1969-1970 Syracuse Orangemen
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Coach: Roy Danforth

Player Cl Pos G GS FG FGA FG% FT FTA FT% Ast Reb Fls DQ Pts Ppg Apg Rpg
John Suder Sr G 22 19 42 109 38.5% 39 47 83.0%
   34 55 1 123 5.6 0.0 1.5
Ernie Austin Sr G 23 23 184 434 42.3%
 77 103 74.5% 90 90 70 4 445 19.3 3.9 3.9
Bill Finney Jr F 23 14 70 174 40.2% 29 53 54.7%   93 47 0 169 7.3 0.0 4.0
Bob McDaniel Jr F 23 21 167 298 56.0% 76 114 66.7%   236 49 1 410 17.8 0.0 10.3
Bill Smith Jr C 19 19 137 227 60.4%
 110 178 61.8%
   235 75 6 384 20.2 0.0 12.4
Tom Green Jr G 24 5 44 109 40.4%
 19 34 55.9%   56 58 2 107 4.5 0.0 2.3
Gerry McFadden Sr F 23 11 74 155 47.7% 42 59 71.2%   160 48 1 190 8.3 0.0 6.9
Dave Harmon Sr
 F/C 21 2 23 48 47.9% 12 26 46.2%   45 22 0 58 2.8 0.0 2.1
Bill Case Sr F/C 16 6 51 107 47.7% 25 36 69.4%   62 41 2 127 7.9 0.0 3.8
Greg 'Kid' Kohls So G 17 0 12 27 44.4% 14 18 77.8%   9 15 0 38 2.2 0.0 0.5
Paul Piotrowski So F 14 0 4 12 33.3% 5 8 62.5%   16 10 0 13 0.9 0.0 1.1
Gil Guerrero So
 G 15 0 4 18 22.2% 4 6 66.7%   7 8 0 12 0.8 0.0 0.5
Bob Clary Sr G 10 0 1 9 11.1% 0 0
---
   4 2 0 2 0.2 0.0 0.0
Mike Barlow Sr F/C 3 0 0 2 0.0%
 0 0
---
  4 4 0 0 0.0 0.0 1.3

Coach Roy Danforth was confident he could get his team back on the winning ways with a talented trio leading the way. The team started out well, going 6-0. Guard Ernie Austin was leading all scorers with 21+ points a game (including two 29 point efforts). Bob McDaniel and Bill Smith formed a solid front court duo, contributing significant scoring and rebounding. Senior co-captain Bill Case missed the first eight games due to injury, then joined the squad.

Then the Orangemen hit the road, and lost four of their next five. Syracuse had some strong offensive efforts, but very little defense. They also were sloppy with their ball handling; against Cornell they would have 30 turnovers [1]. Six times the team would surrender 100+ points in a game. Against LaSalle, McDaniel would score 36 points on 18 of 23 shooting, and Smith would score 28 points with 21 rebounds; the Orangemen still lost 108-101.

Slowly, the team started falling apart. Austin and Gerry McFadden each were suspended one game for disciplinary reasons. Starting point guard John Suder would injure his ankle and miss some playing time in the second half of the season. Later McDaniel would sit out a game in protest.

The season ultimately fell apart with a fight in the West Virginia game on February 14th. Big Bill Smith, after receiving his fifth foul of the game, threw a punch at referee Hugh Young with 1:01 left in the game. A riot started with fans storming the court. The referees suspended the end of the game, granting WVU the victory (they were leading 94-84 at the time).

Smith would be suspended the remainder of the season, and the Orangemen would finish losing 3 of their last 5 (and 12 of their last 18 overall), to finish a dismal 12-12.

© RLYoung 2005, 2006, 2007, 2013

[1] Syracuse Post-Standard, December 11, 1969