Syracuse Basketball 1996-1997

1996-1997 Syracuse Orangemen

Overall	19-13	NIT First Round	Schedule Results
Big East	9-9		Previous	Next

Coach: Jim Boeheim


Player	Cl	Pos	G	GS	Min	FG	FGA	FG%	FT	FTA	FT%	3PT	3PA	3P%	Ast	Reb	DReb	OReb	Fls	DQ	TO	ST	BS	Pts	Ppg	Apg	Rpg
Jason Hart	Fr	G	32	32	1142	113	298	37.9%	58	84	69.0%	23	70	32.9%	184	113	83	30	85	3	99	90	2	307	9.6	5.8	3.5
Jason Cipolla	Sr	G/F	32	32	1068	153	381	40.2%	51	60	85.0%	65	172	37.8%	88	112	83	29	50	0	59	48	9	422	13.2	2.8	3.5
Marius Janulis	Jr	F/G	32	21	847	94	229	41.1%	41	54	75.9%	69	173	39.9%	52	121	97	24	88	3	46	20	1	298	9.3	1.6	3.8
Todd Burgan	Jr	F	25	25	844	125	318	39.3%	78	113	69.0%	49	135	36.3%	66	189	124	65	72	5	84	40	7	377	15.1	2.6	7.6
Otis Hill	Sr	C/F	32	32	937	203	370	54.9%	95	148	64.2%	0	1	0.0%	27	194	123	71	110	5	63	53	34	501	15.7	0.8	6.1
Elvir Ovcina	So	C	30	6	493	44	101	43.6%	8	13	61.5%	14	40	35.0%	37	144	87	57	65	0	35	23	38	110	3.7	1.2	4.8
Etan Thomas	Fr	F/C	25	12	408	55	103	53.4%	33	71	46.5%	0	0	---	3	105	53	52	58	1	33	9	48	143	5.7	0.1	4.2
Ramel Lloyd	Fr	G	25	0	296	43	105	41.0%	20	42	47.6%	8	29	27.6%	15	49	23	26	29	0	30	16	1	114	4.6	0.6	2.0
LaSean Howard	Fr	F/G	23	0	257	28	62	45.2%	12	27	44.4%	3	10	30.0%	20	48	31	17	31	0	17	14	3	72	3.1	0.8	2.0
Donovan McNabb	So	G	13	0	97	13	28	46.4%	8	14	57.1%	2	7	28.6%	6	17	6	11	10	0	6	4	3	36	2.8	0.5	1.3
JeCarl Riggins	Jr	G	12	0	47	3	7	42.9%	2	4	50.0%	0	0	---	11	6	3	3	4	0	6	0	0	8	0.6	0.8	0.5
Erik Frazier	Jr	G	7	0	22	3	13	23.1%	0	0	---	0	2	0.0%	5	3	0	3	2	0	1	0	2	6	0.9	0.7	0.4
Evan Vogel	Fr	G	6	0	15	1	2	50.0%	1	4	25.0%	0	0	---	2	2	1	1	1	0	2	1	0	3	0.5	0.3	0.3
Ryan Blackwell	So	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	---	-	-	---	-	-	---	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0.0	0.0	0.0

Syracuse had played in the NCAA Championship game the year before, but All American John Wallace and senior point guard Lazarus Sims had both graduated. Syracuse had senior Otis Hill returning to help score inside, and hopes were that Todd Burgan would continue to develop into a star. The team had plenty of perimeter shooting with Jason Cipolla and Marius Janulis on hand. Highly recruited freshman Jason Hart would be counted on to run the point guard.

Syracuse started the year ranked #13 in the country. However, they would face a tough Kentucky team in the Great Alaska Shootout, and the Orangeman would be routed 87-53. A few games later the Orangemen would lose easily to West Virginia, and then a close game to Miami. Six games into the season the Orangemen were 3-3 and out of the top 20.

The Orangemen had several problems. They were getting beat consistently at rebounding by the opposition. They did not have a good transition offense, nor a high percentage interior game, so they had to rely on the perimeter shot too much. Hart was a talented freshman, but he was prone to freshman mistakes and turnovers. Perhaps the biggest problem of all was the lack of bench depth, as only Elvir Ovcina and Donovan McNabb had any previous experience. Bobby Lazor and David Patrick had both transferred from last years team. Burgan and Hill would cause problems with the lack of depth as both were foul prone.

Syracuse was 6-4 on December 18th, when Burgan would be suspended seven games for an incident involving a female student. Freshman Etan Thomas would step into the starting lineup, and while he was a solid defensive presence, he was limited on offense. The Orangemen would go 4-3 with Burgan out of the lineup. The Orangemen were 10-7, and in very poor shape for making the NCAA tournament.

Burgan would return on January 20th, and the Orangemen would upset #16 Villanova 62-60 down in Philadelphia. They would end up winning three straight games, and things looked promising as perhaps they had turned things around. However, the Orangemen would then lose three out of four, and setting them back again. They would close out the regular season winning five of six, but their record of 18-11 and 9-9 in the Big East meant they had some work to do in the Big East Tournament.

The Orangemen would beat Notre Dame easily in the first round behind Hart's 24 points. However, Villanova would easily dispose of Syracuse in the second round, and Burgan would injure his finger in the game.

Syracuse would not earn a bid to the NCAA tournament, and would go to the NIT tournament. They would face Florida State in the first round of the NIT, but would lose easily 82-67 in a very uninspired game. Burgan would play only seven minutes because of his finger injury and score no points.