2005–06 Syracuse Orange men's basketball team

The 2005–06 Syracuse Orange men's basketball team represented Syracuse University. The head coach was Jim Boeheim, serving for his 30th year. The team played its home games at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, New York. The team finished with a 23–12 (7–9) record, while being eliminated in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

2005–06 Syracuse Orange men's basketball
Big East Tournament Champions (vacated)
NCAA tournament, First round
Conference	Big East Conference (1979–2013)
Ranking
AP	No. 21
Record	0–12, 23 wins vacated (0–9 Big East, 7 wins vacated)
Head coach	Jim Boeheim
Assistant coaches	Bernie Fine Mike Hopkins Rob Murphy
Home arena	Carrier Dome
Seasons ← 2004–05 2006–07 →

2005–06 Big East men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 2 Connecticut	14	–	2		.875			30	–	4		.882
No. 3 Villanova	14	–	2		.875			28	–	5		.848
No. 22 West Virginia	11	–	5		.688			22	–	11		.667
Marquette	10	–	6		.625			20	–	11		.645
No. 23 Georgetown	10	–	6		.625			23	–	10		.697
No. 16 Pittsburgh	10	–	6		.625			25	–	8		.758
Seton Hall	9	–	7		.563			18	–	12		.600
Cincinnati	8	–	8		.500			21	–	13		.618
No. 21 Syracuse†	7	–	9		.438			23	–	12		.657
Rutgers	7	–	9		.438			19	–	14		.576
Louisville	6	–	10		.375			21	–	13		.618
Notre Dame	6	–	10		.375			16	–	14		.533
DePaul*	5	–	11		.313			12	–	15		.444
Providence*	5	–	11		.313			12	–	15		.444
St. John's*	5	–	11		.313			12	–	15		.444
South Florida*	1	–	15		.063			7	–	22		.241
† 2006 Big East tournament winner As of April 3, 2006[1] Rankings from AP Poll *Did not qualify for 2006 Big East tournament.

The team was led by Gerry McNamara, the team's lone senior. Also seeing time in the starting lineup were juniors Darryl Watkins, Louie McCroskey, Demetris Nichols and Terrence Roberts, and freshman Eric Devendorf.

Due to NCAA sanctions for use of ineligible players, all wins from this season have been vacated.^[2][3][4]

Season recap

Syracuse started off the season losing Josh Pace, Hakim Warrick and Craig Forth to graduation, leaving McNamara as the only consistent returning starter from the 2004–05 team. After starting the season 15–2, Syracuse struggled, losing four in a row to Connecticut, Villanova, Pittsburgh and Seton Hall.^[5] The Orange would go 4–5 the rest of the way, including an emotional 92–82 loss to Villanova at the Carrier Dome, despite 29 points from McNamara in his final home game.^[6]

After McNamara's home send-off, Syracuse then captured the most unlikely of its Big East Tournament Championships, fueled by the heroics of Gerry McNamara. Prior to the conference tournament two separate publications, Sports Illustrated and the Syracuse Post-Standard conducted polls of Big East players and assistant coaches. In each poll, McNamara was voted the Big East's "Most Overrated" player.^[7][8][9]

In the first round he hit a running one-handed three-point shot with less than a second left in the game to spur Syracuse past the University of Cincinnati, 74–73. Following the game Jim Boeheim unleashed a passionate defense of his star player to the attending media.^[10]

The next day McNamara hit a three-pointer in the closing seconds of regulation to tie number-one ranked Connecticut and eventually led Syracuse to an overtime 86–84 upset. McNamara finished with 17 points and 13 assists, one assist shy of the Big East Tournament record.^[11]

Syracuse fell behind Georgetown University in the tournament's semi-finals, Syracuse's third game in three days. McNamara hit five three-pointers in the second half—including one in the last minute of the game—to slash the Hoyas' lead to one. He dished out an assist to freshman guard Eric Devendorf to put Syracuse in the lead following a Georgetown turnover and forced another turnover in the closing seconds to clinch the game, 58–57.^[12]

McNamara had 14 points and 6 assists in Syracuse's 65–61 championship game win over the University of Pittsburgh. Syracuse became the first team to win four games in four days and capture the Big East Tournament Championship.^[13]

However, the thrill of Syracuse's unlikely run to the Big East Championship was dampened by a first round of the 2006 NCAA Tournament. Severely hobbled by his leg injury and exhausted from the run in the Big East tournament, McNamara was only able to score two points in just 23 minutes of play as fifth-seeded Syracuse was upset by 12th-seeded Texas A&M University, 66–58.^[14]

Roster

• Gerry McNamara (16.0 pts, 5.9 ast, 2.7 reb)
• Demetris Nichols (13.3 pts, 1.4 ast, 5.8 reb)
• Eric Devendorf (12.2 pts, 2.3 ast, 2.5 reb)
• Terrence Roberts (10.7 pts, 1.6 ast, 7.6 reb)
• Darryl Watkins (7.1 pts, 0.7 ast, 7.3 reb)
• Louie McCroskey (3.8 pts, 1.3 ast, 3.3 reb)
• Josh Wright (4.3 pts, 1.6 ast, 1.4 reb)
• Matt Gorman (2.6 pts, 0.3 ast, 2.1 reb)
• Arinze Onuaku (2.0 pts, 0.1 ast, 2.8 reb)
• Andy Rautins (2.9 pts, 0.7 ast, 0.9 reb)

References

1. "2005-06 Big East Conference Season Summary: Standings" sports-reference.com. Retrieved 11-14-2013.
2. "Syracuse to vacate wins, lose 12 scholarships; Boeheim suspended". CBSSports.com. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
3. "NCAA investigation costs Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim 108 wins, drops him to 6th all-time". syracuse.com. March 6, 2015. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
4. "Syracuse basketball's 101 vacated wins will include memorable 2006 Big East title". syracuse.com. October 17, 2006. Retrieved January 30, 2017.
5. "Seton Hall Contributes to Syracuse's Misery". The New York Times. January 30, 2006. Retrieved April 22, 2010.
6. "McNamara Shines, but Villanova Is Victorious". The New York Times. March 6, 2006. Retrieved April 22, 2010.
7. Yorio, Kara (March 8, 2006). "McNamara's not overrated — just ask Boeheim". The Sporting News. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved August 23, 2007.
8. Ramsey, Ethan (February 8, 2006). "Is Gerry Overrated?". The Daily Orange. Archived from the original on December 8, 2007. Retrieved August 23, 2007.
9. Winn, Luke (March 8, 2006). "McNamara keeps 'Cuse alive ... and Boeheim explodes". CNNSI.com. Archived from the original on August 5, 2007. Retrieved August 23, 2007.
10. "McNamara's miracle saves Syracuse". CNNSI.com. March 8, 2006. Archived from the original on May 27, 2006. Retrieved August 23, 2007.
11. "Gerry buries another clutch trey as Orange oust Huskies". CNNSI.com. March 9, 2006. Archived from the original on February 2, 2013. Retrieved August 23, 2007.
12. "McNamara magical again as Orange rally to advance to final". The Associated Press. March 10, 2006. Archived from the original on February 3, 2013. Retrieved September 1, 2007.
13. "Syracuse knocks off No. 15 Pitt for Big East title". The Associated Press. March 12, 2006. Archived from the original on April 26, 2006. Retrieved September 1, 2007.
14. Long, Mark (March 16, 2006). "Texas A&M 66, Syracuse 58". The Associated Press. Archived from the original on February 4, 2009. Retrieved August 23, 2007.