Syracuse Men’s Basketball concludes play for Orange Athletics in the calendar year of 2022 on New Year’s Eve against Boston College, bringing an end to a hectic year of Syracuse sports.
SU Men’s hoops played on both New Year’s Day, (a 74-69 loss to Virginia) and of course, now on New Year’s Eve.
Plenty happened in between.
The Orange basketball program made history in 2022 by polishing off Jim Boeheim’s only losing season in his 46+ year coaching career.
But the postseason brought promise; SU began ACC Tournament play with a convincing 39-point win against Florida State.
But that wasn’t the story.
Senior Buddy Boeheim struck Florida State’s Wyatt Wilkes in the stomach, earning a one-game suspension for SU’s quarterfinal matchup the next day with Duke.
Syracuse’s ACC Tournament run, season, and the career of Buddy Boeheim came to a close on March 10, 2022 against the Blue Devils, all in one.
“It sucks to see it end this way, but I’m all about the journey, and the journey has been priceless,” an emotional Boeheim said after the game.
But as one door closed, another one opened. The Men’s Basketball program welcomed seven new players, including six new freshman. First-year combo guard Judah Mintz has blossomed into a two-time ACC Rookie of Week in his first months at Syracuse.
While the men’s hoops program underwent a remodeling, the women’s team had already done so on March 28, welcoming back Orange basketball legend Felisha Legette-Jack as its new head coach.
‘Cuse has won 10 games this season heading into 2023 under its new coach. The Orange only won 11 times all of last season.
Winning is something Syracuse Football did plenty to begin its 2022 season. The Orange started with a 6-0 record and a No. 14 ranking. The last of the wins was a marquee 24-9 victory over then-No. 16 NC State.
Then things came crashing down.
The Orange lost five in a row, and six of seven, concluding with a 28-20 loss to Minnesota on Dec. 29 in the Pinstripe Bowl. It was Syracuse’s first bowl game since the 2018 Camping World Bowl.
While Syracuse Football’s regular season ended with five straight losses, Orange Men’s Lacrosse finished with six consecutive defeats to wrap up 2022. SU was historically bad in year one under Orange icon Gary Gait, finishing with a 4-10 record, double digit losses for the only time in program history.
Things hardly went the way Gait expected in his inaugural year. The same could be said about Ian McIntyre in year 13 at the helm of Syracuse Men’s Soccer. But for quite different reasons.
The Orange brought home the program’s first-ever national title in thrilling fashion winning 2-2, 7-6 on penalty kicks in the National Championship against Indiana in Cary, North Carolina. That followed SU’s second-ever ACC title in the same venue weeks prior.
A sweet way to close out the calendar year.Team title number 31 for the Syracuse Athletic department came in December.