SWC75
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(I posted this last year after the seaosn was over. As we head into another tournament, I thought it was worth re-posting)
There has been some confusion over SU’s historical NCAA record so I decided to compile the details in a single post. Instead of identifying rounds as the “1st round”, the “2nd round”, etc. I’m identifying them as the “round of 64“, the “round of 32”, etc. The round of 64 is before the round of 32, even if there weren’t 64 teams yet. The “first four” games would be the “round of 128”, which may someday be the actual size of the tournament. We haven’t played a game in that round yet but someday maybe we will. There was no round of 64 prior to 1979. There were also no seedings prior to that year. I’ve recorded the seedings from that point onward and provided information to indicate who would have been higher ranked prior to that so we can see how many of these games were considered actual upsets as opposed to upsetting losses. I’m putting some information regarding consolation games in there but won’t count them as part of the official NCAA record since we were no longer in contention for the title.
1957
Round of 32: SU beat Connecticut 82-76. Neither team was ranked or had a bye. We were 16-6. They were 17-7. They were a Yankee Conference team so I assume we were favored.
Sweet 16: SU beat Lafayette 75-71. Neither team was ranked but the Leopards were 22-4 and had gotten a bye so this was an upset.
Elite 8: SU gave North Carolina’s undefeated , #1 ranked national champions a good game but lost 58-67. People have always wondered what we could have done with Jim brown, a good basketball player who quit the team before the season because the coach had a rule against having a majority of the starters be African-Americans and he already had Vinnie Cohen and Manny Breland in the line-up.
1966
Round of 32: SU got a bye.
Sweet 16: SU beat Davidson 94-78. We were ranked 16th by the coach’s. The writers only had a top 10. Davidson was unranked.
Elite 8: SU lost to #2 ranked Duke 71-81
1973
Round of 32: SU, #14 in both polls, beat unranked Furman, 83-82
Sweet 16: SU lost to Maryland 75-91. Lefty Driesell’s Terps were ranked #8 by the writers and #10 by the coaches and had had a bye in the round of 32.
Eastern Regional Consolation: we beat Pennsylvania 69-68 on two steals in the final seconds, the last SU team to end the season with a win until the national champions of 2003.
1974
Round of 32: SU and oral Roberts were both ranked 20th- SU by the coaches, ORU by the writers. The ranking proved accurate as the game went into overtime but we lost 82-86. They had been 21-4 to our 19-6. Both teams were independents. The game was played in Denton, Texas and Oral Roberts is in Tulsa. The Titans, (as they were then called- they are now the Golden Eagles), had recently moved up from the small college ranks, although they’d been in the previous two NITs. They would eventually return to the small college ranks as an NAIA team, then come back to NCAA Division I basketball as a member of the Summit conference. The ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia calls this team their best ever and described the SU win as a “upset”. it must have been the mildest upset in history.
1975
Round of 32: SU beat LaSalle in overtime, 87-83 in Philadelphia. Neither team was ranked but the Explorers were 22-6 to our 20-7. We’d beaten them 82-78 in Manley earlier in the season. This would be another very mild upset.
Sweet 16: Jimmy Lee’s jumper beat North Carolina, who was ranked #7 by the writers and #10 by the coaches, 78-76.
Elite 8: SU beat Kansas State in overtime, 95-87. Neither team was ranked or had gotten a bye We were 22-7 to their 20-8 and had just beaten UNC. The game was played in the Providence Civic Center so I’m sure we were favored.
Final Four: SU lost to Kentucky 79-95. The Wildcats were ranked #6/#4 by the writers and coaches.
We lost to Louisville 88-96 in overtime in the national consolation game. Imagine being in overtime in a consey.
1976
Round of 32: Unranked SU lost to #16 Texas Tech 56-69.
1977
Round of 32: SU, rated #10/#9 beat Tennessee, ranked #7/#8 93-88 in overtime
Sweet 16: SU was shockingly blown out by UNC Charlotte, (now simply “Charlotte”), 59-81 in a game that wasn’t that close. The 49ers were ranked #18 by the writers, unranked by the coaches.
