SWC75
Bored Historian
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Syracuse University and Jim Boeheim have won a single national championship. That ties us with:
Oregon and Howard Hobson who won the first title in 1939. Hobson’s career won-lost record (410-257 .609)
Wisconsin 1941 (Bud Foster 265-267 .498)
Stanford 1942 (John Bunn 321-306 .512)
Wyoming 1943 (Everett Shelton 445-319 .582)
Utah 1944 (Vadal Peterson 385-230 .626)
Holy Cross 1947 (Doggie Julian 379-332 .533)
CCNY 1950 (Nat Holman 421-190 (.689)
LaSalle 1954 (Ken Loeffler 370-213 .635)
California 1959 (Pete Newell 234-123 .655)
Ohio State 1960 (Fred Taylor 297-158 .653)
Loyola of Chicago 1963 (George Ireland 262-87 .751)
Texas Western (now UTEP) 1966 (Don Haskins 719-353 .671)
Marquette 1977 (Al McGuire 404-143 .739)
Georgetown 1984 (John Thompson 596-239 .714)
Villanova 1985 (Rollie Massimino 743-439 .629)
Michigan 1989 (Steve Fisher 496-256 .660)
UNLV 1990 (Jerry Tarkanian 706-198 .781)
Arkansas 1994 (Nolan Richardson 508-206 .711)
Arizona 1997 (Lute Olson 781-280 .736)
Maryland 2002 (Gary Williams 668-380 .637)
Syracuse 2002 (Jim Boeheim 948-319 .748)
We are the last school to win an NCAA championship and still have only one as of 2014. Jim Boeheim has 167 more wins than any coach on the list and a higher winning percentage than anyone except Ireland and Tarkanian. The average coach’s record is 471-249 (.654).
There are some good basketball schools on that list, some better than good. There are some distinguished coaches there, too, some in the Hall of Fame, (Hobson, Shelton, JuIian, Loeffler, Taylor, McGuire, Thompson, Olson, Tarkanian and of course, Boeheim).
It’s not a bad neighborhood but the feeling is strong that we need to be “movin’ on up” to a better one. How do we do that? Do we recruit differently? Do our coaches need to coach the techniques of the game better? Do we need to use different strategies? Do we need to use more players? How did Connecticut, North Carolina, Florida, Kansas, Duke, Kentucky and Louisville add to their totals to move ahead of us or farther ahead of us? Are they doing something we need to do?
I’ve always believed that all a coaching staff can do is create a program that is going to have a good team every year with a potential for great things to happen. The more years you do that the more likely everything is to fall into place for you. Nobody’s done a better job of that than Syracuse. We’ve got 44 winning seasons in a row, the longest in the country. But somehow it hasn’t seemed to pay off at the end of the season as well as we’ve hoped.
Then there’s the question of what the end of the season really means. It’s a tournament that produces a champion. But when teams who had been ranked no higher than 18th and 22nd in the country and who were seeded 7th and 8th, (meaning that at least 24 teams were considered better) play of the championship, it doesn’t seem as if the tournament really proves who the best team is. A single elimination tournament is inevitably going to have a freakish aspect to it. Connecticut probably should have lost in the first round to St. Joseph’s. They survived and advanced.
We lost in 1987 on missed free throws. We lost in overtime three straight times, (1992, 1994, 1995) and then got a miracle victory over Georgia in ’96 and wound up playing for the title. We won the title in 2003 with a team that was unranked to start the season and seeded #3. We achieved a #1 rank in 1988, 1990, 2010, 2012 and 2014 and a #1 seed in 1980, 2010 and 2012. None of those teams made it to the Final Four but five other teams did. Twice we lost our starting center just before the tournament when we had a #1 seed.
Maybe the thing we need to do better is to be luckier?
Oregon and Howard Hobson who won the first title in 1939. Hobson’s career won-lost record (410-257 .609)
Wisconsin 1941 (Bud Foster 265-267 .498)
Stanford 1942 (John Bunn 321-306 .512)
Wyoming 1943 (Everett Shelton 445-319 .582)
Utah 1944 (Vadal Peterson 385-230 .626)
Holy Cross 1947 (Doggie Julian 379-332 .533)
CCNY 1950 (Nat Holman 421-190 (.689)
LaSalle 1954 (Ken Loeffler 370-213 .635)
California 1959 (Pete Newell 234-123 .655)
Ohio State 1960 (Fred Taylor 297-158 .653)
Loyola of Chicago 1963 (George Ireland 262-87 .751)
Texas Western (now UTEP) 1966 (Don Haskins 719-353 .671)
Marquette 1977 (Al McGuire 404-143 .739)
Georgetown 1984 (John Thompson 596-239 .714)
Villanova 1985 (Rollie Massimino 743-439 .629)
Michigan 1989 (Steve Fisher 496-256 .660)
UNLV 1990 (Jerry Tarkanian 706-198 .781)
Arkansas 1994 (Nolan Richardson 508-206 .711)
Arizona 1997 (Lute Olson 781-280 .736)
Maryland 2002 (Gary Williams 668-380 .637)
Syracuse 2002 (Jim Boeheim 948-319 .748)
We are the last school to win an NCAA championship and still have only one as of 2014. Jim Boeheim has 167 more wins than any coach on the list and a higher winning percentage than anyone except Ireland and Tarkanian. The average coach’s record is 471-249 (.654).
There are some good basketball schools on that list, some better than good. There are some distinguished coaches there, too, some in the Hall of Fame, (Hobson, Shelton, JuIian, Loeffler, Taylor, McGuire, Thompson, Olson, Tarkanian and of course, Boeheim).
It’s not a bad neighborhood but the feeling is strong that we need to be “movin’ on up” to a better one. How do we do that? Do we recruit differently? Do our coaches need to coach the techniques of the game better? Do we need to use different strategies? Do we need to use more players? How did Connecticut, North Carolina, Florida, Kansas, Duke, Kentucky and Louisville add to their totals to move ahead of us or farther ahead of us? Are they doing something we need to do?
I’ve always believed that all a coaching staff can do is create a program that is going to have a good team every year with a potential for great things to happen. The more years you do that the more likely everything is to fall into place for you. Nobody’s done a better job of that than Syracuse. We’ve got 44 winning seasons in a row, the longest in the country. But somehow it hasn’t seemed to pay off at the end of the season as well as we’ve hoped.
Then there’s the question of what the end of the season really means. It’s a tournament that produces a champion. But when teams who had been ranked no higher than 18th and 22nd in the country and who were seeded 7th and 8th, (meaning that at least 24 teams were considered better) play of the championship, it doesn’t seem as if the tournament really proves who the best team is. A single elimination tournament is inevitably going to have a freakish aspect to it. Connecticut probably should have lost in the first round to St. Joseph’s. They survived and advanced.
We lost in 1987 on missed free throws. We lost in overtime three straight times, (1992, 1994, 1995) and then got a miracle victory over Georgia in ’96 and wound up playing for the title. We won the title in 2003 with a team that was unranked to start the season and seeded #3. We achieved a #1 rank in 1988, 1990, 2010, 2012 and 2014 and a #1 seed in 1980, 2010 and 2012. None of those teams made it to the Final Four but five other teams did. Twice we lost our starting center just before the tournament when we had a #1 seed.
Maybe the thing we need to do better is to be luckier?
