Syracuse, N.Y. -- The college basketball season began with doubt about whether it could be played and whether it should be played, fears about teams competing indoors, and the potential of heart issues among amateur athletes.
It ended the same way so many Syracuse seasons end, with the Orange in the Sweet 16.
The pandemic season featured masks and cancellations and spaced-out benches, bubbles and testing and wearable technology. And for all the changes, Jim Boeheim’s zone defense remained a marvel and the Orange continued to be a tough out in the NCAA tournament, reaching the Sweet 16 for the 24th time in history.
Some of those postseason runs blend together, a luxury afforded only to the country’s most successful schools. The majority have included unforgettable moments, scenes or images unique enough that they will stick in your memory forever, just waiting for the right trigger to return.
This season had its share of those, from Marek Dolezaj’s busted tooth to the rise to stardom of Buddy “I’m a Bucket” Boeheim. Yet it probably will always be remembered as the pandemic season, appreciated for how much the players and coaches endured to perform, for how they provided a dose of entertainment amid a national pandemic.
It was a year in which the school debuted a renovated Carrier Dome but couldn’t welcome fans inside, and the Sweet 16 celebrations took place in a bubble-like environment in Indianapolis and spaced-out bars with 11 p.m. curfews in Central New York.
Syracuse didn’t play either Colgate or Cornell for the first time since 1943-44, when the school didn’t play a season due to World War II. Duke had its season ended by a positive test in the ACC tournament. The Ivy League didn’t play at all.
Every team in the country experienced pandemic-related issues over the course of the year, but the Orange road wasn’t an easy one.
“This is one of the best years that I have ever had coaching for these guys to get through this and to get to this stage, I think, is just unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable,” Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said after a season-ending 62-46 loss to Houston. “I couldn’t be more proud of a basketball team than I am of this team. Period.”
Boeheim was the first to announce he had tested positive in early November, joined by a player. It prompted the program’s first pause. It wouldn’t be the last.
Shortly after the first game, a walk-on tested positive. It forced Buddy Boeheim out of the lineup for three games, but the Orange were able to carry on thanks to technology produced by German company Kinexon.
A week after Buddy Boeheim returned, the Orange went toe-to-toe with Buffalo, a contentious game that prompted Jim Boeheim to say he wouldn’t invite the Western New York school to the Dome again. The following day the Bulls announced they had had positive cases. Syracuse was paused again. Later in the year, the head coach announced that Buddy Boeheim and Joe Girard had struggled with the virus.
Games against Louisville were canceled. Twice. Both on the day of the game after the teams had traveled.
It seemed, at one point, that the cancellation of four games could contribute to the Orange missing the postseason.
Then the Orange got hot, winning five of its final seven games, moving from the wrong side of the bubble to the right, continuing what feels like an annual tradition, and amid the stress of daily life in a pandemic, the basketball team delivered another season full of drama.
Syracuse center Marek Dolezaj was left with only a stub of tooth after absorbing an elbow from Georgetown’s Jamorko Pickett. Then, he was encouraged by his coach to play the final minute, his presence so critical that Dolezaj could afford to be without his tooth more than the Orange could afford to be without him.
Syracuse Orange trainer Brad Pike takes a look at Syracuse Orange forward Marek Dolezaj (21) after Marek had a tooth knocked out during a game between Syracuse and Georgetown on Saturday Jan. 9, 2021 at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse New York. Dennis Nett | dnett@syracuse.com
The image of a bleeding Dolezaj was a fitting one for him to leave behind from his senior season (he could still elect to return) given the way he put his body on the line over the course of his career. He’s devoted his 201 pounds to winning basketball games at any cost necessary, frequently absorbing charges, most memorably from Duke’s human freight train Zion Williamson.
Despite the fact that he’d already had the coronavirus, Boeheim was criticized for his mask-wearing, the first major fashion criticism since Juli convinced him to put away the plaid.
Boeheim delivered a long list of salty quips, regardless of whether you include Duke’s Jalen Johnson. The coach spent time rebutting local radio talk show callers who questioned his strategy and a reporter he deemed too short to know basketball. He took on the entire Ivy League for its coronavirus response and the anonymous assistant coaches who likened his guards to a lunchtime YMCA team, then had their lunches stolen and eaten.
As Gerry McNamara can attest, anonymous assistant coaches don’t have much of a track record around these parts anyway.
Kadary Richmond’s minutes were a matter of contention throughout, while Jesse Edwards and Robert Braswell went consecutive games without playing during the year. All three seemed to raise their play when it mattered most.
After Central New York had watched him grow up, squeezing into photos with Jim and Juli, Buddy Boeheim continued his rise from coach’s son to excellent shooter to legitimate star. Buddy has been unceasingly humble and pleasant, poised and polite, throughout his run at Syracuse. At least if you exclude opponents who were subject to his late-season torchings.
It’s amazing to think how close we came to a year in which none of that happened, to remember that when it all started, every game played was itself a small victory. Syracuse’s season gave us than we could have possibly expected.
Contact Chris Carlson anytime: Email | Twitter | 315-412-1639
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The Link LonkMarch 29, 2021 at 06:02PM
https://www.syracuse.com/orangebasketball/2021/03/syracuse-basketball-had-season-well-never-forget-and-one-that-almost-never-happened.html
Syracuse basketball had season we’ll never forget, and one that almost never happened - syracuse.com
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