On the Syracuse Athletics Web site a few weeks ago, Paul Harris was featured in a grid called ‘Orange Appeal,’ which is basically four different SU athletes/athletic administrators answering four innocent questions. When Harris was featured, one of the categories was ‘favorite opponent.’

Harris answered Connecticut, a curious choice considering at the time, Syracuse hadn’t played UConn yet. Harris is a freshman, so it meant he’d never played the Huskies in his career.

‘Why is it UConn?’ I asked after the DePaul game on Feb. 3.

Because they’re UConn, Harris answered, as if the question was self-explanatory.

Based on that, it’s no coincidence Harris’ best work this season has been against the Huskies. In the first meeting on Feb. 5, Harris was perhaps the only SU player who played well, scoring 13 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. In Saturday’s 73-63 win over the Huskies, Harris was a free-throw shy of tying his career high with 16 points. He pulled down 11 rebounds and played his most minutes in the Big East season (29).

‘They a big, strong team,’ Harris said. ‘I knew I had to go there and rebound and just play hard. They got a 6-foot-9, 6-foot-8 guy on me, and I knew I can take them.’

UConn plays pressure man-to-man defense. It’s Hall of Fame coach Jim Calhoun’s style and his teams have won two national championships playing that style. But it’s exactly the defense that Harris picks apart. When the freshman struggles, it’s against defenses that sag off him and make him beat them with a jump shot. But UConn was in his face, and the 6-foot-5, 220-pounder nicknamed ‘Do-it-all Paul’ can do almost all. Shooting, however, is not on his rsum.

‘Other teams play off him and it is harder for him in the half court to get to the basket,’ SU head coach Jim Boeheim said. ‘They make it easy for him because that’s their defense, they’re a pressure team, they’re going to get up on you and that’s the way they play but he is going to be able to get up in the lane.’

When he got into the lane, Harris was able to either finish or draw a foul. Of his 16 points, eight came from the free-throw line.

The headliner game is consistent with Harris’ personality. He enjoys the spotlight and the lights haven’t shined brighter this season than they did on Saturday, when an NCAA season-high 32,376 showed up at the Carrier Dome.

Harris came to the Carrier Dome last March when an NCAA on-campus record 33,633 fans came to send off Gerry McNamara in the senior’s final home game. The student section was chanting Harris’ name that day even before he stepped foot in a class, much less on the court.

There was something about that crowd that excited Harris and he has yearned all season for a 30,000-plus fans.

‘I finally got my opportunity,’ Harris said.

He didn’t disappoint, although that hasn’t necessarily been the case this season. Harris entered the season with expectations seldom bestowed on a freshman. He was preseason Big East Rookie of the Year and before the Orange’s opening practice, every SU player was asked a variation of a question about Harris from reporters.

In hindsight, it was probably unfair. He’s averaging 8.4 points and 6.9 rebounds, numbers hindered by three games when Harris was held to 10 minutes or less. He’s a very good player, and his versatility and court presence makes SU a dangerous possibility if it can make it to March. But as Boeheim has said all along, he’s still a freshman.

Although this season, ‘still a freshman’ doesn’t mean as much. Sports Illustrated anointed the 2006-07 college basketball season as the ‘Year of the Freshmen’ on its most recent cover. The magazine dubbed the class of 2010 ‘the best class ever,’ although the story was about three in particular – Texas’ Kevin Durant, Ohio State’s Greg Oden and North Carolina’s Brandan Wright.

Before the season – fairly or unfairly – Harris’ name was always close to that group. Not anymore.

‘I haven’t done too much to have my name in there yet,’ Harris said.

The operative word is ‘yet.’ Headlines are made in November and December, but reputations are made in February and March. The UConn performances were a good start. Now Syracuse has three games, the Big East tournament and, if it keeps up the way it’s playing now, the NCAA Tournament remaining.

When put that way, a smile comes across Harris’ face.

‘This is my time,’ he said. As he said it, a shirt hung on the locker to his right.

The shirt read, ‘On the seventh day, God created Paul Harris.’

Talk about expectations.

Zach Berman is the sports editor for The Daily Orange, where his column appears occasionally. E-mail him at ZBerman@syr.edu.

Published on February 18, 2007 at 12:00 pm