Syracuse Basketball: Top 30 Players in School History

Bill Smith’s stats while at Syracuse are pretty unbelievable. They almost look like bloated computer numbers from a video game. The crazy thing is is that they really happened and only occurred in a three-year span because freshman couldn’t play for the varsity at that time he played.

In his sophomore year, his first on varsity, he immediately burst on the scene with a 41 point performance against Niagara in his second game, according to Orangehoops.org. He would be good in spurts the rest of the year but still managed to average 19 points, and 11.6 rebounds according to Sports-reference.com.

In his junior year, he averaged 20.2 points and 12.4 rebounds per game. Unfortunately, he also gained a reputation for being short-tempered when opponents pushed him around which constantly got him into foul trouble. That was a trend that would stick with him throughout the rest of his Orange career. He averaged about 3.68 fouls per game in 70 career games at Syracuse. Considering he was only allowed five fouls before fouling out, that means he must have fouled out many times, probably in costly situations sometimes.

Smith’s temper really got the best of him on Valentine’s day of that season when the Orange visited the Mountaineers of West Virginia. After the lead slipped from their hands in the closing minutes and the Mountaineers were leading by 10 with 1:01 to go in the game, Smith was called for his fifth foul. In anger, Smith punched Hugh Young, the referee.

The fans would storm the court and a brawl would ensue. Smith would be suspended for the rest of the season. As a result, the game would be called, and end 94-84. It was one of the darkest and ugliest moments in Syracuse Sports history. It was a dirty play and one Mountaineer fans would remember for years and decades to come.

Though Smith’s numbers are impressive, even in his senior season when he averaged 22.7 points and 14.5 rebounds per game, it is for his actions that he is ranked as low as this. Smith sits 28th on Syracuse’s all-time scoring list and 10th on the all-time SU rebounding list, which is why he is this high in our rankings as it is. Smith’s legacy is probably unfairly marred by his actions, but that’s just how it goes. If he didn’t do what he did, we would probably view his career very differently.