This Is My Favorite SU Team Since

[TexanMark]

This group is really likable. Too bad Geno left but the rest of the guys seem to enjoy playing together. I'm really impressed with Moyer...seems like a great glue guy. Marek...I hope you decide that spending 3-4 years here is better than trying to stick with a lower level Euro league. Mature and have fun here playing in front in 15-33k fans. Howard is up and down...but he has stuck it out when others would've left.

Probably my favorite team since 2002-03 or 1974-75...not the best but a fun group to watch.

 

[NineOneSeven]

The 2009-2010 team was incredible to watch

 

[721Comstock]

The 2009-2010 team was incredible to watch

THIS. 2010 team was just awesome.
We’ve had better teams, we’ve had better seasons, but that team was so great together.
Likeable guys, great style of play, and the sum was greater than the parts.

Jury is still out on this crew, but you have to love the effort and spunk and hustle.

 

[Flacusian]

I can’t remember a season which we entered into knowing as little about what to expect as this season. It also seems that the expectations were very modest especially when the news broke that Taurean Thompson was not going to return. Conventional wisdom was that Frank was an enigma, perhaps compounded by an attitude issue and we were going to field a team which was not expected to be very good.

And then the season started. And we’ve been treated to an ever unfolding litany of pleasant surprises and seeing the emergence of a gritty team with a chemistry which seems to be developing more with each passing game. I’ve realized that we have some kids who can flat out play and have a winning and determination and attitude. There is an emerging juju that this team seems to have that is exciting and likeable. Simple said... these kids do not want to lose and they are learning how to win. I’m fully onboard with this team and I think they will continue to surprise a lot of teams and people. I’ve been a rabid fan since 1973 and I’m seeing some things in this team that I haven’t seen very often in all the years I’ve been locked in... and man, do I love it!

 

[DonLightfoot]

Jury is still out on this crew, but you have to love the effort and spunk and hustle.

My opinion as well.

 

[OrangePA]

This group is really likable. Too bad Geno left but the rest of the guys seem to enjoy playing together. I'm really impressed with Moyer...seems like a great glue guy. Marek...I hope you decide that spending 3-4 years here is better than trying to stick with a lower level Euro league. Mature and have fun here playing in front in 15-33k fans. Howard is up and down...but he has stuck it out when others would've left.

Probably my favorite team since 2002-03 or 1974-75...not the best but a fun group to watch.

Agreed.

Fun team to watch and will only get better.

 

[bballbeadle]

I think the unexpected delight is the best of all the delights!

 

[HakAttack]

My favorite team was the 08-09’ team, mostly because they flew under the radar for much of the season until that 6OT game and really gelled for a S16 run.

Plus...the Belgian Waffle. Marek solidified himself as KONG 2.0 with that fall on Saturday.

 

[two3zone]

I loved the 2012 team. Best team I've ever seen.

 

[reedny]

My reaction this year is pleasant surprise. We’re thin (literally and figuratively), inexperienced and we don’t shoot it well. So why are we winning? I’d posit three reasons: 1) This team has good chemistry, players support each other and care more about winning than who’s putting up numbers or impressing scouts; 2) Hustle/Poise. Our players have bought in and are giving it up for the cause. There’s no panic in this squad. They believe in each other and they’re too busy playing defense and diving on the floor for loose balls to get down on themselves; and 3) We have size. We're not beefy, but JB’s finally got the height he needs to play guys at their natural position and get after it on the glass. We've moved up almost 300 spots from last year in rebounding alone, much of it on the offensive glass. Some of that is Oshae. But it's also having big forwards and legit. centers. People are down on Chukwu because he’s awkward on offense. But on defense he changes the zone, gets balls in the air (that would otherwise go to opposing centers) ... and alters a ton of shots.

Conference play is going to be brutal... lots of top 20 matchups coming that I’m not sure we have the offense to keep up with. But I tell you what, if you told me 3 months ago that we’d go 9-1 at this point I wouldn’t have believed it. A couple tough OOC games left. But if we can make it through non-conference play with one loss, I like our chances on selection Sunday even if we play near .500 in the ACC.

 

[jncuse]

I can’t remember a season which we entered into knowing as little about what to expect as this season.

Not as much uncertainty as this year, but since we brought up 2010 earlier... I think the uncertainty of a team is what makes a team so likable when it goes well.

