Shortly after 6 p.m. on Sunday evening, as the second region of the 2016 NCAA Tournament was being revealed, a bracket of the 68-team field was leaked on Twitter and began circulating online.

At the time, every team that had been announced on TV matched up perfectly with the leaked bracket. Syracuse hadn’t yet been announced, but was listed as a No. 10 seed in the Midwest region facing seventh-seeded Dayton.

“Somebody told me that, but I didn’t know if I believed it,” SU head coach Jim Boeheim said of the leak. “I don’t know if that’s ever happened before.”

With each pick announced on TV that correctly matched up with the leaked bracket, it became clear that the 68-team field was already online even as the CBS television crew had two regions left to announce.

The Orange ended up being one of the last teams announced on TV and in the exact spot as the leaked bracket indicated almost an hour before.

“I didn’t see the leaked bracket, so I was kind of stressing a little bit watching the TV,” fifth-year senior Michael Gbinije said. “… It was a great feeling.”

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MORE COVERAGE:

• Syracuse earns No. 10 seed in NCAA Tournament, will face No. 7 Dayton in Round of
• Rapid thoughts on Syracuse-Dayton NCAA Tournament matchup
• Trevor Cooney on making the NCAA Tournament: “It’s almost everything”
• Storify: Community reacts to Syracuse basketball earning a No. 10 seed in the NCAA Tournament

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On the other hand, fellow fifth-year senior Trevor Cooney heard of the leaked bracket but similar to Boeheim, didn’t know whether to believe if it was true. He too was watching each pick on the TV and then looking back at the field released online.

“I saw it when they got done one of the first regions,” Cooney said. “I was looking at it and I was like, ‘Is this real, is this fake?,” but I guess that’s just today’s world.”

The Orange was predicted to be one of the last teams in the field or one of the first teams out, but neither was the case. Instead 10th-seeded SU will travel to St. Louis Missouri for a matchup with the No. 7 Flyers on Friday at 12:15 p.m.

Published on March 13, 2016 at 8:00 pm

Contact Matt: mcschnei@syr.edu | @matt_schneidman