1995–96 Syracuse Orangemen basketball team

1995–96 Big East men's basketball standings
	Big East 6
	Big East 7
	† 1996 Big East Tournament winner ; As of April 1, 1996[1][2][3]; Rankings from AP Poll

Syracuse Orangemen men's basketball
1995–96 Syracuse Orangemen men's basketball
Conference	Big East Conference (1979–2013)
Ranking
Coaches	No. 3
AP	No. 15
1995–96 record	29–9 (12–6 Big East)
Head coach	Jim Boeheim
Assistant coach	Bernie Fine
Home arena	Carrier Dome

The 1995–96 Syracuse Orangemen basketball team represented Syracuse University. The head coach was Jim Boeheim, serving for his 20th year. The team played its home games at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, New York. The team finished with a 29–9 (12–6) record, while making it to the Championship Game of the NCAA tournament.

The team was led by seniors John Wallace and Lazarus Sims. Fellow senior J.B. Reafsnyder, juniors Jason Cipolla and Otis Hill, sophomore Todd Burgan and Marius Janulis played key roles. Walk-on and future NFL star Donovan McNabb also appeared in five games.

Season recap

Syracuse was aided by the return of John Wallace, who had declared for the NBA draft, but chose to withdraw his early entry. Wallace would lead Syracuse in scoring for 30-of-38 games, leading Syracuse to an early 11–0 record.

With the Orangemen hitting a bump in mid-season losing five of eight Big East games, Boeheim chose to insert Jason Cipolla into the starting lineup in favor of Marius Janulis. The move worked as Syracuse would go 8–1 to finish the regular season with a record of 22–7. Syracuse would advance to the Big East Championship semi-finals, where it was knocked off by Connecticut, 85–67.^[4]

Syracuse was named a No. 4 seed for the tournament, and played one of its most memorable games in the Sweet 16 against Georgia. Cipolla hit a jumper as time expired in regulation to send the game to overtime, and John Wallace sealed the victory with a 3-pointer with 2 seconds remaining to propel Syracuse to an 83–81 win.^[5] Wallace finished with 30 points and 15 rebounds in that game.

Syracuse would knock off the Paul Pierce, Raef LaFrentz and Jacques Vaughn-led Kansas in the Elite 8, and Erick Dampier and the Mississippi State Bulldogs in the National Semifinal game.^[6] This set up a matchup between Jim Boeheim and former assistant Rick Pitino, who was now head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats in the National Championship game.

Syracuse, a heavy underdog, nearly overcame a 13-point second-half deficit, closing to within 2, but Kentucky held on for a 76–67 victory. Kentucky featured a deep team, including future NBA players Derek Anderson, Antoine Walker, Tony Delk and Ron Mercer.^[7]

Roster

John Wallace (22.2 pts, 8.7 rebs)
Jason Cipolla (7.7 pts, 2.0 rebs)
Lazarus Sims (6.3 pts, 7.4 asts)
Todd Burgan (12.1 pts, 6.8 rebs)
Otis Hill (12.7 pts, 5.5 rebs)
Marius Janulis (6.1 pts, 2.1 rebs)
J. B. Reafsnyder (5.5 pts, 3.4 rebs)

References

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[1] sports-reference.com 1995-96 Big East Conference Season Summary

[2] Keefe, Gavin, "Big East Notes: The Big East 7 and Big East 6? Big Deal!", The Day, January 1, 1996, p. 7.

[3] "PLUS: COLLEGE BASKETBALL -- BIG EAST CONFERENCE; League Cuts Games In Search of Bids," The New York Times, August 7, 1998.

[4] BASKETBALL;A Battle of the Big East's Best: It's UConn vs. Georgetown – New York Times

[5] N.C.A.A. TOURNAMENT: WEST;Syracuse Hits the Shot; Arizona Doesn't – New York Times

[6] Washingtonpost.com: Syracuse's Defense Tops 'Dogs, 77–69

[7] BASKETBALL;Relentless Kentucky Captures Championship – New York Times

1995–96 Big East men's basketball standings
	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Big East 6
#3 Connecticut†	17	–	1	.944	32	–	3	.914
#10 Villanova	14	–	4	.778	26	–	7	.788
Boston College	10	–	8	.556	19	–	11	.633
West Virginia	7	–	11	.389	12	–	15	.444
St. John's	5	–	13	.278	11	–	16	.407
Notre Dame	4	–	14	.222	9	–	18	.333
Big East 7
#4 Georgetown	13	–	5	.722	29	–	8	.784
#15 Syracuse	12	–	6	.667	29	–	9	.763
Providence	9	–	9	.500	18	–	12	.600
Miami	8	–	10	.444	15	–	13	.536
Seton Hall	7	–	11	.389	12	–	16	.429
Rutgers	6	–	12	.333	9	–	18	.333
Pittsburgh	5	–	13	.278	10	–	17	.370

† 1996 Big East Tournament winner As of April 1, 1996^[1]^[2]^[3]; Rankings from AP Poll

Syracuse Orange men's basketball
Venues	Archbold Gymnasium (1908–1947; 1952–1955) State Fair Coliseum (1947–1951) Onondaga County War Memorial (1951–1952; 1955–1962) Manley Field House (1962–1980) Carrier Dome (1980–present) Carmelo K. Anthony Basketball Center (practice)
Rivalries	Connecticut
Culture & lore	"McNamara's Band" Otto the Orange Scandal 6-overtime game Syracuse ISP Sports Network
People	Head coaches All-Century Team
Seasons	1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19
Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics; NCAA championships in bolded italics