Jardine the Most Important Orange Player as Big East Beckons
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – As Big East play beckons, this year’s Syracuse team might best be described as “intriguing”. They certainly don’t lack talent, but they’re not a senior-laden club and have already lost three of their most experienced perimeter players. In short, that means it’s difficult to project how this team will fare.
One thing is for certain in head coach Jim Boeheim’s mind, and it’s that there is one area in particular for improvement.
“We’re going to learn from this game that for us to win, we’re going to have to play better defense,” Boeheim said after his team beat Northeastern on Sunday. “When you play good defense, you stop them, you get fast break opportunities, which we need to score.”
The Orange have been famous for the 2-3 zone that Boeheim has employed over the years, but this year’s team has at times looked better suited to play man-to-man. But now they have less depth, so that might not be as good an option for long stretches without players having to play many minutes.
Before the season, Andy Rautins was lost for the season with a torn ACL. Senior point guard Josh Wright left the team earlier in December, just when it looked like he was going to get good minutes, then junior guard Eric Devendorf tore his ACL and will miss the rest of the season. The obvious point is that with Rautins and Devendorf gone, this team has lost two of its best shooters. But a look at the roster shows a lack of depth as well.
That means freshman Antonio “Scoop” Jardine will now have a more prominent role, and sooner than Boeheim might have planned on. Jardine scored a career-high 18 points in Sunday’s win, his third start, and looks more comfortable in this role now. Indeed, it’s possible that Jardine might be the most important player on the team even though he isn’t likely to play the most prominent role.
“I’m playing like I should be playing,” said Jardine. “I’m ready, and I think I’ve got a little more faith in Coach.”
The Orange will be different offensively now. Boeheim noted that they can’t rely on their jump shot now, as their best shooter is probably freshman Jonny Flynn, who shoots it well but will have the ball in his hands often. But he might get his share of chances with Jardine on the floor since he has combo guard capabilities. Add in the point forward abilities that Paul Harris has on the wing, and one change might be that Flynn plays off the ball on occasion and tries to get shots.
“That takes a lot off me,” Flynn said of Jardine’s ability to play both guard spots. “I can come off screens, I can spot up here and there a little more than I used to because Scoop has point guard intangibles.”
Besides the obvious point of the lack of guard depth, Jardine’s play will be important for another reason. The better he plays, the less Boeheim may have to contemplate playing Harris at the shooting guard spot. Harris struggled at the position last year because it’s not his natural spot, but he has thrived now that he’s back at the small forward spot. It was noticeable on Sunday as he had 19 points and 15 rebounds for his eighth double-double of the season. At that position, he’s able to be active and find the ball to make plays.
“If we can keep Paul in his position at the three, it’s going to be a lot better for him and the team,” said Flynn, Harris’ long-time good friend. He, too, noticed that Harris is clearly more effective at that spot. “That’s the Paul Harris that got recruited here, the do-it-all Paul Harris. When he does that, it just makes us that much better.”
The lack of depth in the backcourt has made the team thinner, but it hasn’t shaken this team’s confidence. With Harris, who is always brimming with confidence, among their leaders, that’s not a surprise. Although the team has a good deal of youth, especially with Wright and Devendorf gone for the season, Harris bristles at the idea that this is just a young team, but not just the idea itself. He has his reason.
“A lot of people say we’re young, but it’s my opinion that the young guys are leading us,” said the sophomore forward. “So how young can we be?”
The Orange have had to grow up quickly, and not just because of the personnel losses. They’ve just accelerated that. Although notorious for playing light non-conference schedules loaded with home games, the Orange got some tests this time around. They had tough contests, albeit at home, with Siena and Saint Joseph’s in the NIT Season Tip-Off, before taking on Ohio State and Washington at Madison Square Garden. They’ve also won at Virginia and taken on good Atlantic 10 teams in Fordham, Rhode Island and UMass (losing the latter two), and they knocked off Ivy League contender Cornell.
So while the Orange have stayed at home, for the most part, they haven’t had it easy. As they head into Big East play, one which looks wide open after elite squads like Georgetown, Pittsburgh and Marquette (with the Panthers having lost two key players for extended periods of time), the feeling is one of confidence and that they are about as ready as they’ll ever be.
“We’ve had very tough games,” said Boeheim. “We’ve gone into the Big East many years with half the tough tests we’ve had. We’ve been tested, we’ve had a lot of tough games, a lot of close games with very good teams.”
That, and Jardine’s improvement since moving into the starting lineup, might be the keys to the Orange getting back to the NCAA Tournament via a strong Big East run.