1978
Round of 32: SU, ranked 18th by the writers, unranked by the coaches, lost, 86-87 in OT to an unranked Western Kentucky team when the referees wiped off the tying shot by Marty Byrnes at Billy Packer’s insistence, (“This isn‘t the NBA: there‘s no continuation!”). Instead of getting a free throw for a game winning three point play Marty had a one and one to tie and he made only the first with a second left and the tip-in wouldn’t go. &%&^$#!
1979
Round of 64: We had a bye.
Round of 32: 4th seeded SU beat 5th seeded Connecticut, (a year before there was a Big East) 89-81.
Sweet 16: We got run off the court by 9th seed Pennsylvania, 76-84. Yes, Pennsylvania!
1980
Round of 64: We had a bye.
Round of 32: Top-seeded SU beat 8th seeded Villanova, (a year before they joined the Big East), 97-83.
Sweet 16: We lost to 5th seeded Iowa,77-88 ending the Louie and Bouie Show. We got some solace when they did the same thing to Georgetown in the next round.
1983
Round of 64: 6 seeded SU beat Morehead State 74-59 in a 6-11 game.
Round of 32: We lost to 3-seed Ohio State 74-79: If we’d had won we’d have been playing the Eastern Regional in the Dome. The good old days.
1984
Round of 64: We had a bye.
Round of 32: Third seeded Syracuse beat 6th seeded Virginia commonwealth 78-63.
Sweet 16: We lost to 7 seed Virginia 55-63 in the ugliest basketball game I have ever seen. Neither team deserved to win but they did.
1985
Round of 64: 7th seeded Syracuse beat 10th seeded DePaul 70-65
Round of 32: We lost to 2 seed Georgia Tech 53-70.
1986
Round of 64: 2 seed Syracuse destroyed 15 seed Brown 101-52 in the Dome
Round of 32: We lost to 7 seed Navy, 85-97 thanks to their going to the line 54 times to our 21. David Robinson was 21 for 27 from the line. The was one of our best teams.
1987
Round of 64: Back in the Dome, 2 seed Syracuse had much more trouble with 15 seed Georgia Southern, 79-73.
Round of 32: Murray Arnold extends a 104-86 game long into the night by having his players foul before the ball is inbounded. It does no good as we beat 10th seeded Western Kentucky, gaining a measure of revenge for the game a decade earlier.
Sweet 16: Rony Seikaly shuts up Dwayne Schinztius, (but not Dick Vitale), as we beat 6 seed Florida 87-81.
Elite 8: DejaVu as we beat 1 seed North Carolina again 79-75, despite Vitale saying that JR Reid would make Rony cry.
Final Four: In the only previous NCAA game between SU and a Big East team, Jim Boeheim beats Rick Pitino’s Providence team, who had been a 6 seed in their region, 77-63, JB’s third win over Rick in that season.
National Championship Game: SU loses to a 1 seed, Indiana, 73-74. If only we’d made our foul shots.
1988
Round of 64: 3 seed SU beats 14 seed North Carolina A&T, 69-55
Round of 32: With Sherman Douglas so sick he has to lie prone on the court during time-outs, we lose to 11 seed Rhode Island 94-97.
1989
Round of 64: 2 seed SU beats 15 seed Bucknell 104-81
Round of 32: Despite Mike Tirico’s prediction, we also beat 10 seed Colorado State, 65-50.
Sweet 16: We beat 3 seed Missouri for the second time that season, 83-80.
Elite 8: One of our best teams comes up just short against 1 seed Illinois, 86-89.
1990
Round of 64: 2 seed SU cops one against 15 seed Coppin State 70-48
Round of 32: We gain some revenge against 7 seed Virginia, outlasting them 63-61.
Sweet 16: Tony Scott takes over in the final minute and wins it for 6 seed Minnesota, 75-82. Unfortunately, he was on our team.
1991
Round of 64. We become the first 2 seed to lose to a 15 seed, Richmond 69-73.
1992
Round of 64: As a 6 seed we solve 11th seeded Princeton, 51-43.
Round of 32: We lose to 3rd seeded Massachusetts in overtime, 71-77. The refs apologize for a bad out of bounds call at the end of regulation a week later.
1994
Round of 64: 4 seed Syracuse beat Hawaii in a 4-13 game, 92-78
Round of 32: We outlast 12th seeded Wisconsin-Green Bay 64-59.
