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The Daily Orange'We have to get back to those days'
Jonny Flynn knows it. Everybody does. Syracuse hasn't won an NCAA Tournament game in 4 years. And now is the time to turn it around.
By Jared Diamond
Posted: 11/12/08, 7:29 PM EST Section: Basketball 2008
"I think about that every day when I go into the gym to work out," SU point guard Jonny Flynn said. "Every day when I talk to the news reporters, I always think about how it used to be, how it could get back to those days.
"We have to get back to those days."
The rest of the team understands it, too. It realizes the history at Syracuse and the expectations. Just reaching the NCAA Tournament is not good enough without winning a game or two. Not making it all is a sacrilege, especially twice in a row.
When the Orange failed to make the Dance last year, it ensured that an entire class of SU students would never experience a Tournament victory. That had never happened since the NCAA expanded the field to 64 teams in 1985. Syracuse runs the risk of being associated with its recent struggles instead of its storied past.
So do the players, especially the sophomores and juniors who have yet to hear "Syracuse" called on Selection Sunday. For many, like forward Paul Harris, playing for a national championship is the main reason why they chose Syracuse in the first place. Harris said when he committed to SU, it was "unthinkable" he would go two years without reaching the Tournament.
"I'm starving for it, seriously," Harris said after a long pause and deep sigh. "I have no words to say about how much I want to get in the Tournament to showcase our real talent."
But getting there will not be easy. Not in the 2008-09 edition of the Big East, perhaps the deepest and toughest conference in recent memory. Making the NCAA Tournament may be more challenging for Syracuse than winning a game there, considering the competition the Orange will face in the regular season.
Three Big East teams are ranked in the preseason Top 5, seven in the Top 25. At Big East media day at Madison Square Garden last month, the looming question was whether 10 of the conference's 16 teams could make the NCAA Tournament. The record for most teams from one conference in the Big Dance is eight, set by the Big East in 2006 and 2008.
"We have to get back to those days."
The rest of the team understands it, too. It realizes the history at Syracuse and the expectations. Just reaching the NCAA Tournament is not good enough without winning a game or two. Not making it all is a sacrilege, especially twice in a row.
When the Orange failed to make the Dance last year, it ensured that an entire class of SU students would never experience a Tournament victory. That had never happened since the NCAA expanded the field to 64 teams in 1985. Syracuse runs the risk of being associated with its recent struggles instead of its storied past.
So do the players, especially the sophomores and juniors who have yet to hear "Syracuse" called on Selection Sunday. For many, like forward Paul Harris, playing for a national championship is the main reason why they chose Syracuse in the first place. Harris said when he committed to SU, it was "unthinkable" he would go two years without reaching the Tournament.
"I'm starving for it, seriously," Harris said after a long pause and deep sigh. "I have no words to say about how much I want to get in the Tournament to showcase our real talent."
But getting there will not be easy. Not in the 2008-09 edition of the Big East, perhaps the deepest and toughest conference in recent memory. Making the NCAA Tournament may be more challenging for Syracuse than winning a game there, considering the competition the Orange will face in the regular season.
Three Big East teams are ranked in the preseason Top 5, seven in the Top 25. At Big East media day at Madison Square Garden last month, the looming question was whether 10 of the conference's 16 teams could make the NCAA Tournament. The record for most teams from one conference in the Big Dance is eight, set by the Big East in 2006 and 2008.
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brooks
Ed Brooks
posted 11/13/08 @ 7:46 AM EST
Warrick graduated in 2005 and Gerry in 2006, or at least their eligibility expired. SU went to the Sweet 16 in 2004, the year that Gerry scored 43 against BYU. (Continued…)
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