Four years ago, the Syracuse University men’s basketball team lost the three top scorers—Jonny Flynn, Eric Devendorf and Paul Harris—from a team that finished 28-10 and reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. The next year, the Orange went 30-5 and returned to the Sweet 16.
Three years ago, SU lost its top two scorers, NBA draft picks Wes Johnson and Andy Rautins, and starting center Arinze Onuaku from that 30-5 team.
The next year, the Orange went 27-8 and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Two years ago, the Orange lost Big East Conference Player-of-the-Year candidate Rick Jackson from that 27-8 team. Without Jackson last season, SU went 34-3 and advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.
And after last season, the Orange took one of the biggest hits in school history when it lost two of the program’s all-time winningest players (Kris Joseph and Scoop Jardine), and three NBA draft picks (first-rounders Dion Waiters and Fab Melo and second-rounder Joseph).
But by now, you may have noticed a pattern. Despite those huge losses, the 2012-2013 edition of the Orange appears poised to make another deep run in the NCAA Tournament.
“After losing those four guys, everybody around the country thought they’d take a step back,” former St. Bonaventure and Duquesne coach Jim Satalin told Orange radio play-by-play voice Matt Park. “But from what I’ve seen on the court, that’s not the case.”
The Orange, ranked No. 6 in the country in both the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today Coaches polls, improved to 4-0 with an 87-51 rout of Colgate on Sunday, Nov. 25, at the Carrier Dome. SU opened the season on the road by downing then-No. 20 San Diego State 62-49 in the Battle of the Midway before extending its record Dome winning streak to 25 with wins over Wagner, Princeton and Colgate.
While it will be difficult for this year’s team (or any year’s team, for that matter) to match last season’s school-record 34 wins, the Orange has appeared to pick up where it left off.
Sophomore Michael Carter-Williams is running the point as well as Jardine ever did; sophomore C.J. Fair is producing Joseph-like numbers; big men Rakeem Christmas, DaJuan Coleman and Baye Keita have formed an adequate Melo-by-committee in the post; and senior James Southerland has out-Dioned Waiters with his performances off the bench. And senior shooting guard Brandon Triche, a four-year starter, lends his usual leadership and experience and is tied with Southerland as the team’s leading scorer at 15.3 points per game.
“We had to make a big adjustment in losing four guys, but I felt like the chemistry was still there because our second unit last year is our first unit this year,” Southerland said. “Mike and C.J. are looking good. Baye, who’s coming off the bench with me, is looking real good. And now {redshirt freshman} Trevor Cooney is getting into the flow of things.”
Carter-Williams, who averaged 10.3 minutes in 26 games last season, has 37 assists (and 11 turnovers) and is averaging 10.3 points per game. Against Colgate, Carter-Williams assisted on SU’s first nine baskets, and he finished with a career-high 13 assists and one turnover (with eight points, six rebounds and four steals) in 28 minutes.
“He’s really playing as well as any point guard we’ve had in a long time, in terms of getting the ball to people and making plays for other people even when there’s not a play there,” said SU coach Jim Boeheim after the Colgate game. “I think he could have had 17 or 18 assists easy here tonight just like the last game, {when} he could have had another five or six. We’re missing open shots, {and} we have to start making some of those.”
Like Fair and Southerland, Carter-Williams came off the bench last season. While they all received plenty of playing time, they also benefited from practicing day-in and day-out against the likes of Jardine, Joseph and Waiters. “We have a lot of talent on this team that I don’t think too many people knew about,” Carter-Williams said. “But they should know about it now.”
Fair, who’s averaging 11 points and a team-best 6 rebounds per game, has assumed Joseph’s small forward role statistically and should get better as he becomes accustomed to the looks he’ll get at small forward rather than the power forward position he played last year.
Christmas, a 6-foot-9 sophomore, is playing power forward while Coleman, a 6-9 freshman from Jamesville-DeWitt High School, is starting at center. So far, they’ve combined to average 13.8 points and 11.3 rebounds per game. Last year, Melo and Christmas combined to average 10.6 points and 8.7 rebounds per game. Backup center Keita, a junior, has chipped in with 5.5 points and 4.8 rebounds per game. Last season, he averaged 2.3 points and 2.5 rebounds per outing.
“It’s going to take some time—everybody has to be patient,” Boeheim urged. “With big guys especially, it takes a little time, but our big guys are playing well and they’re going to keep getting better. I like the way they’re playing and they’ll keep getting better.”
Southerland, a 6-8 forward, led the Orange in scoring against Wagner (a career-high 22) and Colgate (18). Last year, Waiters didn’t start a game and still led the Orange in scoring 13 times. Southerland, who’s shooting 45 percent (9-for-20) from 3-point range, has the same kind of offensive game-changing skills.
“Well, James can certainly do that,” said Boeheim, who’s now six wins away from 900 in his career. “He can score; that’s what Dion did.”
After Southerland and Keita, the Orange bench is unproven with shooting guard Cooney and true freshman forward Jerami Grant. Then again, Boeheim has been known to only go seven deep once conference play starts, so that might not be an issue.
“I think it’ll be more of a group as opposed to one person,” assistant coach Adrian Autry said of the Orange bench. “Dion was the No. 4 pick in the {NBA} draft, but I think we got guys who can come in and still give us that lift with James and Baye and guys like that.”
The Orange will face the second of three difficult road tests in its non-conference season when it travels to Fayetteville, Ark., to meet the Arkansas Razorbacks Friday, Nov. 30, at 8:30 p.m. in the SEC/Big East Challenge. The Razorbacks (3-2 with losses to Arizona State and No. 24 Wisconsin), once known for their “40 minutes of hell” defense, still play an aggressive pressing defense and they’re always tough at home.
Arkansas probably looks at SU’s roster and figures the Orange will be down without Waiters, Melo, Joseph and Jardine. But the Razorbacks would be wise to look a little closer at what the Orange has accomplished in recent years.
“I think we can be as good as we want to be and be a contender for a national championship,” Carter-Williams said. “So we’re just getting better every day in practice and just looking forward to it.”