Sweet 16: We lost to 1 seed Missouri 88-98 in overtime despite a furious rally, including a disallowed shot by Adrian Autry made when he was flat on his back.
1995
Round of 64: 7 seed SU beats 10 seed Southern Illinois 96-92
Round of 32: We beat defending National champion Arkansas 82-80. Except Lawrence Moten called a time out with one second left that we didn’t have. Technical foul. Two free throws and possession for Arkansas with that second left. They made both and nearly the buzzer shot and went on to win in overtime 94-96.
1996
Round of 64: 4 seed SU crushed 13 seed Montana State 88-55
Round of 32: We beat 12 seed Drexel 69-58
Sweet 16: A miracle overtime win over 8 seed Georgia 83-81 in one of the greatest games of all time.
Elite 8: Our first win over 2 seed Kansas 60-57
Final Four: Mississippi State had been a 5 seed in their regional. We beat them 77-69.
National Championship game: We can’t 1 seed Kentucky and their 9 NBA draft choices, 67-76.
1998
Round of 64: Marius Janulis send s 5 seed SU past 12 seed Iona 63-61 with a buzzer shot.
Round of 32: We beat 4 seed New Mexico 56-46.
Sweet 16: We share a cozy regional with Duke, Kentucky and UCLA and lost to the top seeded Blue Devils 67-80.
1999
Round of 64: We lose to Doug Gottlieb’s Oklahoma State team 61-69 in an 8-9 game.
2000
Round of 64: 4 seed Syracuse beats 13 seed Samford 79-65
Round of 32: Preston Shumpert hits the winner in a 52-50 win over 5 seed Kentucky
Sweet 16: We storm to a 40-26 lead over top-seeded Michigan State in their backyard of Auburn Hills, Michigan but an injury to Shumpert and the solving of our zone by Mateen Cleaves turns the game completely around and they come back to win 58-75 on the way to the national championship.
2001
Round of 64: We again beat Hawaii 79-69, this time in a 5-12 game.
Round of 32: We are absolutely no match for the 4th seeded Kansas Jayhawks, who gain revenge for the 1996 game, 58-87 our worst NCAA defeat ever. We will meet again, however.
2003
Round of 64: 3rd seeded Syracuse beat Manhattan, 76-65, in a 3-14 game.
Round of 32: Making a great comeback from a 10-27 deficit, we close out 6 seed Oklahoma State 68-56. Too bad Gottlieb had graduated.
Sweet 16: We outlast 10 seed Auburn 79-78.
Elite 8: Top Seeded Oklahoma had no answer for our zone, 63-47.
Final Four: Hak Warrick and Carmelo Anthony t-bag Texas 95-84. They had been a 1 seed in their regional.
National Championship: Our ship finally comes in as we beat Kansas, who had been a 2 seed, 81-78 for all the marbles.
2004
Round of 64: 5 seed SU rides GMAC’s 43 points to an 80-75 win over 12 seed BYU in Denver.
Round of 32: In a battle of the last two national champions, we beat 4 seed Maryland 72-70.
Sweet 16: Looking toward a rematch with Connecticut in the regional final, we get knocked off by #8 Alabama, 71-80. If we’d won that game and lost to UCONN than three consecutive national championship teams, or at least schools, would have played each other in this tournament.
2005
Round of 64: Fresh off a victory over Connecticut to win the Big East tournament, an overconfident SU 4 seed lets 13 seed Vermont hang around and we lose 57-60 in overtime.
2006
Round of 64: Having won the BET again to get into the NCAA tournament after a down year but without the injured Gerry McNamara we go down to Texas A&M, 58-66 in a 5-12 game.
2009
Round of 64: Back in the tourney after two NIT years, 3 seed SU handles Stephen . Austin 59-44 in a 3-14 game.
Round of 32: We beat 6 seed Arizona State 78-67
Sweet 16: Blake Griffin dunks us 71-84 for #2 Oklahoma.
2010
Round of 64: 1 seeded Syracuse gains revenge on #16 Vermont 79-56.
Round of 32: We zig while #8 Gonzaga zags, 79-65
Sweet 16: We go down to #5 Butler 59-63. We’re not the only ones.
