GETTING INSIDE
Syracuse once teetered uncertainly on the brink of NCAA tournament extermination. They dropped seven of 10 games during a brutal mid-winter stretch, then rallied to win its four final Big East regular-season games.
They earned the name "Marathon Men" for its six-overtime defeat of Connecticut in the Big East Tournament. For what they delivered this season, Syracuse should harbor some pride.
"When we look back on this season the first thing that's gonna come back on your mind, the six-overtime game at the Garden," Syracuse small forward Paul Harris told the Syracuse Post-Standard. "And you're thinking about the NCAA tournament. And I mean, we came out and gave it our all. We weren't expected to make it this far at the start of the season. But I think we've definitely grown as a team."
In time, they can savor the sweet moments of the season. Syracuse players have talked, these final few weeks, about a certain closeness that sewed them together as the season progressed. They won 28 games. And yes, they lost for the final time in Memphis, where they faced a team that executed better and moved on.
But Syracuse (28-10), it seemed, had emerged from its two-year NIT ditch. The Orange, it seemed, was back where it belonged.
If you evaluate the entire season, Syracuse played well. The Orange were picked eighth in the Big East and had to replace leading scorer Donte Greene. Just three weeks ago they weren't in the top 25 in the country. They don't have the senior in the starting lineup and two players -- Eric Devendorf and Andy Rautins -- were coming off knee injuries. Yet Syracuse survived and, at times, thrived.
"I think, overall, this team has played well," said Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim. "If you look at our entire year, we were picked eighth in our league. We weren't in the Top 25, preseason. (Four) weeks ago, we weren't in the Top 25 in the country. So you just have to let the facts speak for themselves."
But what will remain of that team was the subject of intense curiosity as soon as the loss to Oklahoma in the Sweet 16 concluded.
NOTES, QUOTESFINAL RECORD: 28-10, 11-7, sixth in the Big East.
WHAT WENT RIGHT: It's hard to have a beef with a team that goes into the Sweet 16, especially with so many question marks heading into the season. The Orange pulled through that rough patch, winning nine of its next 10 contests to end the season, including the magnificent six-overtime win of Connecticut in the Big East tournament.
WHAT WENT WRONG: There was all that unpleasant business with Eric Devendorf in December, who was kicked off the team and eventually reinstated after an incident in which he punched a woman in the face. There were those seven losses in 10 starts that threatened to end their NCAA hopes. During that time, the Orange also forgot how to play defense. And there was the odd midseason banishment of Kristof Ongenaet, plus the lack of depth.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "We're gonna be better next year. We have Wes Johnson coming in next year. That's gonna help us a whole lot on the boards and scoring-wise. He does everything well. We got Scoop coming back, we got Mookie coming back. We're ready for next year already. We're not gonna start the season in October. We're starting it right now." -- Syracuse forward Kris Joseph
STRATEGY AND PERSONNELTHE GOOD NEWS: Should every Syracuse player return -- it loses just one scholarship athlete and returns 11 others - the Orange would have committed to one more scholarship than the NCAA allows. Point guard Scoop Jardine and shooting guard Mookie Jones, exiled from the Orange this season because of injuries, will be healthy and available next season. So will Wes Johnson, the versatile, athletic forward who sat out this year after his transfer from Iowa State.
THE BAD NEWS: Jonny Flynn has said a couple times in recent weeks that he will be back at Syracuse next season. But the "will he stay or will he go" questions will linger until the NBA draft eligible list comes out and his name either is or isn't on it. As has been the case in the discussion with Donte Greene and many others in recent years, it isn't a question of whether Flynn is ready for the NBA, it is a question of whether or not someone will pick him in the first round. Flynn's stock has skyrocketed in recent weeks and he would be very tempting to a lot of teams sitting there in the first round.
KEY RETURNEES: With or without Flynn, Syracuse's leading scorer and assist man, the Orange will command a sizeable stable of guards who can play the point. It returns its two starting big men in Arinze Onuaku and Rick Jackson, its veteran guards in Andy Rautins and Eric Devendorf and do-everything swingman Paul Harris.
Syracuse has recruited three high school seniors: point guard Brandon Triche, swingman James Southerland, and center DaShonte Riley.
ROSTER REPORT:
--Paul Harris, who had unequivocally stated this year that he would return for his senior season, seemed to hedge on that assertion when quizzed by reporters after the loss to Oklahoma.
"I don't know," he said. "I don’t really want to talk about it."
--Eric Devendorf, who is on target to graduate in May, said he had not committed much thought to the prospect of leaving the Orange. "I'm coming back," he said.
But Jonny Flynn is the player who has the most pro potential and the player the Orange can ill afford to lose. His future plans are uncertain.
--Flynn finished the season with 254 assists; the fifth-highest single-season total in Syracuse history behind Sherman Douglas (three times) and Lazarus Sims.
--G Andy Rautins went 102-for-279 from 3-point range this season. The only player in school history to make more 3-pointers in a season was Gerry McNamara, who did it three times and holds the record with 107 made threes in the 2004-05 season.
--Arinze Onuaku broke Roosevelt Bouie's school record for highest field-goal percentage in a season. Onuaku made 66.7 percent of his shots this year, besting Bouie's mark of 65.4 percent.
Previous Report: 04/05/2009
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