- Flynn left for the NBA early, Harris and Devendorf moved on early.
- The team had 2 returning established players in Rautins and Onauku
- We had heard good things about Wesley Johnson
- Did we really expect the level of progression from Joseph, Jardine and Jackson?
- Lemoyne.

 

[pearl31]

I loved the 2012 team. Best team I've ever seen.

what could have been...

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Like my children, I love all of our teams equally.

 

[littlereg]

what could have been...

Oh the memories...

 

[orange79]

Like my children, I love all of our teams equally.

In public, you have to say that. I get it.

 

[Dave85]

I loved the 2012 team. Best team I've ever seen.

I agree the 2012 team was a really good team:

Syracuse Basketball 2012-2013

I really thought this one was going to win a national championship:

Syracuse Basketball 2009-2010

This team was fun because they overachieved all expectations:

Syracuse Orange Basketball 2015-2016

List of all teams with stats:

Syracuse Orange Basketball Season Records

 

[midloviking]

IMO, the Sherm, Stevie, DC teams were the most exciting teams to watch. Sure, others have been great but whenever Sherm had the ball in his hands anything could happen. Pearl was Pearl but d*mn Sherm was The General.

 

[OttoMets]

Can anybody point to a Syracuse team with as many kids willing to hit the deck for a loose ball as this one? Ever?

That alone is reason to love this group. I've never seen this level of hustle before.

 

[two3zone]

Can anybody point to a Syracuse team with as many kids willing to hit the deck for a loose ball as this one? Ever?

That alone is reason to love this group. I've never seen this level of hustle before.

I do love the hustle but it makes me very nervous when they're hitting the floor.

 

[dollarbill44]

IMO, the Sherm, Stevie, DC teams were the most exciting teams to watch. Sure, others have been great but whenever Sherm had the ball in his hands anything could happen. Pearl was Pearl but d*mn Sherm was The General.

I was fortunate to have been at SU during those years. That 87-88 team was electric. That team could play with any SU team. Definitely good enough to win it all, they just didn't.

 

[Jasoncuse]

They are a fun team to root for, one of the best in that regard in some time. But watching them set back offensive basketball for long stretches isn't exactly a pretty watch.

Love the hustle, rebounding and overall desire. I've had more favorites to root for because of how good those teams were on both ends of the floor. We're a good (maybe great) rebounding team, but a pretty poor offensive group overall and a suspect defensive team. If we are succeeding in ACC play, this team should shoot up everybody's favorites list...

 

[SoBristol]

Like having 3 perimeter guys who can each drive & score, like the rebounding from the forwards -- wondering how the centers will hold up, and wondering how often the outside shooting will be good enough.

Footnote -- there is a sugar high about this team based on the final 10 minutes of regulation, and OT, vs G-Town. There was some luck (and JB coaching) that turned it our way. Wasn't liking much about the first 30 minutes.

 

[DoctorBombay]

The 2000-2001 team is my all-time personal favorite. Why? Low, no make that- NO EXPECTATIONS for that lineup of Preston Schumpert, MeShaun Williams, Allen Griffin, Damone Brown, and the irrepressible Billy Celuck at the 5-spot.
The prior year we’d lost to the Mateen Cleaves & The Flint Stones, Michigan State
team in the Sweet 16, after squandering a big lead. Jason Hart and Etan Thomas had left and were not walking through that door!
But, w/ Griffin at the point and arguably the best shooter in SU history in Schumpert, we managed to go from unranked to #8 in the polls, and BEast Regular Season champs. If not for Schumpert getting poked in the eye by some Pitt thug during the BEast Tournament, we’d have won that too.
What i loved most was that no one, and i mean NO ONE thought that team would do so well. Celuck epitomized that team because he couldn’t run or jump a lick, was skinny and frail, very unathletic, yet he set great screens for his mates and played the middle of the zone perfectly.
JB’s best teams are the ones that start with low expectations and end up surprising us. I sense that this years team fits the mold, and IMO, the sky’s the limit as to how far they can go.

 

[RF2044]

The 2009-2010 team was incredible to watch

That team finished the regular season ranked #1. Enough said.

 

[OrangeDW]

Like having 3 perimeter guys who can each drive & score, like the rebounding from the forwards -- wondering how the centers will hold up, and wondering how often the outside shooting will be good enough.

Footnote -- there is a sugar high about this team based on the final 10 minutes of regulation, and OT, vs G-Town. There was some luck (and JB coaching) that turned it our way. Wasn't liking much about the first 30 minutes.

I’m still not sure if we finish in the top 10 of the ACC.