The year 2016 started off by reaching new heights for Syracuse sports, as both the men’s and the women’s basketball teams made the Final Four. There were unforeseen issues that arose too, such as a director of athletics leaving unexpectedly after one year and two football players being stabbed by a former player.

Below is a list of the 15 biggest sports stories from this calendar year, listed in chronological order.

Men’s basketball makes Final Four as No. 10 seed

Daily Orange File Photo

After sneaking into the NCAA Tournament as a No. 10 seed, Syracuse won its first round matchup with Dayton and beat Cinderella team Middle Tennessee State in the second round.

In Chicago, the Orange squeaked by Gonzaga in the Sweet 16 in a game that came down to the wire. Then, the Orange pulled off a shocking 16-point comeback against No. 1 seed Virginia to advance to the Final Four. The Cavaliers head coach, Tony Bennett, had been 68-0 when leading by 10 or more at halftime before Syracuse mounted the comeback.

Syracuse lost in the Final Four to North Carolina, but it had still made a much deeper run than most people thought was possible.

Women’s basketball makes first-ever national championship

Evan Jenkins | Staff Photographer 

Going into the NCAA Tournament, the SU women’s basketball team had never made it to the Sweet 16. But that changed when SU beat Army and Albany in the Carrier Dome. Then, in Sioux Falls, SU pulled off a monumental upset of No. 1 seed South Carolina and beat Tennessee in the Elite Eight.

In the Final Four, the Orange beat Washington to advance all the way to the national championship game, where the team ended up losing to Connecticut.

Naesean Howard alleged stabbing

Courtesy of the Syracuse Police Department

On April 16, former SU football player Naesean Howard allegedly stabbed two SU football players, Chauncey Scissum and Corey Winfield at a South Campus party.

Howard was then arraigned in September after trespassing onto SU’s campus. He’s been charged with first-degree assault and has been to court a few times, with dates consistently getting pushed back. He’s due back for his trail on Feb. 21, 2017.

Pearl Washington’s death

Daily Orange File Photo

After battling against a brain tumor for several months, Syracuse men’s basketball legend Dwayne ‘Pearl’ Washington died on April 20, at 52 years old.

Notable Syracuse alumni and sports figures mourned the loss of Washington. SU head coach Jim Boeheim got emotional while discussing Washington’s loss during a press conference.

On Dec. 17, Syracuse held a “Pearl Washington Day” during the game against Georgetown to honor the late legend. At halftime, a “31” was unveiled that was put right on the block “S” at halfcourt.

Tennis makes first NCAA tournament in program history and reaches second round

Zach Barlow | Staff Photographer 

Coming into the year, five of the eight players on the SU tennis team were new to the program. But that didn’t stop Syracuse from reaching new heights, as the team made its first-ever NCAA tournament.

The Orange won its first matchup against Georgia State before losing its second round matchup to Florida.

Mark Coyle bolts for Minnesota 

Daily Orange File Photo

On June 19, 2015, Mark Coyle was hired to be SU’s newest athletic director, after Darryl Gross resigned. Several days later, he held a press conference outlining his visions and spoke with The Daily Orange.

But on May 11, it was announced that Coyle was leaving Syracuse to take the same position at Minnesota, a school he had previously worked at. He said he hoped Orange fans would understand why he made the move. Most of them didn’t.

Women’s lacrosse reaches fifth straight Final Four

Courtesy of  SU Athletic Communications

It took an overtime victory against Southern California, but the Syracuse women’s lacrosse team advanced to its fifth consecutive Final Four appearance. For Kayla Treanor, the greatest player in program history, it was her last shot to win a national championship.

But Syracuse was blown out by Maryland in the matchup. It marked the fourth straight year that Maryland had ended SU’s season.

Carrier Dome renovations announced

Daily Orange File Photo

For the past several years, discussions were held regarding what to do with the Carrier Dome. There were talks of just replacing the roof and talks of building a new arena in an off-campus site.

