In the context of classic literature, it’s like waiting for Godot. In the context of my very mundane personal life, it’s like waiting for a South Campus bus.

In the broad context of this column, it’s like waiting for something that isn’t going to happen, no matter the prayers, no matter the desires. You want the Syracuse men’s basketball team to look like last year’s? Sorry, ain’t gonna happen. Stop wasting your time.

Truth is, there’s still a prevailing belief that the real Syracuse team has yet to emerge, as if some late-season bloom will reconvert an inconsistent, sloppy 2004 team into the dynamo of 2003. Well, after watching Syracuse sputter – but win – two consecutive games in the past week, I’m ready to admit it: these are the real Orangemen. Ugly. Unsightly. But sometimes, effective.

Copying and pasting a national championship formula from one season into the next is almost impossible. This season has proven it, convincingly. But that’s OK, once expectations are realigned with reality. By almost any account, last year’s title lifted expectations – perhaps unfairly – for Version 2.0 into the stratosphere. Jim Boeheim teams normally begin the season underrated, then spend the next four months disproving it. This year, the opposite has been true.

The Orangemen began the season a vastly overrated team, the product of both an easy out-of-conference schedule and the respect normally afforded by poll voters to the defending champs. The Associated Press ranked the Orangemen the No. 7 team in America as late as Nov. 23. Now, three months later, Syracuse is playing without three of its six leading contributors from last season. Billy Edelin is missing from the team, gone indefinitely with personal reasons. Kueth Duany is playing basketball in Israel. Carmelo Anthony is a magazine cover boy who doubles, time allowing, as an NBA superstar.

Half of last year’s team is missing – so is well more than half of last year’s identity. Slowly, 13 conference games have inculcated a new image. The Orangemen entered the week surrendering, on average, 69.8 points per game in league play. They were scoring an average of 69.2. They rank as subpar free-throw shooters. They lack a collection of outside threats. Heck, they might even lack athleticism, not counting spry forward Hakim Warrick.

Syracuse’s new image is far less glamorous. In fact, if SU’s current aesthetic style warranted a soundtrack, I’d probably select the cacophonous sputtering sound that can now be found interrupting far too many Kazaa music downloads. (More rants from my mundane personal life.) Even so, this new style deserves more than scorns and disdain.

Accept the Orangemen for what they are. Respect them for what they’ve done. They’ve adapted to a roster with less talent and a team with fewer playmakers. They play excellent defense. In their last two games, they’ve held opponents to 54 and 59 points, respectively. They hustle. Note Gerry McNamara’s last-second sprint down the court against Georgetown, which preceded his game-winning 3-pointer.

This is evolution, not the de-evolution so many fear it to be. Syracuse plays in one of the toughest basketball conferences in the country, yet even so, it has won eight league games and lost five. The team’s overall winning percentage (.750), especially when combined with its RPI (29), signals an NCAA Tournament berth, barring a Black Tuesday collapse.

By now, though, Syracuse looks far different than the team that won the 2003 title. Two fungible freshman guards – Louie McCroskey and Demetris Nichols – share playing time at one of the backcourt spots. Josh Pace and Warrick score more frequently. On the flip side, Syracuse looks tentative at times, flat-out miserable at others. Its offense stagnates, and its confidence wavers.

But, McCroskey said, ‘We’re still the defending national champions, believe it or not.’

Of course, Syracuse isn’t talented enough to match last season’s success. But that’s only a problem if you’re still waiting for it. It’s time to alter expectations, much like the Orangemen have altered themselves.

Chico Harlan is a staff writer

at The Daily Orange,

where his columns appear occasionally. E-mail him at apharlan@syr.edu.

Published on February 25, 2004 at 12:00 pm