2006-07 Milestones

The 2006-2007 season has been completed for a few weeks now. The senior class is widely recognized as an underachieving class, both in terms of NCAA accomplishments and personal growth. It is true that in the three seasons they were significant contributors the team was 0-2 in the NCAA tournament, and was excluded from the third. On the other hand, they did contribute in back-to-back Big East Championships.

But the season is over, so it is time we can reflect on how the players did in personal accomplishments.

Demetris Nichols finished as the schools 28th all-time leading scorer with 1,344 points, tying him with Bullet Billy Gabor. Terrence Roberts finished at #50, with 963 points. Eric Devendorf, after two seasons, has 945 points, 53rd all time. Darryl Watkins comes in at 86th with 633 points.

If Devo keeps up his pace, he’ll finish around 9th all-time.

Roberts finished as the 18th all time rebounder with 716. Watkins is 25th with 614, and Nichols 35th with 509. Freshman Paul Harris had 248 rebounds, good enough to place him 66th on the all-time career list. Devo comes in at 79th with 180, Matt Gorman at 9th with 142.

If Harris were to play four years at 248 rebounds a year, he’d finish 6th all-time at Syracuse; the reality is that if he stayed four years, he would likely increase his average, and would finish at #2. I think Derrick Coleman is safe at 1,537 for now (Coleman had 333 rebounds his freshman year).

Devo is currently 30th on the Syracuse all-time assist list with 227. The enigmatic Josh Wright comes in at 32nd with 216. Nichols is 55th with 132, Roberts 58th with 121, Andy Rautins 80th with 60, Watkins 84th with 61, and Harris is 87th with 57. Statistics were only an official statistics as of the 1965-1966 season, so there’s not a ton of history to compare against.

There have only been 70 players to make a three point basket for Syracuse, with the shot being introduced in the 1986-87 season. Nichols finished 3rd all time with 205 3 point field goals. Devo is 13th with 104, Rautins 17th with 82 and Wright 30th with 34.Gorman is 38th with 17, Roberts 46th with 5, and Harris is 57th with 1.

How does Harris’ freshman campaign stack up? His 248 rebounds is 5th all-time for a Syracuse freshman. He was third all time in free throws made, and 14th all-time in points scored with 302.

Devo had the 6th most assists ever for a sophomore, and was 8th in points, and 5th in 3 point field goals made. Rautins had the third most three point fields goals ever for a sophomore.

Wright has the 9th most assists ever for a junior (and he did not make the top 10 in most turnovers).

Nichols finished with the 8th most points for a senior and the 2nd most three point baskets by a senior. He increased his scoring from his junior season to his senior season by 197 points; that’s only good enough for the 20th biggest increase from a junior to senior season (if you were curious).

26 times a Syracuse basketball player has had 50+ 3 point fields goals made in a season. Three occurred this season as Nichols, Rautins and Devendorf all accomplished the feat. The only other time that has occurred? 2005-2006 with Gerry McNamara, Devo and Nichols accomplished the feat.

Nichols 41.7% from three point range last season was the fourth best in Syracuse history for players with 100+ three point attempts.

Nichols 85% from the free throw line was 9th best in school history for players with 100+ free throw attempts.

Harris was a rebounding machine, almost leading the team in rebounding despite playing about 22 minutes a game. He averaged 13.08 rebounds per every 40 minutes of playing time; 4th best total in school history (though minutes played was only tracked starting in the early 80s). Derrick Coleman holds the top three: 13.77 (junior), 13.65 (senior), 13.55 (sophomore). Harris does hold the freshman record; Coleman had held it with 11.45.

Finally, Syracuse University played its 1,700 men varsity basketball game last season. Jim Boeheim coached his 1,000th game, and reached 750 career wins.

The Off Season

So what is up for Orenge Hoops during the off season? Well, the blog will be continuing. Even during the regular season, I don’t have a regular posting schedule. I’ll probably be more likely to post something every couple of weeks, but you never know… a few may come in a couple of days span.