In May, SU announced that it would replace the roof of the Carrier Dome as part of other renovations, including one to the current Archbold Gymnasium.

John Wildhack hired

Courtesy of Keith Kobland

On July 6, Syracuse announced that it had hired John Wildhack to serve as the new athletic director. Wildhack had been a top executive at ESPN, a company he worked at since 1980.

A few days later, he spoke with The Daily Orange in a Q&A, detailing his personal experiences at ESPN and his expectations for the job.

Vacated wins and players involved announced

Daily Orange File Photo

When the NCAA hit Syracuse with sanctions in 2015, it vacated 101 wins from Jim Boeheim’s record. In October, it was announced which seasons those wins came from. The vacated wins spanned five different seasons, beginning with the 2004-2005 season and ending in 2012. All 34 wins from the 2011-2012 season were vacated, as well as the wins from SU’s — and Gerry McNamara’s —  2006 Big East tournament run.

In November, it was announced who the five players were in the violations that led to the vacated wins: Terrence Roberts, Billy Edelin, Dion Waiters, Fab Melo and Mookie Jones.

Brad Wittke receives public reprimand

Courtesy of BGSU athletics

During the Syracuse-Boston College football game, Eric Dungey started a scuffle after he tackled an Eagles player who was returning an interception he threw. Dungey drove the BC player into the ground after he had already been pushed out, and was flagged for it.

Video of the play showed SU Director of Football Operations shoving a BC player down to the ground. In response, Syracuse, in consultation with the ACC, issued Wittke a “public reprimand” for the action. The Daily Orange Editorial Board felt the punishment was not severe enough, calling the public reprimand the equivalent of a verbal spanking.

Eric Dungey misses last three games of the season again

Jessica Sheldon | Staff Photographer 

After Terrel Hunt went down in the 2015 opener, Dungey came on as the starter at quarterback but missed the last three games of the season after getting knocked out of a blowout loss to Louisville when he took a shot to the head.

In the offseason, Dungey vowed to play smarter and avoid hits. He started off that way, but the SU offense needed his running ability to sustain drives. Against Clemson, he got rocked between two Tigers and had to leave the game. He missed the last three games and it was never announced what the injury was or its severity. But, it did mark the second straight year he missed the final three games of the year with an injury.

Men’s cross country team wins ACC tournament again

Courtesy of the ACC

In 2015, the Syracuse men’s cross country team won the national championship and came in with big expectations this year.

The Orange finished third in the nationals this year. It also won its fourth straight ACC title and Justyn Knight was named the ACC male runner of the year for the second year in a row. He won every race he competed at except for the national championship race, where he finished second.

 Football offensive records in Babers’ first year

Jessica Sheldon | Staff Photographer 

When head coach Dino Babers was hired, he promised a fast-paced, high-scoring offense while implementing the offense he picked up while coaching at Baylor. The tagline for the team became “Orange is the New Fast.”

The SU offense lived up to the billing, slotting its place in the record books. In just nine games, Dungey finished fourth all-time in passing attempts (355), third in completions (230) and third in passing yards (2,679).

Graduate transfer wide receiver Amba Etta-Tawo tied the record for receiving touchdowns in a season (14). He broke the mark for touchdowns (5) and receiving yards (270) in a game and shattered the record for receptions (94) and receiving yards (1,482) in a season.

In the final game of the season, SU and Pittsburgh combined for an FBS record 137 points.

Syracuse men’s basketball loses five nonconference games for the first time ever

Daily Orange File Photo

During media day before the start 2016-2017 season, Boeheim said that this team was one of the deepest he’d had in a while. Expectations were high for the Orange as the team was ranked at No. 19 in the preseason Associated Press poll.

But after a few early wins against bad teams, Syracuse struggled. Syracuse dropped back-to-back games to South Carolina and Wisconsin. The Orange lost three more games, marking the first time in SU history that the Orange had five nonconference losses. It led one beat writer to argue that SU basketball had reached a new low.

Published on December 28, 2016 at 9:44 pm