Syracuse Orangemen Basketball 1976-1977

1976-1977 Syracuse Orangemen

Overall	26-4	NCAA 2nd Round	Schedule Results
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Coach: Jim Boeheim

Player	Cl	Pos	G	GS	Min	FG	FGA	FG%	FT	FTA	FT%	Ast	Reb	Fls	DQ	ST	BS	Pts	Ppg	Apg	Rpg
Jimmy Williams	Sr	G	30	28	-	186	403	46.2%	51	91	56.0%	66	46	72	2	54	-	423	14.1	2.2	1.5
Larry Kelley	Sr	G	30	25	-	137	280	48.9%	27	34	79.4%	70	62	58	2	-	-	301	10.0	2.3	2.1
Dale Shackleford	So	F/G	30	29	-	142	288	49.3%	62	97	63.9%	89	243	86	3	59	-	346	11.5	3.0	8.1
Marty Byrnes	Jr	F	29	29	-	113	231	48.9%	81	128	63.3%	62	219	77	0	-	-	307	10.6	2.1	7.6
Roosevelt Bouie	Fr	C	30	30	753	140	258	54.3%	46	55	83.6%	15	242	90	5	-	91	326	10.9	0.5	8.1
Louis Orr	Fr	F	30	2	546	105	186	56.5%	72	96	75.0%	52	194	75	3	-	-	282	9.4	1.7	6.5
Ross Kindel	Jr	G	30	7	-	66	166	39.8%	45	61	73.8%	92	64	49	0	-	-	177	5.6	3.1	2.1
Bill Drew	Jr	G/F	22	0	158	51	106	48.1%	15	19	78.9%	13	46	18	0	-	-	117	5.3	0.6	2.1
Reggie Powell	So	F	20	0	163	36	73	49.3%	13	22	59.1%	6	38	34	1	-	-	85	4.3	0.3	1.9
Cliff Warwell	Fr	G/F	20	0	145	30	82	36.6%	21	32	65.6%	8	37	29	0	-	-	81	4.1	0.4	1.9
Kevin James	Jr	F	26	0	210	25	59	42.4%	18	25	72.0%	15	41	22	0	-	-	76	2.9	0.6	1.6
Hal Cohen	Fr	G	23	0	198	21	49	42.9%	13	18	72.2%	30	21	14	0	-	-	55	2.4	1.3	0.9
Bob Parker	Sr	C	16	0	-	11	29	37.9%	10	13	76.9%	2	26	12	0	-	-	32	2.0	0.1	1.6

It was the dawn of a new era in Syracuse basketball. Jim Boeheim, elevated from his assistant coach position, brought his low key style of coaching and the new freshman Roosevelt Bouie and Louis Orr began the Bouie 'N Louie era.

Syracuse returned most of the players from the previous season, Chris Sease being the only starter to leave. Jimmy 'Bug' Williams and Marty Byrnes were the team captains, Ross Kindel the other guard, and Bouie and Dale Shackleford up front. The freshman class of Bouie, Orr, Hal Cohen and Cliff Warwell were expected to contribute great things to the program, but not for at least one more season. The Orange fans were going to be surprised.

Syracuse started out well, though the lack of a perimeter shooter concerned coach Boeheim. After five games, senior Larry Kelley regained the starting position he had lost his sophomore year, and provided that extra shooting. The Orangemen were a very balanced team, with nearly six players averaging ten points per game. The front line was tremendous with Byrnes, Bouie, Orr, and Shack all battling for the rebounding lead. And Boeheim frequently went deep in to the roster, with twelve players seeing action in 20 or more games. Bouie developed much faster than expected, and Orr was a terrific sixth man (he pulled down 20 rebounds in one game as a reserve).

Other than an early season loss to West Virginia, and a loss to a tough Maryland program, Syracuse was moving through the season well. By time the regular season had ended, the Orangemen were 23-3 (with a late season loss to St. Bonaventure).

In the ECAC playoffs, the Orangemen got their revenge on St. Bonaventure with a 85-72 win in the first round. Bouie had his season best 24 points and Byrnes pulled down 18 rebounds. Against Old Dominion, the game was close, but the Orange pulled off the 3 point victory behind Larry Kelley's 18 points.

The first round match up of the NCAA tournament was going to be tough. Syracuse's Bouie & Louie show was going to have to match up with the Volunteer's Bernie & Ernie show (All Americans Bernard King & Ernie Grunfeld). The game was close, with several fouls being called. By the end of regulation, Syracuse's Williams, Orr and Bouie had fouled out, as had Tennessee's two All Americans. In overtime, it was Syracuse's superior depth on the bench that paid off. Billy Drew, who had won a couple of games earlier in the season, scored five points in the extra period as the Orangemen would win 93-88.

The next round, the Orangemen faced North Carolina - Charlotte. Expectations were high, but UNC-Charlotte played a tough zone defense, and the Orangemen's perimeter shooting went cold. Kelley went 0-7 with no points, and Bug Williams had only 4. With the zone tightly packed, the front line of Syracuse couldn't get the easy the shots, and Charlotte went on to win 81-59.

It was a heartbreaking loss to the season, but the Orangemen had set a school record with 26 wins, and the team had matured earlier than expected. They finished ranked #6 in the country.

As a footnote, the junior varsity squad was disbanded before season, as the ability of freshman to play on the varsity had left it logistically unfeasible to maintain that team. Senior Larry Arrington and sophomore Billy Keys were told before the season they would see little playing time because of the depth of talent on the team, and both withdrew from the team as a result.