The Syracuse Orange men's basketball program is the intercollegiate men's basketball team representing Syracuse University. The program is classified in the NCAA's Division I, and the team competes in the Big East Conference. Since playing its first official season in 1900-1901, the Orange has established a strong reputation as the fifth winningest men's Division I basketball team of all-time, and currently holds an active NCAA-record 40 consecutive winning seasons.[1]
In its 35th year under current head coach Jim Boeheim, the team has compiled an all-time record 32 20-win seasons, including eight Big East regular season championships, five Big East Tournament championships, 25 NCAA 
Tournament appearances (and 32 all-time), and three appearances in the national title game.[2][3][4] In those games, the Orange lost to Indiana in 1987 and Kentucky in 1996, before defeating Kansas for the title in 2003.
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.[5] 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."[6]
Following the 1976 season, Danforth was hired away by Tulane University and the University turned to young assistant Jim Boeheim 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."[7]
Syracuse was a founding member of the Big East Conference in 1979, along with 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.[8] 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.[9] The team returned to the NIT in 1982, before beginning another extended streak of NCAA appearances in 1983.
Buoyed by the visibility provided by the Big East and by rising attendances at the Carrier Dome, Syracuse continued to increase in national prominence. Heralded high school phenomenon Dwayne "Pearl" Washington joined the team in 1983, and led the school to NCAA appearances in 1984, 1985, and 1986, before leaving school early for the NBA Draft.[10]
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.[11] 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.[12]
Led by guard Lawrence Moten and forward/center John Wallace, the school returned to the NCAAs in 1994 and 1995. In 1996, Wallace led the team to its third Final Four appearance, where it played impressively before losing, 76–67, in the final 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.)[13]
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.[14] 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.[15] The team made a fourth consecutive NCAA appearance in 2001, but returned to the NIT in 2002, despite a 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.
Although unranked in the preseason polls for the 2002-03 season, led by freshmen Carmelo Anthony and Gerry McNamara and sophomore Hakim Warrick, the Orangemen won their first NCAA Tournament Championship with a 81–78 defeat of the University of Kansas in the final. Anthony was named NCAA Basketball Tournament Most Outstanding Player.[16]
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.[17] 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 9th-seeded Orange the lowest seed to ever win the championship and only the 3rd 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.[18]
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.[19] They recorded top-25 wins over Georgetown [20] and Marquette [21]. 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.[22]
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 4th to make it into six overtimes[23]. 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 6th 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 a 84–71 loss.[24]
At the start of the 2009-10 season, having lost three key players (Devendorf, Flynn, Harris) from the previous season, the Orange was not considered a top contender, unranked[25] in the preseason AP Poll. An early exhibition game loss to local LeMoyne College, a Division II school, did little to improve the outlook. However, led by its starters, returning seniors Andy Rautins and Arinze Onuaku, junior Rick Jackson, a relatively unknown transfer from Iowa State University, forward Wes Johnson, freshman point guard Brandon Triche, plus standout reserve players, sophomores Kris Joseph and Scoop Jardine, the team began to deliver, winning its first 13 regular season games. By the second week of rankings, the Orange had climbed into the top ten, staying in the top five continuously from week 9. Syracuse reached a number one ranking two weeks before the season ended, finishing the season in fourth place with its best-ever regular season win–loss performance, at 28-3. It finished on top of the Big East for the regular season, losing in the Big East Tournament's quarter finals. A 1-seed in the West Region of the 2010 NCAA Tournament, the Orange fell in the Sweet Sixteen to 5-seed and AP #11 Butler to end the season 30–5.
In 2010-2011 season, led by Senior Big East Defensive player of the Year Rick Jackson and Juniors Kris Joseph and Scoop Jardine the Syracuse Orange started strong going undefeated in their non conference schedule and going 18-0 before losing in Pittsburgh. The loss to Pittsburgh Panthers started a slide for the Orange and the team went on to lose six of their next eight games. The Orange regained their momentum by beating West Virginia Mountineers and went on a six game winning streak before losing in overtime to Connecticut Huskies semi-finals of the Big East Tournament. With a record of 28-7, the Orange were selected by the NCAA committee as #3 seed in the East Region. The Orange beat Indiana State easily in the second round of the tournament 77-60. In the third round, the Orange faced a Marquette team they lost to earlier in the season, the Orange starting out strong building a 10 point lead before Marquette came back. The game was close throughout and the Orange came within a basket of making the tournament. However, it was not ment to be as Dion Waitersthrew the ball off target mid-air in the front court as his cousin Scoop Jardine's outstretched arm corralled the ball from the backcourt, and his right foot landed on the half court line. At the time, this was called a backcourt violation. However, after the game the officials would admit that was the wrong call. According to the 2010 and 2011 NCAA Men's and Women's Basketball Rulebook, Rule 4, Section 3, Article 8 states: "After a jump ball or during a throw-in, the player in his/her front court, who makes the initial touch on the ball while both feet are off the playing court, may be the first to secure control of the ball and land with one or both feet in the back court. It makes no difference if the first foot down was in the front court or back court." Marquette's guard Darius Johnson-Odom went on to hit a three pointer with 27 second lefts to give the Golden Eagles the lead and a spot to the Sweet Sixteen. With the loss, the Orange left the tournament earlier than expected and for the first time in their history, not having lost to non big east team the whole year.
To date, the Syracuse men's basketball program has the active NCAA record with 40 consecutive winning seasons, has made 33 NCAA Tournament appearances, including 4 Final Four appearances and one NCAA Tournament Championship. The program has also made 11 NIT appearances and won 2 early (pre-tournament era) national championships. The program has produced 2 Hall of Fame players, Vic Hanson and Dave Bing, and one Hall of Fame coach, Jim Boeheim.
The Orange have experienced a tremendous home court advantage over the years. For most of its history, only one team had ever beaten Syracuse at home more than once in a season. Penn State beat the Orange twice in Syracuse in the 1922–1923 season. The feat went unmatched until the 2007-2008 season when the University of Massachusetts defeated the Orange in the Carrier Dome by scores of 107–100 and 81–77.