I mentioned earlier in the year a concept called the “Jeter Effect”, and I promise I will get to that one day. I also have some additional concepts called the “Iverson Effect” and the “Chamberlain Effect”, which I’ll eventually get too.

You can also expect to see more commentary on past Syracuse teams, trends of the past few seasons, and where I see this team going. I won’t be covering recruiting too much. It’s not something I generally have too much interest in, and Orange Fan covers that very well. Likewise, Cuse Country covers former Orangemen in the professional action with great detail, so I’ll let them keep up the good work. I'm sure I'll have some words on the NBA draft.

I’ll also continue to update the ongoing project of OrangeHoops.Org. I’ve recently added the profile of the 1924-25 Orangemen, and a player profile for Otis Hill. I also need to finish my 2006-2007 player updates.

Anyhow, I just wanted to let you all know I’m still around, and the information will keep flowing.

I appreciate all the e-mails I have gotten! It is great to hear from you all. Thanks.

Harris going pro?

Paul Harris came to Syracuse with a lot of potential, and he had a solid freshman season. He showed he was an outstanding rebounder. His defense at times was stellar, and other times he looked lost. On offense, he demonstrated he had no jump shot of any form, and a tendacy to run like a bull through a China shop when he saw a lane to the hoop. When he didn't have the ball in his hands, he looked like he struggled where to go on the court. He still had enough talent to score, despite these obvious short comings.

So why do I mention this? Because ESPN's Chad Ford has Harris listed at 50/50 about going in the NBA draft this spring.

I don't have any idea what Ford's source is, whether he has talked to anyone or if he's just flat out speculating (I'm guessing the latter).

I personally find it inconceivable that Harris would even contemplate going professional at this point, unless he has pressing financial concerns that need immediate address.

Normally I don't like to post speculative articles, but considering that ESPN is a major media outlet, and Ford's opinion is completely in contrast with my own, I thought it was interesting to share.

Orange Blogger Awards - Best Sophomore

And the Syracuse Orange Blogger Awards continue to move on.

Who was the best sophomore player for Syracuse this season? There are two viable candidates with Andy Rautins and Eric Devendorf. Ironically the two candidates fought for the same starting position for much of the season (shooting guard) and ended the season sharing the starting backcourt with Rautins settling into the shooting guard, and Devo taking over the point.

Devo came away the winner, with 7 out of 8 votes. For most of the blogs, he was such an obvious choice that no additional comment was needed.

Sports Night with Howie Mansfield felt “Devo came into his own this year, and pulled away from the shadow of Gerry McNamara with his aggressive style and no-fear attitude. If he scores next year the way he did in the last six games, Devendorf could be the Orange's go-to player.”

Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician focused on the obvious emotional edge that Devo brings to the court: “Although he lets his emotions get the better of him every now and again and even though he’s a part of the Terrell Owens club (If he played for anyone else, we’d all hate him), Eric Devendorf is the heart of the team and that will be even more so next season.”

Yours truly would add that “Devo was clearly the one guy on the team who wanted to be ‘the guy’, even if it at times he wasn’t the one who was best situated.”

Matt of Orange 44 was the lone dissenting vote: “Andy Rautins - Eric Devendorf is the obvious selection simply because of minutes played, but Rautins may have actually outplayed Rautins this season statistically. With a higher offensive rating and effective field goal percentage than Devendorf, Rautins actually contributed more to the Orange's success than Devendorf's efforts. Plus, he turned over the ball less than Devendorf, which, in my book, is the most important aspect to Rautins' contributions.”

Jim Boeheim has got to feel good about his back court for next season when he’ll have two experienced juniors returning, a couple of highly touted freshman guards coming in, and a senior point guard on the bench.

Tune in tomorrow at noon at Getting Back to ’03 to see who the Biggest Villain of the 2006-2007 season was.

