2003 The Syracuse University men's basketball team won the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Men's Basketball Championship on April 7, 2003. They defeated the Kansas Jayhawks 81-78 at the New Orleans Superdome. This was their first national title since 1963.
Syracuse went 31-4 during the 2002-03 season and earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament for the 10th time in 11 years. They were given a #5 seed in the East Region where they lost to top-seeded Duke 93-72 in the first round. Junior guard Carmelo Anthony led all scorers with 28 points while Derrick Williams added 17 points and nine rebounds for the Orange.
Anthony was named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament. He was also awarded the Naismith Award as the best college player in America.
In 1954-55, Syracuse joined what was then known as the Big Five (Chicago, Cincinnati, Indiana, Louisville, and Michigan) as members of the newly formed Atlantic Coast Conference. The other ACC schools are North Carolina, Pitt, Virginia, and Wake Forest.
Syracuse has never finished lower than second place in the ACC standings. During the 2004-05 season, the Orange won their third consecutive ACC title and 14th overall.
The NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship Game in 2003
| Syracuse Orangemen | Kansas Jayhawks |
|---|---|
| (29-5) | (30-7) |
| 81 | 78 |
| Head coach: Jim Boeheim | Head coach: Roy Williams |
| AP: 13 Coaches: 13 | AP: 6 Coaches: 6 |
With an all-time win-loss record of 2042-931 + (.687) as of March 29, 2021, Syracuse is ranked sixth in overall victories among all NCAA Division I schools and seventh in all-time win percentage among programs with at least 50 years in Division I.
Syracuse University's national basketball champions in 1918: National Basketball Champions of Syracuse University in 1926: Syracuse University was the 2003 NCAA Basketball Champion.
In 1981, Syracuse won the Big East Tournament but was eliminated from the NCAA Tournament. The squad, which included Danny Schayes and Leo Rautins, finished second in the NIT. In 1982, the squad returned to the NIT before embarking on another lengthy run of NCAA berths in 1983.
41 Appearances in the Syracuse Orange Tournament: Six Final Fours 1 championship (2003) 70-41 win-loss record
The NCAA, on the other hand, acknowledged that the punishments did not involve the removal of any awards or banners. As a result, Syracuse may claim all of its NCAA Tournament berths and conference championships from those years. In 1916-17, Syracuse fielded its first varsity basketball team. A trunk show occurs when a designer sends samples of their whole collection or line—sometimes as many as 30 gowns! —to a salon for a certain length of time (typically a weekend), allowing brides-to-be to try on a wider choice of designs from the brand.
With an all-time win-loss record of 2042-931+ (.687) as of March 29, 2021, Syracuse is ranked sixth in overall victories among all NCAA Division I teams and seventh in all-time win percentage among programs with at least 50 years in Division I. The Orange are also sixth in total games played (1490), fifth in average wins per season (21.4) and sixth in winning percentage (37%).
In the early years of college basketball, when only a few schools were playing football, men's basketball was not considered a major sport at Syracuse. The original Syracuse basketball team went 0-3 against Harvard in its first three games of 1891-92, but soon after that they won their first game against Cornell by a score of 34-12. In 1897, John "Doc" Woodruff took over as coach and led the team to its first undefeated regular season (18-0) and its first national championship. The 1898-99 team finished the season with a 33-1 record and was retroactively named the first national champion by the Helms Foundation.
After another undefeated regular season in 1899-1900, Woodruff's team lost its first game against Yale by a margin of 21 points. From then on, however, they never lost again and went on to win four more titles in a row from 1900 to 1903. In those six seasons, they posted a perfect record five times and had a winning percentage of.
Syracuse is regarded as one of the most prominent collegiate basketball programs in the country, having won three overall national championships and one NCAA Tournament title, as well as being a national runner-up twice and presently holding an NCAA-record 51 straight winning seasons. The team is also known for its "March MADNESS" atmosphere during tournament play.
Syracuse has been ranked No. 1 in the AP Poll for a record 20 weeks from the end of the 1966-67 season to early in the 1969-70 season. The team's highest ranking was #1 in both polls in 1973-74.
Currently, only Duke and Kansas have more National Championships than Syracuse. However, since the implementation of the 3-point line in 1979, Syracuse has only had one player who averaged over 10 points per game (Derrick Harris in 1995), while Duke and Kansas each have two such players (Mike Krzyzewski and Bill Self, respectively).
In addition to their three National Championships, Syracuse has finished first or second in the nation four other times, finishing as high as second in the 1972-73 season before losing to UCLA in the championship game. They were also ranked #1 for much of the 2006-07 season before falling to Michigan State in the final week of the season.
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