Syracuse Alumni Gather Nation-Wide to Watch Orange vs. Aggies
3/15/2006 12:56:11 PM | Men's Basketball
JACKSONVILLE -- As the Syracuse University basketball team prepares to face Texas A&M in the NCAA Tournament this Thursday, March 16, many SU alumni clubs across the country will be hosting game-watching parties to help cheer the Orange to victory!
Click here to see if a Syracuse alumni club is gathering in your region.
Orange Earns 31st NCAA Bid
Syracuse earned a number-five seed from the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee and will make its 31st appearance in the NCAA postseason this week. The Orange, winners of a second-straight BIG EAST Conference Tournament, take on 12th-seeded Texas A&M in first-round action. The two clubs will take the court on Thursday, March 16, at the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla. The other half of the bracket includes fourth-seeded LSU (23-8) and #13 Iona (23-7). The winners will play on Saturday.
SU's overall NCAA Tournament record is 48-30 (.615). Syracuse reached the Final Four in 1975, 1987, 1996 and 2003, and the title game in 1987, 1996 and 2003. The Orange captured the program's first NCAA Championship in 2003.
Coach Jim Boeheim has guided his alma mater into the NCAA postseason in 25 of his 30 campaigns at the helm. His clubs have accumulated a 40-23 record in the NCAA's. Boeheim, who was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2005, ranks eighth among NCAA Division I coaches in tournament victories. He has led SU to 28 20-win campaigns.
Syracuse and Texas A&M will be meeting for the first time. The Aggies finished fourth in the Big 12 Conference and beat Colorado in the Big 12 Tournament before falling to #8/8 Texas in the semifinals. Texas A&M has won seven of its last eight games, including an upset of then sixth-rated Texas on March 1. This is the program's first NCAA bid since 1987.
