The Syracuse Orange men's basketball program is an intercollegiate men's basketball team representing Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York. The program is classified in the NCAA Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and the team competes in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).
Syracuse is considered one of the most prestigious college basketball programs in the country with 3 overall claimed National Championships and 1 NCAA Tournament championship, as well being a National Runner-up twice. Syracuse is ranked sixth in total victories among all NCAA Division I programs and seventh in all-time win percentage among programs with at least 50 years in Division I, with an all-time win–loss record of 2042–931† () as of March 29, 2021. The Orange are also sixth in NCAA Tournament appearances (41), seventh in NCAA Tournament victories (70†), and eleventh in Final Four appearances (6).
The Orange play their home games at the JMA Wireless Dome, often referred to as the JMA Dome and known as the Carrier Dome from 1980 to 2022. The JMA Wireless Dome is the largest arena in NCAA DI basketball with a maximum capacity of 35,642. Syracuse's home court total attendance has led the nation 25 times, and its per-game season average attendance has been ranked first 14 times since the opening of the Carrier Dome in 1980. The most recent record-breaking game was against Duke in 2019 with the crowd of 35,642 people. The JMA Dome is often considered one of the best home court advantages in college basketball.
Under former head coach Jim Boeheim, 10 Big East regular season championships, five Big East tournament championships, 35 NCAA tournament appearances (and 41 all-time), and three appearances in the national title game.
In 2015, after a lengthy investigation, the NCAA's Committee on Infractions ordered Syracuse to vacate 101 wins from five different seasons; however, the NCAA confirmed that sanctions did not include the removal of any trophies or banners, and Syracuse claims all of its NCAA Tournaments appearances and conference titles from those years. The investigation required Syracuse to vacate 79 wins from the 2006, 2007, and 2012 seasons.
History
Early history
Basketball started at Syracuse in February 1898 and Athletic Director John A. R. Scott served as the first coach. Syracuse fielded its first varsity basketball team in 1916–17. The program rose to national prominence early in its history, retroactively being recognized by the Helms Athletic Foundation as a national champion for 1918 (under Coach Edmund Dollard) and 1926. While the NCAA lists the historical Helms selections for reference, neither the Helms nor the Premo-Porretta Power Poll titles are officially recognized as NCAA national championships. The program made National Invitation Tournament appearances in 1946 and 1950, won the 1951 National Campus Tournament, and made its first NCAA men's basketball tournament appearance in 1957. Notable early era players included Hall of Famer Vic Hanson and racial pioneer Wilmeth Sidat-Singh.
National emergence
The modern era of Syracuse basketball began with the arrival of future Hall of Famer Dave Bing. As a sophomore in 1964, Bing led the team to an NIT appearance and as a senior in 1966, he led the team to its second NCAA tournament appearance, where it reached the regional final. Bing's backcourt partner on these teams was future Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim.
Syracuse remained competitive after Bing's departure, with NIT appearances in 1967, 1971, and 1972. Under coach Roy Danforth, in 1973, the team began a string of consecutive NCAA appearances highlighted by a Final Four appearance in 1975. The 1975 squad featured guard Jim Lee and forward Rudy Hackett and was affectionately known as "Roy's Runts."
Big East era (1979–2013)
Jim Boeheim takeover Following the 1976 season, Danforth was hired away by Tulane University and the university turned to young assistant Jim Boeheim (a native of Lyons, New York) to assume the helm. Boeheim extended the string of NCAA appearances to nine, with bids in each of his first four seasons, a period in which his teams won 100 games. These teams featured star forward Louis Orr and center Roosevelt Bouie, and were sometimes referred to as the "Louie and Bouie Show."
A new conference Syracuse was a founding member of the Big East Conference in 1979, along with UConn, Georgetown University, St. John's University and Providence College. Syracuse and Georgetown were each ranked in the top ten in 1980, and a new and major rivalry blossomed when Georgetown snapped Syracuse's 57-game home winning streak in the final men's basketball game played at Manley Field House. Over the next ten seasons, these two schools met eight times in the Big East tournament, four times in the finals, and met numerous times on national television during the regular season.
Syracuse won the Big East tournament in 1981, but was passed over by the NCAA Tournament. The team, featuring Danny Schayes and Leo Rautins, finished runner-up in the NIT. The team returned to the NIT in 1982, before beginning another extended streak of NCAA appearances in 1983.
The Pearl
In 1983, heralded high school phenomenon Dwayne "Pearl" Washington joined the team, and led the school to NCAA appearances in 1984, 1985, and 1986, before leaving school early for the NBA draft.
Washington grew up in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, New York, where he acquired his nickname as an eight-year-old in a taunting comparison to Earl "the Pearl" Monroe. He was a playground phenomenon from Boys and Girls High School in Brooklyn, and was rated as the number one overall high school player in the United States 1983. He brought his flashy play to Syracuse University and the Carrier Dome. "The Pearl" was the master of the "shake and bake" and the "cross-over" moves.
