CHICAGO (AP) – This was never supposed to happen, really. Not after Syracuse staggered into the NCAA Tournament. Not after the Orange needed a big rally to eliminate Gonzaga. No way, not after falling behind against mighty Virginia, which beat Syracuse in January.
And yet there was coach Jim Boeheim, cutting down the net. Freshmen Malachi Richardson and Tyler Lydon, celebrating a Texas-sized comeback.
It happened, all right, sending Syracuse to perhaps the most unlikely of the school’s six Final Fours.
“I’ve never been prouder in all my 40 years as coach of a basketball team as I am of this team tonight,” Boeheim said.
Richardson scored 21 of his 23 points in the second half, and Syracuse erased a 16-point deficit on its way to a surprising 68-62 victory over the top-seeded Cavaliers in the Midwest Regional final. Exactly two weeks after the Orange were a bubble team on Selection Sunday, they returned to the Final Four for the first time since 2013.