2011
Round of 64: We get the job done vs. a Larry Birdless Indiana State 77-60, in a 3-14 game
Round of 32: We go down to #11 Marquette, 62-66
There has been some confusion over SU’s historical NCAA record so I decided to compile the details in a single post. Instead of identifying rounds as the “1st round”, the “2nd round”, etc. I’m identifying them as the “round of 64“, the “round of 32”, etc. The round of 64 is before the round of 32, even if there weren’t 64 teams yet. The “first four” games would be the “round of 128”, which may someday be the actual size of the tournament. We haven’t played a game in that round yet but someday maybe we will. There was no round of 64 prior to 1979. There were also no seedings prior to that year. I’ve recorded the seedings from that point onward and provided information to indicate who would have been higher ranked prior to that so we can see how many of these games were considered actual upsets as opposed to upsetting losses. I’m putting some information regarding consolation games in there but won’t count them as part of the official NCAA record since we were no longer in contention for the title.
1957
Round of 32: SU beat Connecticut 82-76. Neither team was ranked or had a bye. We were 16-6. They were 17-7. They were a Yankee Conference team so I assume we were favored.
Sweet 16: SU beat Lafayette 75-71. Neither team was ranked but the Leopards were 22-4 and had gotten a bye so this was an upset.
Elite 8: SU gave North Carolina’s undefeated , #1 ranked national champions a good game but lost 58-67. People have always wondered what we could have done with Jim brown, a good basketball player who quit the team before the season because the coach had a rule against having a majority of the starters be African-Americans and he already had Vinnie Cohen and Manny Breland in the line-up.
1966
Round of 32: SU got a bye.
Sweet 16: SU beat Davidson 94-78. We were ranked 16th by the coach’s. The writers only had a top 10. Davidson was unranked.
Elite 8: SU lost to #2 ranked Duke 71-81
1973
Round of 32: SU, #14 in both polls, beat unranked Furman, 83-82
Sweet 16: SU lost to Maryland 75-91. Lefty Driesell’s Terps were ranked #8 by the writers and #10 by the coaches and had had a bye in the round of 32.
Eastern Regional Consolation: we beat Pennsylvania 69-68 on two steals in the final seconds, the last SU team to end the season with a win until the national champions of 2003.
1974
Round of 32: SU and oral Roberts were both ranked 20th- SU by the coaches, ORU by the writers. The ranking proved accurate as the game went into overtime but we lost 82-86. They had been 21-4 to our 19-6. Both teams were independents. The game was played in Denton, Texas and Oral Roberts is in Tulsa. The Titans, (as they were then called- they are now the Golden Eagles), had recently moved up from the small college ranks, although they’d been in the previous two NITs. They would eventually return to the small college ranks as an NAIA team, then come back to NCAA Division I basketball as a member of the Summit conference. The ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia calls this team their best ever and described the SU win as a “upset”. it must have been the mildest upset in history.
1975
Round of 32: SU beat LaSalle in overtime, 87-83 in Philadelphia. Neither team was ranked but the Explorers were 22-6 to our 20-7. We’d beaten them 82-78 in Manley earlier in the season. This would be another very mild upset.
Sweet 16: Jimmy Lee’s jumper beat North Carolina, who was ranked #7 by the writers and #10 by the coaches, 78-76.
Elite 8: SU beat Kansas State in overtime, 95-87. Neither team was ranked or had gotten a bye We were 22-7 to their 20-8 and had just beaten UNC. The game was played in the Providence Civic Center so I’m sure we were favored.
Final Four: SU lost to Kentucky 79-95. The Wildcats were ranked #6/#4 by the writers and coaches.
We lost to Louisville 88-96 in overtime in the national consolation game. Imagine being in overtime in a consey.
1976
Round of 32: Unranked SU lost to #16 Texas Tech 56-69.
1977
Round of 32: SU, rated #10/#9 beat Tennessee, ranked #7/#8 93-88 in overtime
Sweet 16: SU was shockingly blown out by UNC Charlotte, (now simply “Charlotte”), 59-81 in a game that wasn’t that close. The 49ers were ranked #18 by the writers, unranked by the coaches.
