2006–07 Syracuse Orange men's basketball team

2006–07 Syracuse Orange men's basketball

Conference	Big East Conference (1979–2013)
2006–07 record	24–11 (10–6 Big East)
Head coach	Jim Boeheim
Assistant coach	Bernie Fine
Assistant coach	Mike Hopkins
Assistant coach	Rob Murphy
Home arena	Carrier Dome

2006–07 Big East men's basketball standings
	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
#8 Georgetown†	13	–	3	.813	30	–	7	.811
#16 Louisville	12	–	4	.750	24	–	10	.706
#12 Pittsburgh	12	–	4	.750	29	–	8	.784
#17 Notre Dame	11	–	5	.688	24	–	8	.750
Syracuse	10	–	6	.625	24	–	11	.686
#20 Marquette	10	–	6	.625	24	–	10	.706
West Virginia	9	–	7	.563	27	–	9	.750
DePaul	9	–	7	.563	20	–	14	.588
Villanova	9	–	7	.563	22	–	11	.667
Providence	8	–	8	.500	18	–	13	.581
St. John's	7	–	9	.438	16	–	15	.516
Connecticut	6	–	10	.375	17	–	14	.548
Seton Hall	4	–	12	.250	13	–	16	.448
South Florida	3	–	13	.188	12	–	18	.400
Rutgers	3	–	13	.188	10	–	19	.345
Cincinnati	2	–	14	.125	11	–	19	.367


† 2007 Big East Tournament winner As of April 2, 2007^[1]; Rankings from AP Poll

The 2006–07 Syracuse Orange men's basketball team represented Syracuse University. The Head Coach was Jim Boeheim, serving for his 31st year. The team played its home games at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, New York. The team finished with a 24–11 (10–6) record, while making it to the quarterfinal round of the NIT tournament. The team was led by its three seniors, Demetris Nichols, Darryl Watkins and Terrence Roberts. Also seeing time in the starting lineup was senior Matt Gorman, junior Josh Wright, sophomores Eric Devendorf and Andy Rautins and freshman Paul Harris.

Season recap

Syracuse began its 2006–07 season looking for leadership after the graduation of four-year starter Gerry McNamara. Even without McNamara, the Orange had experience across the front line including seniors Demetris Nichols, Darryl Watkins and Terrence Roberts, while junior Josh Wright and sophomore Eric Devendorf rounded out the lineup. Other key players off the bench included sharp-shooting Andy Rautins, highly touted freshman Paul Harris, Mike Jones, Arinze Onuaku and senior Matt Gorman, the only holdover from the 2003 National Championship team.

Before the season even started, the Orange was hit with the injury bug, as Onuaku had season ending knee surgery.^[2] The Orange started ranked No. 17 in the AP Top 25 Poll, and won their first seven games, although they struggled through the early part of their schedule.

Injuries struck once again, as Watkins broke his nose against UTEP,^[3] and Roberts hurt his knee versus Drexel. Meanwhile, Devendorf missed time because of the death of a friend from his hometown in Michigan. This played into their early season struggles, as Syracuse lost three games to Oklahoma State, Wichita State and Drexel.

Devendorf was replaced in the lineup by Rautins, and while Harris showed flashes of his talent on defense and rebounding, he struggled with his shot and saw his playing time decrease.

Syracuse started its Big East schedule with a loss to Pittsburgh, but wins at Marquette and versus Villanova and a narrow escape against Cincinnati. The win against the Bearcats would prove to be the calm before the storm, as Syracuse then lost to St. Johns, blew a 14 point lead at Louisville,^[4] and gave up 103 points in a loss to Notre Dame in the Carrier Dome.^[5] Seemingly a lock for the NCAA Tournament at the beginning of the season, the Orange was now a bubble-team. After winning against DePaul and then losing at Connecticut, Nichols scored a career-high 37 points in a two-point win against St. Johns.^[6]

With the team's record at 16–8 overall and 5–5 in the Big East conference, Boeheim made several adjustments in the Syracuse lineup. He sent the struggling Wright to the bench and moved Devendorf to the starting point guard position and Rautins to shooting guard.

The move paid dividends, as Rautins went on a shooting tear and helped the Orange to win five of their remaining six regular season games. One of those wins was against No. 10 Georgetown at the Carrier Dome, which many assumed stamped Syracuse's ticket to the NCAA Tournament.^[7] At season's end, Syracuse posted a 21–8 record and 10–6 in Big East play.

In the Big East Tournament, Syracuse seemed to put the cherry on the top of their NCAA bid, beating Connecticut soundly in the first round before getting knocked out by Notre Dame in the second round.^[8] However, on Selection Sunday, Syracuse fans were stunned when the Orange was not selected to the NCAA Tournament.

It was the first time that a team with 10 wins in the Big East Conference was not invited to the NCAA tournament. Selection Committee Chairman Gary Walters said some of the factors in not inviting Syracuse included playing an uneven in-conference schedule, and having a weak non-conference schedule.^[9]

Syracuse headed to the National Invitation Tournament for the first time since the 2001–02 season. It defeated South Alabama and San Diego State before losing to Clemson in the quarterfinals of the NIT.^[10]

At season's end, Nichols was selected as a First Team All Big East performer, while Devendorf received All Big East Honorable Mention. Harris was named to the Big East All Rookie team.

Roster

Name	Number	Position	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
Andy Rautins	1	G	6–5	193	Sophomore	Jamesville, NY
Paul Harris	11	G/F	6–5	228	Freshman	Niagara Falls, NY
Darryl Watkins	13	C	6–11	258	Senior	Paterson, NJ
Arinze Onuaku	21	C	6–9	258	Sophomore	Lanham, MD
Eric Devendorf	23	G	6–4	178	Sophomore	Bay City, MI
Matt Gorman	23	F/C	6–9	235	Senior	Watertown, NY
Devin Brennan-McBride	25	C	6–9	254	Freshman	London, ON
Josh Wright	30	G	6–2	175	Junior	Utica, NY
Terrence Roberts	33	G	6–9	228	Senior	Jersey City, NJ
Demetris Nichols	34	F	6–8	212	Senior	Boston

Standings

Big East ^[11]
Big East ^[11]	W-L	GB	W-L
Georgetown	13–3	–	26–6
Pittsburgh	12–4	1	27–7
Louisville	12–4	1	27–7
Notre Dame	11–5	2	24–7
Marquette	10–6	3	24–9
Syracuse	10–6	3	22–10
West Virginia	9–7	4	22–9
Villanova	9–7	4	22–10
DePaul	9–7	4	18–13
Providence	8–8	5	18–12
St. Johns	7–9	6	16–15
Connecticut	6–10	7	17–14
Seton Hall	4–12	9	13–16
South Florida	3–13	10	12–18
Rutgers	3–13	10	10–19
Cincinnati	2–14	11	11–19

References

Syracuse Orange men's basketball

Venues	Archbold Gymnasium (1908–1947; 1952–1955) State Fair Coliseum (1947–1951) Onondaga County War Memorial (1951–1952; 1955–1962) Manley Field House (1962–1980) Carrier Dome (1980–present) Carmelo K. Anthony Basketball Center (practice)

Rivalries	Connecticut

Culture & lore	"McNamara's Band" Otto the Orange Scandal 6-overtime game Syracuse ISP Sports Network

People	Head coaches All-Century Team

Seasons	1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16

Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics; NCAA championships in bolded italics

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