The 2009–10 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

2009–10 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 2009–10 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 9, 2009, and ended with the 2010 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament's championship game on April 5, 2010, on the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The opening round ...

. Their head coach was Jim Boeheim, serving for his 34th year. The team played its home games at the

Carrier Dome The JMA Wireless Dome, originally the Carrier Dome (1980–2022) and colloquially called "The Dome," or more recently "The JMA Dome," is a domed sports stadium in Syracuse, New York. Located on the campus of Syracuse University in the University ...

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 ...

. Key contributors included seniors

Arinze Onuaku Arinze Christopher Onuaku (born July 13, 1987) is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for Syracuse University. High school career Onuaku attended DuVal High School in Lanham, Maryland before transferr ...

and

Andy Rautins Andrew Jay Rautins (born November 2, 1986) is an American-born Canadian professional basketball player who last played for AEK Athens of the Greek Basket League. He played for Syracuse University and was drafted by the NBA's New York Knicks in ...

, juniors Rick Jackson and Wesley Johnson, sophomores

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

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 wa ...

and freshmen

Mookie Jones Theodore Todd "Mookie" Jones IV (born February 22, 1990) is a 6'6", 190 lbs. forward who played basketball for the Syracuse Orange from 2008–2011. Early life In his senior season at Peekskill High School, Jones averaged 20.1 points per ...

, DaShonte Riley, James Southerland and Brandon Triche. Although widely expected to finish near the middle of the league, the Orange captured its eighth Big East regular season title, and second outright, as well as the No. 1 seed in the Big East tournament. The team also achieved its first No. 1 ranking in the national AP Poll since the 1989-90 season, and its first in the ESPN/USA Today coaches' poll since winning the national championship in

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

."Syracuse No. 1 for first time in 20 years"
Associated Press. Published 03-01-2010. Retrieved 03-02-2010."Syracuse rises to No. 1 in coaches' poll"
ESPN.com. Published 03-01-2010. Retrieved 03-02-2010. The Orange failed to win the Big East tournament, falling in the quarterfinals to Georgetown, but their regular season efforts earned them a 1 seed in the West Region of the

2010 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The 2010 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 65 schools playing in a single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball as a culmination of the 2009–10 basketball seaso ...

. They easily won their first and second-round games over 16 seed Vermont and 8 seed

Gonzaga Gonzaga may refer to: Places * Gonzaga, Lombardy, commune in the province of Mantua, Italy * Gonzaga, Cagayan, municipality in the Philippines *Gonzaga, Minas Gerais, town in Brazil *Forte Gonzaga, fort in Messina, Sicily People with the surna ...

to advance to the Sweet Sixteen where they were upset by 5 seed and AP #11

Butler A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantry. Some a ...

to end the season 30–5.

Preseason

Roster changes

Syracuse lost its starting backcourt from the previous season as point guard

Jonny Flynn Jonny William Flynn (born February 6, 1989) is an American former professional basketball player. A three-year National Basketball Association (NBA) veteran, he last played for the Orlandina Basket of the Lega Basket Serie A and played collegiat ...

declared for the

2009 NBA draft The 2009 NBA draft was held on June 25, 2009, at the WaMu Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City. In this draft, the National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players and other eli ...

and was taken with the sixth overall pick by the Minnesota Timberwolves. Also turning pro were shooting guard

Eric Devendorf Eric Michael Devendorf (born April 21, 1987) is an American former professional basketball player. Devendorf played at Syracuse from 2005 to 2009. He averaged 15.7 points per game in his final season at Syracuse. He ranks 14th on the school's all ...

and small forward Paul Harris. The Orange also lost one scholarship senior, power forward

Kristof Ongenaet Kristof Ongenaet (born 29 April 1985) is a forward from Ghent, Belgium, who is a former player for the Syracuse Orange. He played for Sutor Basket Montegranaro in the Italian-based Lega Basket Serie A league. Team Belgium Before arriving at Cues ...

and one transfer, center Sean Williams. Additions to the team include

Iowa State Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

transfer

Wes Johnson Wes Johnson (born June 6, 1961) is an American actor, cartoonist, comedian and voice artist, who has appeared in such films as ''A Dirty Shame'', ''Head of State'', '' The Invasion'', ''For Richer or Poorer'' and '' Hearts in Atlantis''. He h ...

