OMAHA, Neb. — The sound of clapping hands filled a quiet CenturyLink Center. It came nearly 10 minutes after the final buzzer blared. After Allen Griffin put his hand on the back of Frank Howard’s head while leading him into the locker room. After Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim walked away staring at the ground, the last one to leave the court, officially signaling the end.

The original source of the clapping was Jon, Howard’s father. Eventually others still in the stands around him, family and close friends of the Orange players, joined in.

“We had a hell of a run,” Jon Howard emphatically yelled.

It drew more applause and a “thank you” from several rows back and a few seats over, a spot held by Syracuse Director of Athletics John Wildhack.

Jon Howard kept clapping. Then, before he left, he added one other thought.

“If only we had one more player,” Jon Howard said, “to get these kids some rest.”

Syracuse’s (23-14, 8-10 Atlantic Coast) season ended on Friday night in a 69-65 loss to Duke in the Sweet 16. Recently, that used to be par for the course with this program — in the five seasons from 2008-2013, SU made the Sweet 16 in four of them.

This year was different, though. Getting here required leaning on a seven-man rotation with only six truly healthy players, on a team that ranked 338th per Kenpom.com in experience.

The Orange was the last team selected for an NCAA Tournament berth, dangerously straddling the line that could have ended with SU being out of the NCAA Tournament for the third time in four years, marking another unfulfilling season. Instead, within the span of three games in five days in two cities, the Orange redefined its season.

“They’ve had an incredible end of the year,” Boeheim said after the Sweet 16 loss. “I’ve never been any more proud of a team for what they’ve done in this last 10 days.”

Before Syracuse got to do anything, it had to wait. It ended its season in the second round of the ACC Tournament with a loss to North Carolina on a Wednesday night. It had nearly four full days until the selection show.

Oshae Brissett said that he spent that time in limbo, uncertain about whether SU would appear in the Tournament. He didn’t know if the team had done enough.

It was a mentally exhausting time. Syracuse was coming off four losses in six games over three weeks. Brissett, Howard and Tyus Battle were in the top five nationally in minutes played per game, a move made out of necessity because of SU’s razor-thin rotation. Syracuse racked up the road wins it was missing last year but finished under .500 for the first time in the ACC. The numbers told a blurred story.

Then, Syracuse’s name was called. The confusion was resolved. The mediocre resume had proven just enough.

“It felt like you were given a second life,” Brissett said. “That’s what really moved us, that’s what really pushed us to play so well.”

The cover photo of Syracuse men’s basketball’s Twitter account is a photo from 2016, when SU made a similarly unexpected Tournament run, going all the way to the Final Four. That team, like this season’s team, was limited to a seven-man rotation. At the end of that run, Boeheim said, “I’m more satisfied than I’ve ever been in any year that I’ve ever coached with a possible exception of the year we won it all.”

Still, it was different. The 2016 team’s two lead guards at the top of the zone, Michael Gbinije and Trevor Cooney, were returning seniors who had been active contributors the year before. This season saw Frank Howard playing consistent starter minutes for the first time and Tyus Battle, who only had one year of experience.

The Final Four team had three contributing rookies who were all Top 100 recruits. The Orange didn’t have a single Top 100 recruit coming in this year.

In 2016, one of those freshman (Malachi Richardson) was a key starter, another (Tyler Lydon) was SU’s sixth-man and down-the-stretch player and the third, Howard, was a change of pace guard.

In 2018, Syracuse had Bourama Sidibe who, although technically part of the seven-man rotation, had to battle through knee tendinitis that will require offseason surgery. It had graduate transfer guard Geno Thorpe, who unexpectedly left the team in late November, and freshman guard Howard Washington, who tore his ACL in late January.

Couple the Orange’s personnel limitations with its sometimes-maddening inability to score, and it seemed unlikely that SU would fit the bill of a Tournament team that could make some noise.

“Like coach said before, this year could have been bad with the adversity we hit,” Frank Howard said. “But we fought through. Guys just played with hearts.”

Alexandra Moreo | Senior Staff Photographer

It started on the back of its defense, one that was even stronger than its already-regular season level. Kansas assistant coach Norm Roberts, who was scouting the Syracuse-Duke matchup from press row after the KU victory in the prior game, said that the zone in March was much different than the one Kansas had seen in early December.

The narrow victory over Arizona State in the First Four from Dayton was a sign of how the SU defense could slow down an offense. But just that win wasn’t going to draw any 2016 comparisons.

The win over TCU and zone-killer Jamie Dixon two days later was impressive. It forced a Horned Frogs team that was strong from 3 to constantly doublethink whether taking a 3 was the correct decision. Still, advancing past the Round of 64 didn’t constitute a run.

Then came Michigan State, the four-loss juggernaut playing in its home state to a preseason-ordained championship-or-bust mentality. Syracuse rose to the occasion. Its defense elevated itself past one of the best teams in college basketball and into the national conversation. It elevated Syracuse’s season from average to anything but.

“Obviously with this group I think that sometimes we forget that we had seven guys and one of them has got a bad knee,” Boeheim said. “So for these guys to do what they’ve done, I think it’s an amazing thing.”

Fans have already started clamoring about how excited they are for next season. How three new recruits, including two in the Top 40, will help fortify this year’s team that showed so much heart. Jon Howard would probably agree.

But already focusing on the future now is a mistake. To start, there are no guarantees that a deep Tournament will signal success the next year with new players coming in — just look to last season for evidence. And thinking of what the 2019 team can do is inherently a disservice to the improbable run this season’s team accomplished.

Kenpom had Syracuse losing every game of the Tournament. Before the Tournament started, FiveThirtyEight.com gave SU a 27 percent chance to make the Round of 32, and just a six percent chance to make the Sweet 16.

Kevin Camelo | Digital Design Editor

The Orange didn’t have any new tricks up its sleeve. It had to win purely with defense. It had to run out the same group for nearly the entire game.

That scrappy group didn’t have any more help like Jon Howard wanted. But a five-day stretch made the season one worth celebrating.

“It’s been seven guys all year,” Boeheim said. “It hasn’t been just a few games. It’s been all year. And they deserve an unbelievable amount of credit.”

Tomer Langer is a senior staff writer for The Daily Orange, where his column appears occasionally. He can be reached at tdlanger@syr.edu or on Twitter @tomer_langer.

Published on March 25, 2018 at 8:45 pm