The 2012–13 Syracuse Orange men's basketball team represented

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

in the

2012–13 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 2012–13 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began in November with the 2K Sports Classic and ended with the Final Four in Atlanta, April 6–8. Season headlines *October 29 – The AP preseason All-American team was named. Indiana's ...

. The head coach,

Jim Boeheim James Arthur Boeheim Jr. ( ; born November 17, 1944) is an American college basketball coach who is the head coach of the Syracuse Orange men's team of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). Boeheim has guided the Orange to ten Big East Conference ...

, served for his 37th year. The team played its home games at the Carrier Dome in

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffa ...

and was a member of the

Big East Conference The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and M ...

. This team reached the Final Four for the fifth time in program history.

Preseason outlook

Syracuse began the season ranked #9 in the Coaches' Poll and the

AP poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broadca ...

, the second-highest ranking among Big East teams behind Louisville. In a poll of Big East coaches, Syracuse was predicted to finish second in the conference. In this same poll, the coaches named

Brandon Triche Brandon Stephan Triche ( ; born February 21, 1991) is an American professional basketball player for Shabab Al Ahli Basket of the UAE National Basketball League. He played college basketball for Syracuse, and in 2012, he was featured on the cove ...

to their all-Big East second team.

C. J. Fair Carl Keith "C. J." Fair, Jr. (born September 13, 1991) is an American professional basketball player for the Al-Nasr Dubai of the UAE National Basketball League. He played college basketball for Syracuse University. High school career Fair is fr ...

received an honorable mention. A poll of writers in Big East cities predicted Syracuse would finish second in the conference. Triche, Fair and

Michael Carter-Williams Michael Carter-Williams (born October 10, 1991) is an American professional basketball player. He was drafted in the first round with the 11th overall pick in the 2013 NBA draft by the Philadelphia 76ers, after playing college basketball for the ...

were named to the writers' all-Big East second team.

Roster changes

Syracuse returned five players that had significant playing time last season (three players that earned starts and two that came off the bench), while losing four significant contributors. Syracuse graduated two players that started every game during the previous season: senior point guard

Scoop Jardine Antonio Stephen "Scoop" Jardine (born August 9, 1988) is an American former professional basketball player who last played for the Niagara River Lions of the NBL Canada. He played college basketball for the Syracuse Orange from 2007–08 to 201 ...

and senior forward

Kris Joseph Kristopher Carlos Joseph (born December 17, 1988) is a Canadian professional basketball player for Ottawa Blackjacks of the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL). He played for the Syracuse Orange men's basketball team from 2008 to 2012. He ...

. Sophomore guard

Dion Waiters Dion Waiters Jr. (born December 10, 1991) is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the Syracuse Orange and was selected with the fourth overall pick in the 2012 NBA draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers. ...

, who averaged 24 minutes per game in the 2011–12 season, left school early to enter the NBA draft, as did sophomore center

Fab Melo Fabricio Paulino de Melo (; June 20, 1990 – February 11, 2017) was a Brazilian professional basketball player. He played one season in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Boston Celtics before returning to his home country and play ...

, who was a starter before the university ruled him academically ineligible toward the end of the season. The starting line-up for the first half of the current season featured three players who started games in the previous season: senior guard Brandon Triche, junior forward C.J. Fair and sophomore forward

Rakeem Christmas Rakeem Haleek Christmas (born December 1, 1991) is an American professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the Syracuse Orange for four seasons before being drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves with the 36th overall pick in ...

. Sophomore guard Michael Carter-Williams, who did not start in the previous season, but played an average of 10 minutes per game, entered the starting line-up in the 2012–13 season, along with true freshman forward

DaJuan Coleman DaJuan Coleman (born October 16, 1992) is an American professional basketball player for KK Zlatorog Laško of the Slovenian League 1. He played college basketball for the Syracuse Orange. High school career Coleman began his high school varsity ...

. Nine players have earned more than 10 minutes per game in the first half of the season. Senior

James Southerland James Southerland III (born April 28, 1990) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Wellington Saints of the New Zealand National Basketball League (NBL). He played college basketball for Syracuse. High school care ...

was averaging 26 minutes per game through 16 games before Syracuse University ruled him ineligible in January 2013. The three other players who have been playing off the bench for the team this season are redshirt freshman guard Trevor Cooney, freshman forward Jerami Grant and junior center Baye Moussa Keita. Keita also played off the bench last season. By January of the 2012–13 season, more than halfway through, Syracuse was playing with just seven scholarship players due to Dajuan Coleman's knee injury and James Southerland's suspension. Coleman was Syracuse's starting center at the beginning of the season and Southerland led the team in three point scoring coming off the bench before his suspension. Head coach Boeheim said he thinks a rotation of seven or eight players is enough to compete.

Previous season's depth chart

Current depth chart

The three players on this year's team that consistently have earned the most playing time have been Triche, Fair and Carter-Williams. Cooney has been coming off the bench to spell the guards this season, while four back-line players (Coleman, Christmas, Keita and Grant) have been rounding out the line up. Total combined production from these four players has varied significantly.

New recruits on current team

Jim Boeheim milestones

Jim Boeheim became only the third coach to win 900 men's

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

games on December 17, 2012 when Syracuse defeated

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

, 72–68. On December 31, 2012, Jim Boeheim won his 902nd game tying

Bob Knight Robert Montgomery Knight (born October 25, 1940) is an American former basketball coach. Nicknamed "the General", Knight won 902 NCAA Division I men's college basketball games, a record at the time of his retirement, and currently fourth all-ti ...

for second-most men's NCAA Division I victories with a 96–62 win over Central Connecticut. Boeheim passed Knight to gain sole possession of second place behind

Mike Krzyzewski Michael William Krzyzewski ( ; born February 13, 1947), nicknamed "Coach K", is an American former college basketball coach. He served as the head coach at Duke University from 1980 to 2022, during which he led the Blue Devils to five natio ...

when Syracuse defeated

Rutgers Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was a ...

78–53 on January 2, 2013.

Roster

Schedule

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Big East The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...

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2013 NCAA Tournament comparisons

Rankings

2013–14 Recruiting

2014–15 Recruiting

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2012-13 Syracuse Orange Men's Basketball Team Syracuse Syracuse Orange men's basketball seasons Syracuse NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament Final Four seasons