Coach: Jim Boeheim

Syracuse lost three senior starters. Gerry McNamara was the lone returning star, and Jim Boeheim knew that the team's success would all depend on how the junior class performed. They had moments of playing time in the past, but always the luxury of sitting behind veteran players, and now it was their time to shine.

The first few games of the season were promising. Terrence Roberts, who had played on the U.S. Under 21 National team over the summer, started out strong, leading the team in scoring the first two games. The team was playing strong defense, both zone and man-to-man. However the offense was struggling.

McNamara, for the first time, was the sole point guard on the team. He was finding it difficult to get his own open shots, and was having nights where he could not make a basket. He did catch lightning in a bottle against Davidson, scoring 38. And his assist totals, and turnover ratio were solid.

Roberts and Mookie Watkins were having a tough time holding onto the ball in the interior, and Louie McCroskey was playing outstanding defense, but offering little on offense. The bright spot was Demetris Nichols who was showing off his perimeter shooting and an excellent ability to drive to the hoop.

McCroskey was benched in favor of freshman Eric Devendorf, who brought some much needed offense to the team, though his defensive skills were lacking. Some injuries hit the team in December as Josh Wright and Arinze Onuaku would both hurt their toes. Wright would miss a few weeks of action, which would set back his development.

Despite the offensive woes and injuries, the team reached a 15-2 record, and broke into the top 20. Things then started to fall apart. The Orange faced three of the top teams in the Big East (and in the country) in Connecticut, Villanova and Pitt. They would lose those three and a fourth in a row to Seton Hall, marking the first time a Boeheim coached team lost four in a row.

The team chemistry seemed terrible. McNamara was still struggling to get his shot; Devendorf could shot and drive to the hoop, but wasn't a solid passer and a poor defender. Roberts and Watkins would seemingly disappear in games, and Watkins was extremely foul prone. Nichols, who played so well in the first part of the season, once again saw his offense and confidence disappear (similar to his sophomore season). And other than McNamara and Devendorf, the team was horrendous at the free throw line (particularly Roberts, Watkins and McCroskey). McCroskey got into a dispute with Boeheim, and missed a few weeks as a result. Fans were frustrated with the team's inconsistent play, lack of offensive game flow, and often apparent lack of effort on the court.

The team would go 4-9 to finish out the regular season, marking only the second time in Syracuse history the team failed to win 50% of its conference games. Most embarrassingly, was the 39 point loss to unranked DePaul, in a 'must win' situation for the Orange (marking the biggest loss in Boeheim's history).

The team closed out its regular season with a strong effort in a loss to #4 Villanova, as an NCAA record crowd came to say goodbye to McNamara on senior day, and to see Derrick Coleman's uniform get retired at halftime. The Orange entered the Big East tournament knowing they had to put a run together for an chance to get back to the NCAA tournament.

In the Big East tournament, the Orange faced Cincinnati in the first game. They built a fourteen point lead early in the second half, but sloppy ball handling throughout the game came back to haunt them (21 turnovers for Syracuse), and allowed the Bearcats to get back into the game. With 30 seconds left and the game tied, Terrence Roberts went to the free throw line. Roberts made the first free throw, then missed the second, giving the Orange a one point lead. Cincinnati's James White hit a basket with 10 seconds to go to give them a one point lead; Devan Downey stole the inbounds pass and was fouled. He made his first free throw and missed his second. Syracuse pushed the ball up court. With 0.5 seconds left, Gerry McNamara made a running one handed three point shot to give Syracuse the dramatic victory.

Next they faced #1 ranked UConn in the Big East quarter finals. Syracuse jumped out to a big lead early; the Huskies battled back in the second half. With 30 seconds to go, UConn took their first lead of the game. McNamara came up the hero for the second consecutive day with a 30 foot three point shot with 5 seconds to go to send the game into overtime. The overtime period was close, with Syracuse holding off the Huskies on a last second effort, to win 86-84. Both Roberts and Watkins, maligned for most the season, played big games for their second day in a row. GMac had thirteen assists for the day, ten in the first half alone.

Syracuse faced old nemesis Georgetown in the semi-finals. The Hoyas led by fifteen at the half, McNamara sat for ten minutes because of his nagging groin injury, and Roberts was benched because of poor play. In the second half, that turned around as McNamara hit five three point shots to erase the deficit, and Matt Gorman played well in replacement of Roberts. With 45 seconds to play the Orange were down by four, when McNamara drained his fifth three point shot to make it a one point game. On the next possession, Nichols knocked away an inlet pass, that McNamara picked up and raced down the court. He passed to an open Devendorf who laid it in for the game winning shot with 1.5 seconds to play, beating Georgetown 58-57. The Orange would be making their 13th trip to the Big East finals to face Pittsburgh.

The Orange jumped out to an early 15 point lead over the Panthers. Midway through the second half, Pitt had successfully erased the deficit, and took the lead. McNamara quickly nailed a three point shot after that. The game remained close down the stretch, and Josh Wright made four clutch free throws in the last minute, as the Orange hung on to win their fifth Big East Title, winning 65-61, to become the lowest seed ever to win the Big East tournament (a ninth seed).

The Orange faced Texas A&M in the first round of the NCAA tournament. They quickly fell behind, as they appeared fatigued from the four game run in the Big East tournament. More importantly, McNamara's groin injury was greatly hampering his play, and he would sit out most of the second half... there would be no game ending heroics for him this day. The Orange pulled within 3 points late in the game, but did not have enough to overcome the Aggies lead, and would end up losing 66-58.

© RLYoung 2006