1978
Round of 32: SU, ranked 18th by the writers, unranked by the coaches, lost, 86-87 in OT to an unranked Western Kentucky team when the referees wiped off the tying shot by Marty Byrnes at Billy Packer’s insistence, (“This isn‘t the NBA: there‘s no continuation!”). Instead of getting a free throw for a game winning three point play Marty had a one and one to tie and he made only the first with a second left and the tip-in wouldn’t go. &%&^$#!
1979
Round of 64: We had a bye.
Round of 32: 4th seeded SU beat 5th seeded Connecticut, (a year before there was a Big East) 89-81.
Sweet 16: We got run off the court by 9th seed Pennsylvania, 76-84. Yes, Pennsylvania!
1980
Round of 64: We had a bye.
Round of 32: Top-seeded SU beat 8th seeded Villanova, (a year before they joined the Big East), 97-83.
Sweet 16: We lost to 5th seeded Iowa,77-88 ending the Louie and Bouie Show. We got some solace when they did the same thing to Georgetown in the next round.
1983
Round of 64: 6 seeded SU beat Morehead State 74-59 in a 6-11 game.
Round of 32: We lost to 3-seed Ohio State 74-79: If we’d had won we’d have been playing the Eastern Regional in the Dome. The good old days.
1984
Round of 64: We had a bye.
Round of 32: Third seeded Syracuse beat 6th seeded Virginia commonwealth 78-63.
Sweet 16: We lost to 7 seed Virginia 55-63 in the ugliest basketball game I have ever seen. Neither team deserved to win but they did.
1985
Round of 64: 7th seeded Syracuse beat 10th seeded DePaul 70-65
Round of 32: We lost to 2 seed Georgia Tech 53-70.
1986
Round of 64: 2 seed Syracuse destroyed 15 seed Brown 101-52 in the Dome
Round of 32: We lost to 7 seed Navy, 85-97 thanks to their going to the line 54 times to our 21. David Robinson was 21 for 27 from the line. The was one of our best teams.
1987
Round of 64: Back in the Dome, 2 seed Syracuse had much more trouble with 15 seed Georgia Southern, 79-73.
Round of 32: Murray Arnold extends a 104-86 game long into the night by having his players foul before the ball is inbounded. It does no good as we beat 10th seeded Western Kentucky, gaining a measure of revenge for the game a decade earlier.
Sweet 16: Rony Seikaly shuts up Dwayne Schinztius, (but not Dick Vitale), as we beat 6 seed Florida 87-81.
Elite 8: DejaVu as we beat 1 seed North Carolina again 79-75, despite Vitale saying that JR Reid would make Rony cry.
Final Four: In the only previous NCAA game between SU and a Big East team, Jim Boeheim beats Rick Pitino’s Providence team, who had been a 6 seed in their region, 77-63, JB’s third win over Rick in that season.
National Championship Game: SU loses to a 1 seed, Indiana, 73-74. If only we’d made our foul shots.
1988
Round of 64: 3 seed SU beats 14 seed North Carolina A&T, 69-55
Round of 32: With Sherman Douglas so sick he has to lie prone on the court during time-outs, we lose to 11 seed Rhode Island 94-97.
1989
Round of 64: 2 seed SU beats 15 seed Bucknell 104-81
Round of 32: Despite Mike Tirico’s prediction, we also beat 10 seed Colorado State, 65-50.
Sweet 16: We beat 3 seed Missouri for the second time that season, 83-80.
Elite 8: One of our best teams comes up just short against 1 seed Illinois, 86-89.
1990
Round of 64: 2 seed SU cops one against 15 seed Coppin State 70-48
Round of 32: We gain some revenge against 7 seed Virginia, outlasting them 63-61.
Sweet 16: Tony Scott takes over in the final minute and wins it for 6 seed Minnesota, 75-82. Unfortunately, he was on our team.
1991
Round of 64. We become the first 2 seed to lose to a 15 seed, Richmond 69-73.
1992
Round of 64: As a 6 seed we solve 11th seeded Princeton, 51-43.
Round of 32: We lose to 3rd seeded Massachusetts in overtime, 71-77. The refs apologize for a bad out of bounds call at the end of regulation a week later.
1994
Round of 64: 4 seed Syracuse beat Hawaii in a 4-13 game, 92-78
Round of 32: We outlast 12th seeded Wisconsin-Green Bay 64-59.
Sweet 16: We lost to 1 seed Missouri 88-98 in overtime despite a furious rally, including a disallowed shot by Adrian Autry made when he was flat on his back.