, who sat out the 2008–09 season because of NCAA transfer rules. Also, point guard

returns after redshirting due to a stress fracture in his shin. Small forward

also redshirted the previous year because of a hip injury. Syracuse also brought in three new players for 2009-10: power forward DaShonte Riley, small forward James Southerland and guard Brandon Triche. Southerland was actually a 2008 recruit, but could not play because he was academically ineligible. He spent a year at a prep school to improve his grades.

Recruiting

Roster

Preseason outlook

The departure of Flynn left many college basketball observers pessimistic about the Orange. In the preseason coaches' poll, Syracuse was predicted to finish sixth in the Big East and were unranked in the preseason AP Poll. Arinze Onuaku was the only Orange player to make the preseason All-Big East team, receiving an honorable mention.

Season

Notable games

* On November 4, Syracuse was stunned by Division II Le Moyne, 82–79, in its final

exhibition game An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

before opening the regular season. The loss was Syracuse's first exhibition loss in six years."Johnson, LeMoyne stun Syracuse"
ESPN.com. Published 11-04-2009. Retrieved 01-18-2010. * On November 20, then-No. 24 Syracuse upset then-No. 4 North Carolina 87–71 in the finals of the

Coaches Vs. Cancer Classic The Coaches vs. Cancer Classic was an annual college basketball tournament event benefiting cancer research held from 2012 to 2014. The event was held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, and televised by truTV. The tournament replaced t ...

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

. Wesley Johnson scored 25 points and collected eight rebounds, and Syracuse used a 22–1 run to open the second half."Syracuse opens second half with 22-1 run to topple North Carolina"
ESPN.com. Published 11-20-2009. Retrieved 01-18-2010. * On December 10, then-No. 7 Syracuse knocked off then-No. 10 Florida in a match up of unbeaten teams. Rick Jackson scored a career-high 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds,

had 18 points and Wes Johnson finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds."Jackson has 21 points, 11 rebounds as Syracuse remains unbeaten"
ESPN.com. Published 12-10-2009. Retrieved 01-18-2010. * On January 2, then-No. 5 Syracuse was handed its first loss of the season as it was upset by then-unranked Pittsburgh 82–72. Pitt's Ashton Gibbs scored 24 points and Jermaine Dixon added 21. The Orange was led by Wesley Johnson's 19 points."It's cold outside: No. 5 Syracuse goes 1 of 13 on 3-pointers in loss to Pitt"
ESPN.com. Published 01-02-2010. Retrieved 01-18-2010. * On January 26, Jim Boeheim extended his NCAA Division-I record for most 20-win seasons to 32, when then-No. 4 Syracuse rallied from a 14-0 starting deficit to defeat then-No. 7 Georgetown 73–56. The Orange's Kris Joseph came off the bench to score 15 points, and Wesley Johnson added 14 points and 4 blocks, taking advantage of the Hoyas' 19 turnovers and 20 personal fouls."Boeheim takes over sixth place on career wins list"
ESPN.com. Published 01-25-2010. Retrieved 01-25-2010. *On February 27, the Orange clinched its eighth Big East regular season title and a No. 1 seed in the Big East tournament by beating No. 8 Villanova, 95–77. The game also set the NCAA on-campus basketball attendance record, with 34,616 spectators present. Three days later they won the title outright, with a win against St. John's, 85–66.

Other news

* On March 1, two days after beating Villanova, Syracuse achieved its first No. 1 ranking in the AP Poll since the 1989–90 season, and its first in the ESPN/USA Today coaches' poll since winning the national championship in

Schedule

, - !colspan=9, Exhibition2009-10 Men's Basketball Schedule
SUAthletics.com. Retrieved 01-18-2010. , - !colspan=9, Regular SeasonSyracuse Orange Schedule - 2009-10
ESPN. Retrieved 1/18/2010. , - !colspan=9, Big East tournament , - !colspan=9, NCAA tournament† , -

Rankings

2010 signing class

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2009-10 Syracuse Orange Men's Basketball Team Syracuse Orange Syracuse Orange men's basketball seasons Syracuse Orange Syracuse Orange men's b Syracuse Orange men's b