The Daily Orange

Darrick Scott would sit at home reading college football recruiting Web sites with disgust. Every time he logged on to Scout.com or Rivals.com and checked the list of Syracuse commitments for the Class of 2009, the only name he would see was his own. The lone soul with a verbal promise to play for the Orange.

NEWPORT, R.I. - Greg Robinson sat at the Syracuse table minutes into the interview session, wearily fielding the same question again and again. The same question he has attempted to answer countless times during his tumultuous tenure as SU's head coach. The same question made even more relevant now as the Orange comes off a summer of seemingly constant discontent.

Junior defensive end Brandon Gilbeaux has been suspended by the school for academic issues and will not play this season, an athletic department official confirmed Saturday. Sue Edson, assistant athletics director for communication, said Saturday afternoon Gilbeaux was officially dismissed from the university Friday.

After a draft workout with the Philadelphia 76ers two weeks ago, Donte Greene predicted he would end up a lottery pick in Thursday's NBA Draft. Not quite. The former Syracuse forward nearly tumbled out of the first round - and its guaranteed millions - before he was scooped up, 28th overall, by the Memphis Grizzlies and subsequently dealt to the Houston Rockets as part of a three-team deal.

Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim bolstered the future of his frontcourt Tuesday, landing Iowa State transfer Wesley Johnson. Johnson, a 6-foot-7, 195-pound forward, averaged 12.4 points per game during his sophomore season with the Cyclones last year. Per NCAA transfer rules, he will have to sit out the 2008-09 season.

PHILADELPHIA - Don't try calling him. That cell number you snagged, Donte Greene's number, the one you called him on to say he was a fool for leaving the Syracuse men's basketball team after his freshman season? To remind him that no one would want him when the NBA Draft rolls around Thursday? Don't bother.

Mike Williams' suspension from the football team remains in effect despite his statements to a Buffalo TV station, a Syracuse athletic department official said Monday morning. Sue Edson, assistant athletics director for communications, said Monday that the junior wide receiver remains suspended and is still not enrolled in the university.

One of Syracuse basketball's most iconic figures will return to the Carrier Dome court this fall. Carmelo Anthony, the forward who led Syracuse to a national championship in 2003 in his only season at the school, will make his second appearance in the Dome since leaving SU when his Denver Nuggets take on the Phoenix Suns in an NBA preseason game Friday, Oct.

June 2, 10:09 p.m. -- Syracuse junior wide receiver Mike Williams has been suspended by the university for academic reasons, a Syracuse athletic department official confirmed Monday night. Williams is not currently enrolled at the university. Sue Edson, assistant athletics director for communications, said Williams was suspended, but could not say when the team learned of Williams' punishment, or discuss its particulars.

Mike Leveille added to Syracuse lacrosse's ever-expanding trophy case Thursday night. The SU senior attack was named the 2008 recipient of the Tewaaraton Trophy, college lacrosse's version of the Heisman. He was presented with the award at a banquet Thursday in Washington, D.C., held at the National Museum of the American Indian.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - The air of delirium around Gillette Stadium was still fresh as Mike Leveille began to take stock of what his team had just accomplished.

The helmets and sticks of the Syracuse attack and his teammates - along with the bitter memories of last season - had long since been hurled away. They had been replaced with crisp, white hats and T-shirts that read "Champions."

That's right, champions.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - Written in large white letters against the red sideboards behind the Syracuse bench was a numerical sign: 118: 24 It was a biblical reference, pointing those who saw it (before the numbers were erased prior to the start of the game) to Psalm 118, verse 24: "This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - Dave Pietramala knew when the momentum, parked for the first 20 minutes of Saturday's contest so firmly with his Johns Hopkins team, finally switched. The Blue Jays, up a pair of goals in the second quarter, had a man-up opportunity and chance to seize control.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - Dave Pietramala held up his right arm to display an army-fatigue colored rubber bracelet to the crowd of media assembled in front of him. Minutes earlier, his fifth-seeded Johns Hopkins team had completed its 10-9 upset of top-seeded Duke.

May 24, 6:09 p.m. FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - Joel White jogged behind Max Bartig and Sid Smith, collaring his two teammates as the shouts of Syracuse men's lacrosse team pounded the walls in the tunnel in the bowels of Gillette Stadium here. "What'd you say, guys?" he yelled through the din.

