Syracuse Orangemen Basketball 1963-1964

1963-1964 Syracuse Orangemen

Overall	17-8	NIT Tournament	Schedule Results
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Coach: Fred Lewis


Player	Cl	Pos	G	GS	FG	FGA	FG%	FT	FTA	FT%	Reb	Fls	DQ	Pts	Ppg	Rpg
Dave Bing	So	F/G	25	25	215	460	46.7%	126	172	73.3%	206	60	-	556	22.2	8.2
Carl Vernick	Sr	G	21	12	21	46	45.7%	13	17	76.5%	28	19	-	55	2.6	1.3
Norm Goldsmith	So	F	25	11	78	192	40.6%	43	75	57.3%	169	40	-	199	8.0	6.8
Sam Penceal	So	F	23	14	35	89	39.3%	14	24	58.3%	72	45	-	84	3.7	3.1
Chuck Richards	Jr	C	24	24	177	299	59.2%	174	237	73.4%	228	81	-	528	22.0	9.5
Jim Boeheim	So	G	25	1	50	105	47.6%	31	38	81.6%	41	46	-	131	5.2	1.6
Rich Duffy	Jr	G	23	-	42	85	49.4%	19	27	70.4%	25	48	-	103	4.5	1.1
Phil Schoff	Jr	F	24	-	50	130	43.8%	44	55	80.0%	85	36	-	158	6.6	1.5
Frank Nicoletti	So	G	22	-	39	91	42.9%	19	34	54.3%	49	28	-	97	4.4	2.2
Dick Ableman	So	G/F	19	-	23	53	43.4%	13	22	59.1%	49	15	-	59	3.1	2.6
Rex Trobridge	So	C	16	-	8	28	28.6%	2	11	18.2%	33	27	-	18	1.1	2.1
Jim Seaman	Sr	G	14	-	18	44	40.9%	19	25	76.0%	3	25	-	55	3.9	0.2
Bob Murray	Sr	C	13	-	15	29	51.7%	5	7	71.4%	17	11	-	35	2.7	1.3

The arrival of the much heralded sophomore Dave Bing and Army transfer Chuck Richards helped the Orangemen improve significantly. Bing's explosive play and flashy style brought immediate success to the court, and teamed with Richards, the duo provided a 1-2 scoring punch that Syracuse had never seen. Richards would be the leading scorer in the first half of the season, while Bing would increase over the course of the season.

The Orangemen would bring notice that things were changing with the Syracuse squad when they played in the Hurricane Classic in December. Defensive ace Sam Penceal helped to slow down Princeton's All-American Bill Bradley, as the Orangemen would beat the highly rated Tigers. The next night the Orangemen would face the Miami Hurricanes and their All-American Rick Barry. Richards would miss the game due to illness, but Bing would respond with 29 points, and seldom used Bob Murray would score 16, including the game winner in overtime, as the Orangemen would beat the Hurricanes and win the tournament.

Coach Fred Lewis was turning up the tempo on the offense, stressing the team to push the ball up the court. Little Rich Duffy was starting to blossom as a playmaker. Sophomore Norm Goldsmith was becoming a nice rebounding complement to Richards and Bing. Co-captain Carl Vernick, high scorer of the previous two seasons, would lose his starting position as the underclassmen continued to improve, particularly junior forward Phil Schoff and sophomore Jim Boeheim, who both came on strong as the season drew to a close.

The Orangemen would struggle as the new year started, losing three in a row to St. Johns, LaSalle and Army, the last two by a combined total of three points. They would then win six straight, and eleven of their last fourteen games to finish the season at 17-8, the best season since 1956-57. With the top eight players returning for the following season, including Bing and Richards, fans were eager to see what was next.