The past and present members of the Syracuse men’s basketball team filed up one by one on the stage to get their introductions. Among the last up were Scoop Jardine, Kris Joseph and Rick Jackson, key returnees who will determine the fate of this version of the Orange.

And then, the past strolled up. The past was Arinze Onuaku, whose career at SU was cut short when he suffered a right quadriceps injury in last season’s Big East tournament. Partially as a result of Onuaku’s injury, the Orange’s season was cut short against Butler in the Sweet 16.

Remembering both his personal situation and the situation of last year’s team, Onuaku passed the baton using two recurring words throughout his speech:

Unfinished business.

‘Unfinished business’ is the theme of the 2010 version of Syracuse basketball. It was seen in both the past and present during Midnight Madness on Friday inside the Carrier Dome. It is seen in the T-shirts the players wore Friday, with the two words front and center. And it is seen in SU head coach Jim Boeheim, who told each one of his players a different two words after the introductions.

‘Two lines,’ Boeheim said, ushering the Orange into layup drills.

Unfinished business started Friday, when SU split into two ‘Blue’ and ‘Orange’ intrasquad teams. The ‘Blue’ squad was made up of Jackson, Jardine, Joseph and two freshmen expected to play significant roles on this season’s team — guard Dion Waiters and center Fab Melo. The ‘Orange’ squad consisted of returning starting point guard Brandon Triche, sophomores Mookie Jones and James Southerland, and freshmen C.J. Fair and Baye Moussa Keita.

Flashy dunks that drew ‘oohs’ from the crowd ensued, including one in which Triche bounced an alley-oop to Southerland. But Friday was about getting back to business.

‘Obviously, everyone is excited every year,’ Boeheim said at the Orange’s media day on Oct. 15. ‘We have a nucleus of guys who played big roles for us last year. It’s a talented group. We’ll see what they do in the next couple weeks. We’ll see how they fit in. But it’s a good blend of veteran guys. You win in this league by having veteran guys, and we have some young guys who we think are really good.’

SU women start up

Last year, the Syracuse women’s basketball team entered Midnight Madness in a Syracuse city fire truck. This year, the team’s entrance was a bit more played down — albeit with lightsabers.

One by one, the SU women entered to each one of their introductions with an accompanying glow stick. After the introductions and warm-ups, the Orange split up into two intrasquad teams as well. One was led by senior point guard Erica Morrow, and the other by sophomore center Kayla Alexander.

At his team’s media day on Oct. 18, SU head coach Quentin Hillsman said despite the loss of the program’s all-time leading scorer in Nicole Michael, he feels he has one of his deepest rosters in his fifth season at the helm.

‘Obviously I feel good about all of them because I recruited them,’ Hillsman said. ‘We are very talented from top to bottom. Every player on our roster will have the opportunity to contribute when they’re on the floor. From top to bottom, we have a very good roster. We have good balance.’

This and that

It appeared as if SU sophomore center DaShonte Riley had surgery on his ailing right foot this week. He was at Midnight Madness, walking with the aid of crutches. … Triche won the dunk contest at the end of the night, with the loudest applause from the Carrier Dome crowd. The contest was held among six players: Triche, Joseph, Waiters, Southerland, Fair and Jones. … Grammy Award-winning hip-hop group Naughty by Nature performed before the teams were introduced. The group led its set with ‘O.P.P.,’ its smash hit that was released in 1991.

— Asst. Copy Editors Michael Cohen and Mark Cooper contributed reporting to this article

 

Published on October 24, 2010 at 12:00 pm