Statistics of Note From 2021-2022

Coach Jim Boeheim proclaimed before the season that this was the best three point shooting team he ever had.  He wasn’t far off from that.  The team hit 37.7% of its three point attempts, 5^th best in school history. The team made 9.1 three point shots a game, the most in school history, breaking the record of 8.8 set in 2016-17.

This year’s team shot 73.7% from the free throw line, making 423 of 574 shots.  The 73.7% is the 8^th best free throw shooting team since 1947-1948.  That is pretty elite company. 

The team averaged only 17.4 free throw attempts per game. That is the second lowest for the team since 1948.  The record low was set the previous season with 17.0 attempts per game.

The scoring margin for the team was 2.3 points per game. That was the 103^rd best out of 122 seasons for the Orange.  Only 19 Syracuse squads have had a lower point differential average.

The 77.4 points per game the Orange scored was the best for the team since 2009-2010.  The 75.1 ppg the team allowed the opponents to score was the 15^th worst all time, and the most since 1988-89.

Despite some late game meltdowns, the 2021-2022 team was actually very good at not turning over the ball.  They averaged 10.7 turnovers a game, the third best since 1984-85 when they started keeping the team statistic.   The best was the 2013-2014 team.  The team’s assist to turnover ratio was 1.36, which is the 6^th best in school history; the 1987-88 team holds the record at 1.79.  If you look at the Field Goal to Turnover Ratio, which is an indicator of turnover rate based on pace of the game, the team again ranked 5^th with a ratio of 2.58. The 1988-1989 team leads the way with a ratio of 3.00.

Individually, Cole Swider had the 8^th best three point shooting season at 41.1% making 81 of 197 attempts. Joe Girard wasn’t far behind with 40.3%. 

Jesse Edwards 2.8 blocks per game were the most since Fab Melo averaged 2.9 in 2011-12.

Cole Swider’s 6.8 rebounds per game was the lowest for the team leader since C.J. Fair’s 6.4 in 2013-2014.

Jimmy Boeheim Earns Academic All American Status

Congratulations to Jimmy Boeheim for making First Team Academic All American. Boeheim is only the second Orange men’s basketball player to earn first team honors, and the 8^th to receive any Academic All American recognition.  

The ability for an Orange player to make Academic All American  is far rarer than making All American status based on playing accomplishments.  Consider that sixteen Orange players have made the 1^st, 2^nd, or 3^rd team AP All American, whereas only eight have made the Academic All American.

The Academic All Americans have all done well in their professional careers following college, whether it was basketball or other ventures.

Rick Dean was the first Academic All American, earning 2^nd team status his senior year.   Dean would be a decorated Vietnam veteran, an FBI agent, and then a Methodist Minister.

George Hicker was a third team Academic All American in 1968. Hicker became a successful real estate salesman and later the president of Cardinal Industrial.

Bill Smith was a second team Academic All American in 1971.  He would have a brief NBA career, before a lengthy career at Smith Barney.

Dennis DuVal was a second team Academic All American in 1973.  He would have a brief NBA career, before moving on to a career as a police officer in Syracuse. His career would culminate with him being the Syracuse Police Chief from 2001-2004.

Hal Cohen was a second team Academic All American in 1979.  He continued onto medical school following graduating from Syracuse, and would be a respected radiologist in the Syracuse area for over three decades.

Danny Schayes was the only other first team Academic All American for Syracuse, achieving that distinction in 1981.  Schayes would play 18 seasons in the NBA for seven different franchises.

Craig Forth is the only Orange player to earn the distinction twice. The first time he was third team in 2004, and then he earned it again the next year rising to the second team. Forth became a teacher, and then later the principal of Mechanicsville High School in 2016.

Jimmy Boeheim graduated from Cornell in 2021, and came to Syracuse as a graduate student for the 2021-2022 season. He would earn first team Academic All American status.