It is believed that Pearl Washington brought Syracuse basketball to national prominence and helped usher the Big East into the national spotlight in the mid-1980s. In the Carrier Dome's first three years, Syracuse's highest attendance mark was a mere 20,401 in the 1982–83. In 1983, Pearl's freshman year, Syracuse's attendance increased to 22,380 per game. As a sophomore, Syracuse led the nation in attendance for the first time in school history. Syracuse would be the NCAA's attendance leader for the next ten years. By the time Washington was a junior, Syracuse's average attendance had jumped to 26,225. Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim, who has long said that there would be no Syracuse basketball program as we know it without Pearl, once said:He's the only guy who could just overnight fill the place like that. He had an unbelievable effect on our program. Everybody says that Patrick Ewing and Chris Mullin made the Big East, but I think Pearl made the league. They were the best players, but Pearl was the player that people turned out to see and turned on their TVs to watch. We had the highest-rated games every year that Pearl was here. He was a guy who everybody wanted to see play. He not only helped make our program, he helped make the Big East and he helped college basketball. In 2016, at the December 17 Georgetown game, joined alongside Washington's family, friends and former teammates, SU Director of Athletics John Wildhack helped unveil the No. 31 logo at center court to honor Washington. Washington died from brain cancer earlier that year eight months after being diagnosed. Washington has a street named after him in the Brownsville section of his native Brooklyn, New York.
Falling just short Despite the early loss of Washington, Syracuse returned to the NCAAs in 1987, with a team featuring Rony Seikaly, Sherman Douglas and freshman Derrick Coleman, reaching the National Championship game before losing, 74–73, in the final to Indiana on a last-second jump shot by Keith Smart. Led by Coleman, Douglas, Seikaly, Stephen Thompson and Billy Owens, the school extended its string of NCAA appearances to 10 seasons before that string was broken in 1993, due to NCAA sanctions resulting from an incident involving a booster.
Led by guard Lawrence Moten and forward John Wallace, the school returned to the NCAAs in 1994 and 1995. In 1996, Wallace led the team to its third Final Four appearance and second National Championship game, where it played impressively before losing, 76–67, to a heavily favored Kentucky team that included nine future NBA players (Kentucky head coach Rick Pitino had been an assistant coach to Boeheim in 1976, 1977).
A new millennium dawns
The 1997 squad won 19 games but was bypassed by the NCAA tournament and appeared in the NIT. The 1998, 1999, and 2000 squads featuring guard Jason Hart and center Etan Thomas all earned NCAA bids. In 2000, the university also named its All-Century Team, recognizing its greatest players of the 20th century and the school's first 100 years of basketball. The team made a fourth consecutive NCAA appearance in 2001, but returned to the NIT in 2002, despite having a 20-win season. This marked the first time a school with 20 wins from the Big East Conference was denied a bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Champions at last
Although unranked in the preseason polls for the 2002–03 season, led by freshmen Carmelo Anthony, Gerry McNamara and sophomore Hakim Warrick, the Orangemen won their first NCAA tournament championship with an 81–78 defeat of the University of Kansas in the final. Anthony was named NCAA basketball tournament Most Outstanding Player.
After the crown Anthony left for the NBA draft after the school year, but McNamara and Warrick stayed on, leading the team to NCAA bids in 2004 and 2005. The latter season saw Syracuse introduce a new nickname, dropping "Orangemen" and "Orangewomen" in favor of "Orange".In 2006, McNamara would lead the Orange to an extremely unexpected Big East Championship victory, making the ninth-seeded Orange the lowest seed to ever win the championship and only the third school to repeat as Big East tournament champions, but was immediately defeated in the opening round of the 2006 NCAA tournament by Texas A&M, 66–58.
The 2007–08 season for the Orange was up and down. The Orange had a 50-point win over East Tennessee State on December 15, the largest margin of victory in 20 seasons. They recorded top-25 wins over Georgetown and Marquette. But the team lost to Villanova in the Big East tournament opening round, and to UMass in the NIT. UMass became the first team ever to beat the Orange twice in the same season at the Carrier Dome.
In the 2008–09 season Syracuse was led by sophomore guard Jonny Flynn. The team returned key players like Eric Devendorf, Andy Rautins, Rick Jackson, Arinze Onuaku and Paul Harris. Syracuse gained a tremendous amount of media attention following a 127–117 upset of UConn in six overtimes during the early morning hours of March 13, 2009 "the Game that wouldn't end" to advance to the semifinals of the Big East Conference tournament. This game solidified their seeding in the 2009 NCAA tournament. This game was the second longest of any game in NCAA History and only the fourth to make it into six overtimes. However, they lost in the Big East Final. Syracuse received a 3 seed and beat Stephen F. Austin 59–44 in the first round. Syracuse stamped its ticket to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2004, defeating sixth seed Arizona State 78–67. However, the season ended with a loss to No. 2 seed Oklahoma, as the Sooners ended the Orange's season with an 84–71 loss.