Blogger Awards: Worst Game of 2006-2007

Five awards done today, one more to go. What was the Worst Game for the Orange in the 2006-2007 season? A season where possibly any one individual loss may have cost the Orange a bid in the NCAA tournament. And sadly, there were many games to pick from. In a season where Syracuse lost three non-conference games, none of those three made honorable mention for the worst game of the year. A loss to Wichita State and Drexel did not warrant a single vote from our panelists. That's unbelievable. So which game was the worst loss of the season?

Sports Night with Howie Mansfield went with Notre Dame: “Notre Dame loss. A shootout that Syracuse couldn't win.” Definitely a viable candidate; a Dome record for most points ever given up in a game to an opponent, where Syracuse looked totally overmatched on defense.

Getting Back to ’03 voted for the Louisville loss: “Louisville, You could just feel it seeping away…”. Yep.

And yours truly, OrangeHoops voted the same: “Unfortunately too many to choose from. The worst game for me was the Louisville game… having a 14 point lead late in the game, the game well in control, and then falling completely apart.”

Two votes for Louisville, yet blowing a 14 point lead on the road did not win this coveted award. So what was the worst loss for 2006-2007?

A January 21st loss to a forgettable St. John’s team on the road, 64-60, was the winner.

Cuse Country had two personal perspectives for the loss. Josh said “Having the St Johns MSG game ruin my up-till-then-fantastic weekend in NYC.”. Tim chipped in with “There's nothing like losing to St. John's. I have spent way too much time saying "MSG is Cuse Country" to survive that loss with my pride intact. “

Matt of Orange 44 was a little more direct: “Syracuse v. St. John's. If anyone picks a different game they are batshit insane.”. Guess, I may be insane… then again, he could be right.

Finally Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician summed it up: “St John’s loss. In a season where one more win, ONE MORE, would have changed the entire outcome of our postseason fate…this one hurts even more. Honorable mention: The Louisville collapse.”

Unfortunately in a season with two many candidates for this particular category, we have the Red Storm as the winners.

Check in tomorrow at noon with Sports Night with Howie Mansfield to find out the Most Disappointing Player for the season.

Note: apologies for a late post, but I’m out on the west coast this week on business, so not only am I three hours behind, but I’m tied up in meetings to the late hours. My appreciation to my fellow bloggers for letting me post last each day. Expect a late post for Thursday too.

Syracuse Orange Blogger Awards

Starting Wednesday, the collective of the Syracuse basketball bloggers will be presenting the Syracuse Orange Blogger Awards. Six different blogs will be participating in rolling out the awards, including yours truly, Troy Nunes is An Absolute Magician, Cuse Country, Getting Back to ’03, Orange 44, and Sports Night With Howie Mansfield.

The announcements start at noon, EDT. Check in with TNIAAM for the complete schedule.

One For The Books

Congratulations to the Orange for advancing to the next round of the NIT Tournament. And more importantly, to have the character of players that make fans want to come out and cheer you on in record numbers. 26,752 fans at the Carrier Dome for a tournament that only 10 days ago we (meaning the collective Orange Nation) wanted to boycott. It speaks volumes about the character of the community to support a team with such actions.

Orange 44 and CuseCountry have put in similar sentiments, so thanks you Orangemen for the memories.

And it makes it even sweeter that the players recognize the moment too. From Mike Waters article in the Post Standard (link):

"In the Carrier Dome's 27-year history, there has never been a more
deserved standing ovation than the one given on Monday night.

During a timeout with 3 minutes and 19 seconds left in Syracuse's
80-64 victory over San Diego State in the second round of the National
Invitation Tournament, Dome public address announcer Michael Veley gave the
game's attendance: 26,752.

The figure not only shattered the NIT's
all-time attendance record of 23,522 set in 1979 for a Kentucky-Clemson game at
Rupp Arena, it was also the third-largest crowd of the season for Syracuse.

At that point, the Syracuse players and coaches stepped out of
their huddle and applauded the fans. In the center of it all was Syracuse coach
Jim Boeheim, clapping his hands over his head."

Let’s Go Orange