May 24, 7:57 p.m. FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - To say Johns Hopkins has come a long way since the last time it played Duke would be a bit of an understatement. On April 5, Hopkins was demolished by the Blue Devils by double digits, a loss that dropped the Blue Jays to 3-5 on the season, and a far cry for national title contention.

May 24. 6:28 p.m. FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - One by one, the Virginia players walked towards their goalie, Bud Petit, as he knelt, head buried into the Gillette Stadium grass. Moments earlier, Syracuse's Mike Leveille had flicked his 12-yard shot past Petit to send SU into the NCAA championship game with a 12-11 double-overtime win.

May 23, 10:13 p.m. TOWSON, Md. - Gary Gait couldn't have been more pleased with his team's first-half effort. Syracuse's defense had, for the most part, stifled Northwestern's attack, keeping the Orange within one goal. There was hope that Syracuse could dethrone the Northwestern dynasty.

ITHACA, N.Y. - For a while, it seemed like the wayward barrage of shots misfired in the first half would come back to haunt Syracuse in its 11-9 win over Notre Dame in the NCAA quarterfinals Sunday afternoon. For a while, it seemed like all those faceoffs won early on would be worthless.

May 17, 5:53 p.m. -- Just when it seemed like Syracuse was set to run away with Saturday's game against North Carolina, the Tar Heels battled back. But after a season full of routs and breaking records, the No. 5 Orange showed composure down the stretch. Syracuse is going to the Final Four for the first time in school history.

May 11, 11:49 p.m. -- As far as messages go, it was a blunt one. But the Syracuse men's lacrosse team needed to make something clear from the get-go against Canisius Sunday in the first round of the NCAA tournament, a 20-3 win for the Orange. "We just wanted to let them know, right from the start, that they weren't really going to be in the game for real long," said junior attack Kenny Nims, responsible for two goals and three assists in the win.

May 11, 8 p.m. -- All season, Gary Gait has implored his potent Syracuse offense to take high-percentage shots. On Sunday, the Syracuse head coach watched as his team put together one of its most efficient performances in the biggest game of the season thus far. The No. 5 Orange defeated Towson, 21-9, Sunday afternoon in the Carrier Dome in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

May 11, 8:16 p.m. -- With the score tied at two 11 minutes into Sunday's first round NCAA tournament game, Syracuse defender Lindsay Rogers blew by a Towson attacker to scoop up a ground ball in the Syracuse zone. The sophomore didn't stop, rocketing the length of the field, weaving past defender after defender.

Steven Brooks pointed toward the player on the grass of Wohl Field and laughed. "Look at him," the fifth-year senior midfielder said. "If you saw him, you'd never think that he was like, so good at lacrosse, you know?" Brooks was just busting Mike Leveille's chops, gentle ribbing for the senior attack from Delmar, N.

Jovan Miller can now appreciate Danny Brennan's job. Before last Saturday, the freshman midfielder estimated he hadn't taken a faceoff since last summer. The athletic Miller plays the wing on the faceoff. He's there to clean up the mess that ensues at the X.

Ken Bissett couldn't believe it when his daughter, Stephanie, called last season to tell him she had torn an ACL for the third time. "It was dread," Ken Bissett said. "No, not again." The Syracuse women's lacrosse defender was coming off a breakout 2006 in which she started every game and tied for fifth on the Orange with 25 ground balls.

Leigh Ross wanted her team to defy the odds. During the preseason, the Big East's coaches projected the Syracuse softball team to finish no higher than eighth place in the conference. Ross used the prediction as bulletin board material to inspire her players.

Aulton Kohn isn't a flashy guy. The Syracuse senior is known by his teammates as an experienced veteran and winner of five Big East sprint championships but not as a showboat after victory. That changed Sunday when Kohn won the 100-meter dash, the only sprint title he had never captured in his years at Syracuse, at the Big East Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Villanova, Pa.

It's a four-hour drive to get from where Dan Berry used to be to where he is now. "From Philly," he said. "We were coming up to Syracuse." He couldn't forget. It was the first of five official visits to schools where he might spend the next four years. A trip with his twin brother Vince and best friend Ken Marfilius in the passenger seats.