Dissecting A Final Four Roster: Syracuse Orange Advance

Despite the fact that they were not even projected to be in the field of 68, the Syracuse Orange have advanced to the NCAA Men’s basketball Final Four, along with the Oklahoma Sooners, the Villanova Wildcats, and the UNC Tar Heels.

Dissecting A Final Four Roster: Syracuse Orange

The Orange went 4-5 earlier in the season during head coach Jim Boeheim’s NCAA suspension, and then ended the season by dropping five of their last 6 including a matchup with Pittsburgh in their final ACC tournament game.

Boheim himself admitted that his team’s roster was imperfectly constructed. The Orange have become a team that often plays without a real point guard, and which relies heavily on a trio of freshmen to make important contributions.

Neverthless, Syracuse has long been known for recruiting strong, talented players. In the last five years, the team has signed a total of 14 ESPN 100 prospects.

Syracuse came back from a 15-point deficit to defeat the Virginia Cavaliers 68-62 in the Elite 8 round at the United Center in Chicago on Sunday.

The 10th-ranked Orange (23-13) will face off against the East No. 1-seeded North Carolina Tar Heels (32-6) in the second Final Four Matchup at 8:49 pm on Saturday, April 2 at NRG Stadium in Houston. The game will air on TBS.

The No. 4 Syracuse women’s team (29-7) also advanced to the Final Four this year. They will play the No. 7 Washington Huskies (26-10) at 8:30 pm ET on Sunday, April 3 in Indianapolis. The game will air on ESPN.

Caption: CHICAGO, IL – MARCH 27: DaJuan Coleman #32 of the Syracuse Orange shoots against Mike Tobey #10 of the Virginia Cavaliers in the second half during the 2016 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Midwest Regional Final at United Center on March 27, 2016 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)