It wasn’t too long ago the Syracuse Orange (formally known as the Orangemen) were Champions of College Basketball. Led by a squad that included stars such as Carmelo Anthony (now of the NBA’s Denver Nuggets), fan-favorite Gerry McNamara, Craig Forth, and the flashy dunks of Hakim Warrick, the Orange always seemed to be in the middle of the National Championship mix. Since then, players such as Anthony have gone pro and others have graduated, leaving only a few players left from that 2003 National Championship team. Although some highly recruited freshmen have been brought in the past few years by head coach Jim Boeheim (currently enduring his 30th season as head coach) these young “stars” have yet to step up as did ‘Melo and G-Mac in their respective freshman years. The team as a whole has suffered thus far.Is it fair to compare this present team of Syracuse to the team that ran the table in 2003? Probably not. How can you even start comparing a team with Carmelo Anthony to a team without him? Obviously, things are different now in Syracuse. The Orange have enjoyed two successful seasons since March of ’03 but after a loss last year to Vermont in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament the Orange are now 4-3 in their past seven games dating back to last year (not including pre-season scrimmages).
The #24 Orange head into Wednesday night’s game with Manhattan carrying a 4-2 record. Most teams see 4-2 and that’s a good thing, but not for a traditional powerhouse like the `Cuse. Things have already started to get crazy in a city whose football team just finished the season with a team record 10 losses. The Carrier Dome is still filled every game-night but there have been times this season where the Dome has been eerily quiet where the Orange fans saw their team get upset by the same Bucknell team that upset Kansas last year in the NCAA Tourney. A huge fan-favorite and money man Gerry McNamara has not been himself this year and all of a sudden there is nothing going right in Syracuse.
I’m not just suggesting this situation may continue, I am simply stating it may very well get worse. Nothing seems to be going right this year in Syracuse; maybe their Lacrosse team can win a few more games come the spring time.
When the Orange defeated Bobby Knight and Texas Tech a few weeks ago everyone in Syracuse and the basketball world was all hyped up over the early success of the Orange. But let’s take a closer look at this game. Texas Tech is a decent team and while everyone suggests that they are very good because they hung around with then #21 Wake Forest, it just goes to show you how much people really know what they are talking about. I hate to tell you folks, but pre-season rankings don’t mean anything. They don’t mean anything at all. You could even make the case that a pre-season number one doesn’t mean anything because in the end it’s usually never the same. Wake Forest is a decent team yes, but they aren’t overpowering so let’s not say Texas Tech is very good either. Instead we can take a look at the Red Raider’s roster and see that they have seven freshmen. Seven. Not to put those players down but unless they are all as good as Carmelo Anthony was in his freshman season, they can’t carry the load by themselves.
During that same Texas Tech game the Orange used a two-three zone the entire game that even impressed me. It was so good, the Orange held the Red Raider’s to 46 points. Since that game however, the zone has been very ineffective. The Florida Gators and the Bucknell Bisons both had extreme success and put up 75 and 74 points respectively. The Orange at times has tried to go man-to-man but defense has never seemed to have been a number one priority for Boeheim. Unless the Orange “D” steps up dramatically from in early season woes, the Orange offense will have to produce a huge amount of offense to keep themselves in games.
Speaking of offense, how much worse can it get? It almost seems as if there is no big name scorer on the Orange roster anymore. Teams seem willing to double team McNamara and it has worked greatly up to this point in the season. Through six games this year G-Mac is only averaging 14.5 points per game, his lowest season total since his freshman campaign. Although he is dishing out a career best in assists thus far, his shooting has been horrendous to this point. McNamara’s field goal percentage is at an awful 30.5% and his 3-point percentage, which has always been his money shot, is at 30.4%. Without McNamara the `Cuse need someone to step up. They are hoping junior forward Demetris Nichols can provide an offensive boost. But Nichols has always been inconsistent and the inconsistency has been evident throughout the games this season thus far. Although he leads the team in points this season he needs to be more of a boost to a team that really doesn’t have much offense after G-Mac.
A home game at the Carrier Dome always was a “money” game and a game that Syracuse fans expected to win. This season they have already lost one home game, and things could get worse. Big East play doesn’t begin for the Orange until January 11th when they travel to take on the Irish of Notre Dame. UConn, Cincy, Seton Hall, Rutgers, Louisville, Villanova and West Virginia top off the list of Big East teams to visit the Dome this year. Just thinking about those teams could make you a little light-headed. That is not a very easy schedule by any means for any team, but especially a team with high expectations who is down early in the year. Not only are these all tough home games, but the Orange must travel to Villanova, DePaul, UConn, Georgetown, St. John’s and Pitt. Obviously these are all teams the Orange play year-in year-out with the exception of Louisville, but this is not the same caliber Syracuse team from the past 30 years of Jim Boeheim’s tenure. Probably one of the toughest schedules in all of college basketball awaits the Orange once Big East play begins.
On a closing note, Gerry McNamara needs to be the guy. G-Mac has been here from the days of `Melo and Warrick, to the present day. Fans are not willing to let him forget this. He is constantly being “ripped on” by the Syracuse media and fans, something he is not accustomed too. He has always been a fan favorite going back to his High School days with Bishop Hannan in Scranton, PA. His numbers have not been impressive thus far, but put that aside he is a proven team leader. He needs to win the support of his teammates now and not wait until it is too late. Of course he will always have the support of his hometown fans who pack the Carrier Dome every game, but can he keep the support of the Syracuse fans and media?
Only time will tell and it is still early, but I can assure you the ‘Cuse will being playing for an NIT spot this season, not a NCAA spot. For the sake of Jim Boeheim, Gerry McNamara and company, they all should hope for the best because the Syracuse fans are not ready to see their basketball team be as lackluster as their football team was.
Copyright ©2005 Colin Cerniglia. All Rights Reserved.