Ranking the best haircuts in Syracuse basketball history

We’ve lost our minds during quarantine 2020, and many people have lost their precious haircuts. We rank the top haircuts in Syracuse basketball history.

Can you tell we need sports back? Yep, it’s gotten to that point. We’re ranking the top HAIRCUTS in Syracuse basketball history.

But to be fair, this is the perfect time for an article like this. SU star and NBA Draft entree, Elijah Hughes, recently got a new shape up. And let me tell you, it’s sure of a heck a lot better than the fade I tried to give myself two weeks ago.

Hair styles have always been a way of expressing one’s self. You’ve got afros, mohawks, dyed hair, buzz cuts, perms, you name it. Athletes are no exception and most of the time they’re at the forefront of starting new hair trends.

Sometimes these trends catch on with the general public and other times, well, they don’t exactly hit it off with who sees it, even becoming the subject of memes in this digital age. But whatever the case, there are all sorts of hair dos and really it’s up to the person themselves on what they want it to look like (and the skill of the barber too, of course).

Syracuse basketball is no exception, and here are my picks for some of the top haircuts in Syracuse basketball history:

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

• Leo Rautins
• Paul Harris
• Ron Patterson
• Quincy Guerrier
• Marek Dolezaj
• Elijah Hughes
• Tyus Battle
• Danny Schayes

BONUS: Christian White

Although White wasn’t a scholarship player for the Orange, anyone who rocks a man bun HAS to be on a list associated with hair. For that reason alone, congratulations for this prestigious honor. His long locks allowed for the notable hairstyle which he wore during the 2016 NCAA Tournament. Although White used his last year of eligibility at Pace University, where he averaged 12.4 points and 4.5 assists per game, his haircut during that postseason run will always live on in the hearts of Syracuse fans.

5. Carmelo Anthony

Anthony deserves to make this list, because he donned the cornrows look perhaps as well as anyone in the history of basketball ever has. However, it was almost too clean, and maybe too common to place it higher on this list. Either way, it was an iconic look, and was on the head of a National Champion. Heck, it even got him named as one of the best cornrowed NBA players of all time:

4. Tyler Lydon

Again, Lydon wore a pretty basic haircut, but it was clean. During Syracuse’s 2016 Final Four run, he made a little change though. He kept the high fade that was his hair style for most of Lydon’s collegiate career. However, he also wore the so called “Rico Mustache”, a very think facial hair addition to complete the overall look. Like Anthony’s hair, it helped lead Syracuse basketball pretty far in the 2016 NCAA Tournament, so it definitely carries some type of a legend around campus.

3. Andy Rautins

Now we’re talking. Rautins experimented with his hair quite a bit while in Orange, but nothing stuck out more than the Faux Hawk he occasionally wore. His father Leo, even remarked on the cut, saying, “I’d call it a biff – kind of a country club, side wave…He had this little wave going down the side of his hair. When I saw that haircut, I thought of a guy that wears a cardigan sweater around his neck, and it just didn’t fly with me.” Hey, if he wants to rock it, let him rock it. It’s not like it slowed Andy down from draining the second most threes in Cuse history.

2. Malachi Richardson

Malachi Richardson’s hair was some type of cross between a flat top, where the barber may have forgot to trim up some edges, and then he just let it grow. And grow. And grow some more. No seriously, even Richardson didn’t really have a name for it, once saying, “They ask me, because it’s so long, ‘Can you braid it? What type of haircut is it?’ That’s hard to explain, too. I just tell them to shave it into a Mohawk, but don’t cut anything off the top.” Keep doing you, Malachi.

1. Roosevelt Bouie

The rest of the guys on this list are more recent guys, but Bouie easily takes the cake. He played at Syracuse during the late 1970s, back when disco music was popular. For those who don’t know, disco music and afros kind of go hand in hand, making it a popular haircut during that decade. Bouie not only hopped on that trend, but did it to the max. Although no official dimensions on the size of his fro, I’d have to guess somewhere between five and seven inches high, and that could be on the low end. Yes, he was an impressive basketball player, and had quite possibly the most impressive hair in the history of Syracuse basketball, and it’s why he secures our top spot.