Syracuse Basketball: Top 8 Jim Boeheim coaching jobs in history
By Neil Adler
2017-18
SU had a disappointing 19-15 record in 2016-17, including a second-round NIT exit. With Taurean Thompson surprisingly deciding to leave Central New York for Seton Hall, and a host of other guys graduating or declaring early for the pros, expectations on the Hill proved drastically low, to put it mildly.
Then, about a half-dozen games in, Geno Thorpe also bolted. At that juncture, the ‘Cuse possessed a roster with a ton of freshmen and, as injuries hampered the squad on several occasions, little to no depth at times. No worries. Iron men such as Oshae Brissett, Tyus Battle and Frank Howard commenced seeing close to 40 minutes of action during almost every contest.
Syracuse had a decent non-conference go of it, defeating teams like Buffalo, Connecticut, Georgetown (haha) and Maryland. We secured vital road successes in the ACC against Louisville and Miami. And, in our final regular-season tilt, we notched a victory versus a top-25 outfit, Clemson, for the first time in this campaign. Still, at 19-12 overall and 8-10 in conference play, once again we had to sweat out Selection Sunday. Much to the chagrin of pundits all across the land, the Orange received the last at-large invite to the Big Dance. Yay!
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Like in years past, we then made the most of our inclusion, defeating No. 11 seed Arizona State in the First Four, along with No. 6 seed TCU and No. 3 seed Michigan State. That led to a Sweet 16 showdown with No. 2 seed and ACC nemesis, Duke. Syracuse totally hung with the Blue Devils until the end, but we ultimately lost by four points. Pretty admirable stuff from such a gritty and tough group, with SU finishing at 23-14. Please also note that, as a double-digit seed in the NCAA Tournament (2016 and 2018), Boeheim is 7-2. You can’t really ask for more than that, and this season which recently concluded is among the most-remarkable stints from the legendary JB in his 42 years steering the ‘Cuse basketball machine.