Syracuse Basketball: Top 30 Players in School History
By Josh Peelman
Rony Seikaly was not your average center, and that was a good thing for Syracuse Basketball. He did not fit the traditional mold Jim Boeheim liked in his low post players, but he still developed into quite an amazing player.
Seikaly was born in Lebanon, but grew up in Greece, according to Orangehoops.org. He came to the United States for high school where he learned to play multiple sports. Boeheim picked him up as a raw prospect and hoped he would mold into something great. He redshirted him his first year on campus because he wasn’t quite ready to be part of the rotation quite yet.
By the time next season came around, he would jump right in as a starter. In that freshman campaign, he would have his struggles, but average 8.1 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks per game, according to Sports-reference.com His one flaw was that he would constantly get in foul trouble and often foul out.
His sophomore year was similar to his first with similar results. he would average 10.1 points, 7.8 rebounds, three blocks, and 3.6 fouls per game. Following that season, Seikaly would finally make the jump from an average shot blocker and low post presence to a great one.
In his junior season, he would get in less foul trouble, only averaging 2.9 per game, and that resulted in more points and more rebounds. Seikaly would average 15.1 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks. He along with Coleman and Billy Owens would excel at manning the post and block shot after shot.
Though not your typical low-post combination, Coleman, Seikaly, and Owens each did there part to lead Syracuse to the national championship game against Indiana. As mentioned before in our Billy Owens segment, the Orange lost that game by one point on Keith Smart’s shot.
Seikaly returned for his senior season and led the Orange in scoring en route to being the Big East Tournament Champions. The Orange though would lose in the second round of the NCAA tournament that season. He would average a pretty solid 16.3 points, 9.6 rebounds, and 2.4 blocks per game. He would be named to the All-Big East 2nd team in his Junior and Senior seasons.
Rony Seikaly will go down as probably the best center Syracuse ever had behind only Derrick Coleman. His ability to block shots, make moves in the low post and make tomahawk jams will never be forgotten. He sits 2nd behind only Derrick Coleman on Syracuse’s all-time rebounders list, and 13th on Syracuse’s all-time scoring list. In addition, he is one of the twelve Syracuse Basketball greats to have his uniform retired. For these reasons, he makes the Top 10 in our rankings.