Coach: Jim Boeheim

Syracuse was entering the final year of the 'Bouie & Louie' Show, as Roosevelt Bouie and Louis Orr were finally seniors. The team was coming off a 26-4 season, with everyone but Dale Shackleford returning. Eddie Moss moved into the starting lineup over Hal Cohen, but coach Jim Boeheim still used all three of his guards (including Marty Headd) frequently. The team also had a couple of highly touted freshman in Erich Santifer and Tony Bruin to help out on the court.

Danny Schayes would start the season as the other starting forward opposite Orr, but addition of Schayes, while giving the Orangemen tremendous height up front, cost the team a lot of speed. Sophomore Ron Payton would end up taking over the position from Schayes shortly after the season began. By mid season, Payton was struggling with a knee injury and Santifer would end up assuming his position (something he would never relinquish).

The Orangemen were a tough team to stop offensively. Teams tried to double up on either Orr or Bouie, but when they did that, the big man in single coverage would often make the opposition pay. The team's ball handling was crisp, the lineup very fast (including Orr and Bouie) and they were getting through the earlier part of the schedule easily. All of this despite the fact the team was having rebounding problems; the loss of Shackleford was tough to replace, and Orr and Bouie could not carry the entire load.

The Orangemen had won their first thirteen games of the season, though many were questioning if they were a legitimate big time team. That would change shortly.

On January 13th the Orangemen went to Mackey Arena to play Purdue University in what was considered at the time one of the biggest regular season games in Syracuse basketball history. The Orangemen were undefeated and ranked #5, and were facing Purdue, ranked #9, and their All American center Joe Barry Carroll. The Orangemen would fall behind by 10 points in the second half,a nd trailed 59-56 with 1:58 left in the game. The Orangemen would rally win 66-61, behind solid defensive work of Orr and Bouie. Carroll had a strong first half and ended the game with 28 points, but Bouie shut down Carroll down the stretch. Moss was the real star of the game with multiple steals, outstanding defense and 10 rebounds.

The Orangemen would unfortunately lose their next game to Old Dominion, on a controversial last second ODU shot that appeared to have go after the shot clock expired. Over the next few games Bouie would start to assert himself assertively on office with 29 points and 16 rebounds versus Connecticut, and a 30 points versus Temple.

The Orangemen saw their home court winning streak snapped at 57. Sadly, in the last game ever to be played at Manley Field House, the Orangemen lost to Georgetown 52-50, and Eric 'Sleepy' Floyd sank two free throws with five seconds on the clock. Hoya coach uttered the hated phrase 'Manley Field House is officially closed' after the game ended, something that would help fuel the rivalry as the decade progressed.

Eighteen days later, the Orangemen and Hoyas would once again meet in the inaugural Big East Championship. And once again, the Hoyas would come out on top, this time 87-81.

Syracuse would face Villanova in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Bouie would be in extensive foul trouble and played only 10 minutes and scored 2 points. Fortunately for the Orangemen, Santifer had his best game of the season, going 13 of 15 from the floor and scoring 29 points leading the team to a 97-83 victory over the Wildcats.

In the next round Syracuse faced Iowa. The Orangemen led by 57-51 with about seven minutes left when Iowa made a couple of baskets to shrink the lead to two. Bruin was called for foul (which replays showed did not occur) and Coach Boeheim screamed at the official, getting a two shot technical. Iowa took advantage of the technical and momentum to take the lead. Bouie would foul out a couple minutes later, and the highly rated Orangemen would go home, losing 88-77.

© RLYoung 2005, 2006, 2007