SYRACUSE — Prior to the start of the season, we picked Syracuse to get to the Final Four and received the expected allotment of negative email from Orange fans.
Many hate it when expectations are heaped on their team, because bad things happen.
They painfully remember Arinze Onuaku’s season-ending knee injury in 2010. They bitterly recall the NCAA’s decision last season to disqualify Fab Melo just before the NCAA Tournament. They can list, on demand, their 10 most disappointing moments in Syracuse basketball history.
Keep in mind, this is a program that posted its 35th 20-win season under coach Jim Boeheim yesterday, after the Orange overwhelmed St. John’s, 77-58. Of course, the most jaded of ’Cuse fans whine that if Boeheim were any good, there would be more than one NCAA Tournament Championship banner hanging in the Carrier Dome, where Syracuse now has won 37 straight, the longest streak in the nation.
I can’t help those people. No one can.
Sorry Orange maniacs, but we haven’t wavered. Your team should go to Atlanta. Your team has just as good a chance to cut down the nets and win it all as any team in the country. Even your coach, who knows a thing or two about whining, won’t argue that statement.
“We’re one of 10,’’ Boeheim said in the winning locker room. “I think Indiana and Duke are the two best teams. I’d say those two teams, but after that, 12 to 14 teams.’’
Syracuse is one of them for a lot of reasons, starting with the return yesterday of Bayside’s James Southerland, who had been declared ineligible by the school pending an academic investigation and had his eligibility reinstated Friday at a university hearing.
With 13:17 left in the first half yesterday, Boeheim sent Southerland to the scorer’s table for the first time since Jan. 9. The crowd of 27,169 rose as if Derrick Coleman had returned with a year of eligibility.
Suddenly, instead of having just seven scholarship players, Boeheim has eight, his magic number for success.
Suddenly, the Orange, who entered the game ranked 11th in the Big East and 237th in the nation in 3-point shooting at 32 percent, have a big-time shooter back in “Big Shot” James, as he’s known.
Southerland scored 13 points, draining 3 of 7 treys, including two in a one-minute stretch when the Orange pushed a 48-43 lead to a 58-45 bulge. The Orange made 10-of-22 3-pointers (45.5 percent), delighting Boeheim.
“Getting Southerland back makes them a whole different ball club,’’ said St. John’s assistant coach Rico Hines.
There is more cause for Orange Optimism, an oxymoron up here.
During Southerland’s absence, freshman Jerami Grant gained plenty of game experience. The Orange still are without DaJuan Coleman, who underwent minor left knee surgery Jan. 29 and was given a one-month recovery timeline. Coleman, a 6-foot-9 freshman who started the first 20 games, gives Boeheim another big body to stick on the back of his vexing 2-3 zone.
And we haven’t even mentioned sophomore point guard Michael Carter-Williams (whose line yesterday of 17 points, eight assists and six steals was close to the norm for the nation’s assists leader), stalwart junior forward C.J. Fair (a double-digit scorer and the team’s leading rebounder) or senior shooting guard Brandon Triche, the team’s high scorer at 14.6.
“That zone is hard to figure out,’’ said St. John’s forward JaKarr Sampson, who had 21 points on 10-of-14 shooting.
There will be a new No. 1 in college basketball today; it seems there’s a new No. 1 each week. When Indiana lost at Illinois on Thursday, it marked the fifth straight time the No. 1-ranked team took the road and lost.
No. 3 Michigan followed that by losing at Wisconsin, No. 2 Florida lost at Arkansas and No. 5 Kansas has lost three straight against unranked teams for the first time since 1988. Miami spanked North Carolina, 87-62, marking the first time in Atlantic Coast Conference history any team has beaten the Tar Heels and Blue Devils by 25 points.
As Boeheim said, there are 10 or 12 or 14 teams that could get to Atlanta. Syracuse, which still can get healthier, deeper and stronger, is one of them. It might be the one. You can just hear the groans coming from Onondaga County.