Syracuse, N.Y. -- The first NET rankings of the 2024-25 men's college basketball season debuted this morning and if you are a Syracuse fan, you might want to avert your eyes.

The Orange is ranked No. 177 in the NET, the tool the NCAA uses, essentially, to determine the value of Division I college basketball teams. The NCAA relies on the NET and other analytical sites to help decide which teams make its post-season tournament field and how those teams are seeded.

Only two ACC teams right now have a worse NET ranking than SU: Miami (191) and Virginia Tech (233).

Pittsburgh already has three Quad 1 wins, is crushing lesser opponents and is a team not enough people are talking about.

Syracuse plays tonight at Tennessee, a team ranked No. 1 in the NET right now. Because of SU's low NET ranking, if the Vols win, the victory counts only as a Quad 4 win for Tennessee.

Conversely, if SU wins, it gains an invaluable Quad 1 win.

The Orange is here partly because even though it has a 4-2 record, it has not beaten the lower-ranked teams on its schedule by significant points.

All its wins are Quad 4 wins and those victories came with an average margin of 6.2 points per game. (The NCAA has said it does not consider "margin" of victory, but instead calculates "efficiency." If teams win by significant margins, though, their offensive and defensive efficiencies climb.)

SU also has a Quad 1 loss to Texas Tech (NET 36) and a Quad 2 loss to Texas (NET 56). Both of those games took place at neutral floor Barclays Center.

All this is not to say the season is over for the Orange on Dec. 2. It means Syracuse has some serious work to do if it wants to play in the postseason. The ACC has five teams right now in the Top 30 of the NET, so there are opportunities out there for the Orange to vastly improve its NET ranking.

SU also plays Tennessee and Maryland (NET 23) this month.

Here's how ACC teams rank in the NET right now. Again, these numbers are fluid and will change throughout the season: