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The Daily OrangeBasketball 2008
'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
Andy Rautins can't escape the expectations. Not around campus, where the fans never let him forget Syracuse's recent scuffles. Not in the Carrier Dome, where he is routinely greeted by trophies and mementos of the Orange's achievements. Not even in his own home, where his father, Leo, has stories to tell about the two NCAA Tournament games he won playing for the Orangemen.
On point
Jonny Flynn may be the best floor general in the nation. But what makes him so good?
By Andy McCullough
1. FACE The Face of Syracuse basketball stood in front of the Coach of Syracuse basketball at the team's annual Media Day, mimicking each other as they posed for the cover of this guide. Lighting umbrellas surrounded them. A camera shuttered. The Coach is Jim Boeheim, the 33-year veteran and the eternal hallmark of this program.
Rehabbed and ready
One is stronger. The other more mature. Both Andy Rautins and Eric Devendorf used their ACL injuries as an opportunity to transform themselves
By Tyler Dunne
Inside Manley Field House, they have no more proving to do. Their teammates know. Here, any transitional period has passed. Here, their full-scale changes are clear. The first ACL victim, Andy Rautins. Speaking into a bevy of microphones and tape recorders at Syracuse's media day in mid-October, Paul Harris put it on record.
Schonbrun: Without its superstar, Syracuse's credibility takes an unwarranted hit
By Zach Schonbrun
In the locker room after a game in February last year, there was Syracuse men's basketball assistant coach Mike Hopkins talking about Donte Greene. "How the game started tonight, he didn't shoot that well. And then he gets back and nails four in a row, and you're like 'This kid has got ice water in his veins,'" Hopkins gushed.
Is this the best conference ever?
With seven Top 25 teams and plenty of national title contenders, many are calling this year's Big East the strongest conference
By Michael Bonner
Rick Pitino has accumulated eight conference tournament championships and four regular season crowns in the Southeastern Conference, Conference USA and the America East. None have come in the Big East. And even with the No. 3 team in the nation, the odds may be against the Louisville's seventh-year head coach to get his first.
Hooiser havoc
Tom Crean left Marquette and inherited a mess at Indiana. Now he has the tall task of returning the Hoosiers to prominence
By Didier Morais
Tom Crean can't help but smile at his current predicament. At this point, there's not much else he can do. During the past off-season, the first-year Indiana head coach and former Marquette front-man was hired to salvage a basketball team in peril. In the process, he inherited a program plagued by recruiting violations and NCAA sanctions stemming from former coach Kelvin Sampson's time as head coach.
Great expectations (for a change)
After a breakout season, the anticipation has never been higher for SU women's basketball. But can the Orange live up to its inflated expectations?
By Matt Ehalt
The whistle kept blowing and the legs kept moving. Quentin Hillsman, head coach of the Syracuse women's basketball team, stood on the court inside Manley Field House watching his team sprint up and down the court. In case they weren't pushing themselves hard enough, Hillsman kept prodding his players, kept blowing his whistle.
Tough love
Erica Morrow may be the face of Quentin Hillsman's team. But that doesn't stop the coach from coming down hard on his star
By Kyle Austin
Quentin Hillsman stepped up to the podium, smiled and started introducing his Syracuse women's basketball team at the team's annual media day in early October. First, Juanita Ward, the junior college transfer and former McDonald's All-American. "The best player that I've ever coached," Hillsman said.
Q & A with Coach Q
By Zach Schonbrun
Syracuse head coach Quentin Hillsman is coming off a banner second season as head coach, leading the Orange to the NCAA Tournament while being named co-Big East Coach of the Year. The Daily Orange sat down with Hillsman to discuss last season and his expectations for 2008-09.
