been a polarizing season for sure. Syracuse has since picked up high quality wins against Virginia, FSU and Duke but also went on a 3 game slide. We're right where we were last year on the bubble, so... never a dull moment.

SOTU: Did you take away more positives or negatives from the performance against Duke?

TNIAAM: Positives for sure. We took some of their offense away and played solid. You never want it to come down to the last possession in the moment, but when you're able to deliver at the buzzer it's always galvanizing.

SOTU: Gut feeling about a rematch vs Miami?

TNIAAM: I gotta say, I think this will be a close game that could come down to the final minute. I think Syracuse knows how important this game is but Miami will execute.

SOTU: ZONE IS FOR COWARDS but y'all do it well. What ELSE is the calling card of this year's team?

TNIAAM: Shoutout to Bomani? Haha - that's it. The2-3 is Syracuse's MO but the three ball has been kind to us this year.

SOTU: Syracuse wins if...

TNIAAM: It executes. Plain and simple.

SOTU: Miami wins if....

TNIAAM: It knocks down perimeter shots and limits syracuse from deep. Vasiljevic time again?

SOTU: What’s your game prediction?

TNIAAM: I'm going to take syracuse in a nail biter as the orange really need a win to solidify its NCAA tournament hopes but I won't be surprised to see the game go the other way.

Thanks to James Szuba for joining us for this home and home Q&A. Be sure you follow him on twitter @jamesszuba, and check out our friends over at Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician — seriously guys, could you have POSSIBLY picked a longer name for your site?!? — for all your Syracuse needs.

Oh hey! We’ll see you guys again during football season! TURN UP!!!

Go Canes