1995
Round of 64: 7 seed SU beats 10 seed Southern Illinois 96-92
Round of 32: We beat defending National champion Arkansas 82-80. Except Lawrence Moten called a time out with one second left that we didn’t have. Technical foul. Two free throws and possession for Arkansas with that second left. They made both and nearly the buzzer shot and went on to win in overtime 94-96.
1996
Round of 64: 4 seed SU crushed 13 seed Montana State 88-55
Round of 32: We beat 12 seed Drexel 69-58
Sweet 16: A miracle overtime win over 8 seed Georgia 83-81 in one of the greatest games of all time.
Elite 8: Our first win over 2 seed Kansas 60-57
Final Four: Mississippi State had been a 5 seed in their regional. We beat them 77-69.
National Championship game: We can’t 1 seed Kentucky and their 9 NBA draft choices, 67-76.
1998
Round of 64: Marius Janulis send s 5 seed SU past 12 seed Iona 63-61 with a buzzer shot.
Round of 32: We beat 4 seed New Mexico 56-46.
Sweet 16: We share a cozy regional with Duke, Kentucky and UCLA and lost to the top seeded Blue Devils 67-80.
1999
Round of 64: We lose to Doug Gottlieb’s Oklahoma State team 61-69 in an 8-9 game.
2000
Round of 64: 4 seed Syracuse beats 13 seed Samford 79-65
Round of 32: Preston Shumpert hits the winner in a 52-50 win over 5 seed Kentucky
Sweet 16: We storm to a 40-26 lead over top-seeded Michigan State in their backyard of Auburn Hills, Michigan but an injury to Shumpert and the solving of our zone by Mateen Cleaves turns the game completely around and they come back to win 58-75 on the way to the national championship.
2001
Round of 64: We again beat Hawaii 79-69, this time in a 5-12 game.
Round of 32: We are absolutely no match for the 4th seeded Kansas Jayhawks, who gain revenge for the 1996 game, 58-87 our worst NCAA defeat ever. We will meet again, however.
2003
Round of 64: 3rd seeded Syracuse beat Manhattan, 76-65, in a 3-14 game.
Round of 32: Making a great comeback from a 10-27 deficit, we close out 6 seed Oklahoma State 68-56. Too bad Gottlieb had graduated.
Sweet 16: We outlast 10 seed Auburn 79-78.
Elite 8: Top Seeded Oklahoma had no answer for our zone, 63-47.
Final Four: Hak Warrick and Carmelo Anthony t-bag Texas 95-84. They had been a 1 seed in their regional.
National Championship: Our ship finally comes in as we beat Kansas, who had been a 2 seed, 81-78 for all the marbles.
2004
Round of 64: 5 seed SU rides GMAC’s 43 points to an 80-75 win over 12 seed BYU in Denver.
Round of 32: In a battle of the last two national champions, we beat 4 seed Maryland 72-70.
Sweet 16: Looking toward a rematch with Connecticut in the regional final, we get knocked off by #8 Alabama, 71-80. If we’d won that game and lost to UCONN than three consecutive national championship teams, or at least schools, would have played each other in this tournament.
2005
Round of 64: Fresh off a victory over Connecticut to win the Big East tournament, an overconfident SU 4 seed lets 13 seed Vermont hang around and we lose 57-60 in overtime.
2006
Round of 64: Having won the BET again to get into the NCAA tournament after a down year but without the injured Gerry McNamara we go down to Texas A&M, 58-66 in a 5-12 game.
2009
Round of 64: Back in the tourney after two NIT years, 3 seed SU handles Stephen . Austin 59-44 in a 3-14 game.
Round of 32: We beat 6 seed Arizona State 78-67
Sweet 16: Blake Griffin dunks us 71-84 for #2 Oklahoma.
2010
Round of 64: 1 seeded Syracuse gains revenge on #16 Vermont 79-56.
Round of 32: We zig while #8 Gonzaga zags, 79-65
Sweet 16: We go down to #5 Butler 59-63. We’re not the only ones.
2011
Round of 64: We get the job done vs. a Larry Birdless Indiana State 77-60, in a 3-14 game
Round of 32: We go down to #11 Marquette, 62-66
