Three games into the 2010-11 Syracuse men’s basketball season, it still sounds like last year.

Jim Boeheim still talks about Wes Johnson’s ability as an all-around player. Still longs for Andy Rautins’ uncanny knack for hitting a clutch jump shot and creation of turnovers on defense. Still remembers Arinze Onuaku’s presence in the post.

And he talked about all of that following another up-and-down outing for a new version of his team that has been less than impressive so far. It came after SU’s 66-55 victory over Detroit Tuesday, a game that featured a rough shooting first half followed by another comeback.

It’s what happens when you have a team without an identity.

‘I think we’re just trying to find our identity at this point,’ junior forward Kris Joseph said. ‘As the year goes on, we will progress as a team, practice and really find our roles individually.’

The No. 10 Orange (3-0) will try to start cementing that identity as it continues play in the regional round of the Legends Classic Sunday against William & Mary (0-2). The two teams will tip off inside the Carrier Dome at 2 p.m.

For Joseph, establishing the team’s identity starts with him. He was supposed to step into the leading role. The one Boeheim was supposed to be talking about in place of Johnson.

‘I agree,’ Joseph said after the Detroit victory, when asked if he needed to step up from his early-season struggles. ‘Especially in a game like tonight.’

Joseph’s season hit a low point against Detroit, when he fouled out despite playing just 19 minutes in SU’s win. He scored just three points, all of which came from the free-throw line. And he went 0-for-5 from the field.

Overall, Joseph has slumped out of the gate, shooting just 26.1 percent and averaging only nine points per game. He also hasn’t yet shown the much-improved jump shot he talked about in the preseason, as he has hit just 2-of-11 shots from beyond the arc.

And to Boeheim, it’s a theme that has been too recurring through the Orange’s first three contests. Except for one half against Northern Iowa, Joseph hasn’t lived up to what he can become. And it has to change, quickly. One half out of six isn’t going to cut it in Big East play.

‘Obviously Kris has to make shots for us to be successful,’ Boeheim said. ‘Other than the second half of the Northern Iowa game, he’s shooting 15 percent. … He has to be able to make shots. He’s a good player, a good driver. And in this game if they’re going to play off (of him), he’s going to have to make shots. That’s the bottom line.’

And it’s not just Joseph who has struggled thus far. Boeheim singled out Scoop Jardine, Rick Jackson and Baye Moussa Keita as the three players who helped SU beat Detroit Tuesday. The rest, he said, have struggled.

The 10-man rotation Boeheim envisioned prior to the season is thinning out quickly. And it’s simply because he hasn’t seen the players perform.

Brandon Triche ‘has to step it up.’ Fab Melo, who Boeheim only played 15 minutes Tuesday, is ‘struggling big time out there.’ And Dion Waiters ‘wasn’t ready.’

‘If somebody was guarding one of these guys, I might have some kind of an understanding,’ Boeheim said. ‘You’re in college, you’re not in high school. You have a scholarship. When they don’t guard you, you have to be able to make that shot. If you can’t, you shouldn’t be playing college basketball. That’s why guys don’t play.’

Boeheim backed away from his own statements that his team was ‘overrated’ following his team’s victory over Detroit. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t individual and team corrections to be made.

Until those things are fixed, Boeheim will still have the memories of Johnson, Rautins and Onuaku fresh in his memory. Until those things are fixed, SU is still a team without an identity. And Boeheim’s players agree with him.

‘Whatever Coach says is right,’ Jardine said. ‘Point blank. Period. He’s been around a long time. He knows what we’re going to need to win games in the Big East. Whatever Coach says is right.’

bplogiur@syr.edu

Published on November 17, 2010 at 12:00 pm