The Daily Orange

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Jonny Flynn walked into the tunnel, both hands in the air, a model of composure. But once the Syracuse point guard was out of sight, he couldn't contain his joy. Fists clenched at his sides, Flynn bounced up and down, sporting his famous ear-to-ear grin.

Jonny Flynn walked into the locker room and wanted to let everyone know who the star of the game was. As he walked over to the locker next where Andy Rautins was standing, looked at the mass of media surrounding his fellow guard, Flynn screamed out, "Andy Rautins!" But the shooting guard needed no introduction.

CINCINNATI - Greg Robinson's Syracuse career expired in fitting fashion Saturday, his four years of futility punctuated by a 30-10 loss to Cincinnati Robinson's 37th loss as Orange head coach will be his last, a merciful notion for Syracuse fans who have watched the SU program spiral further into disarray during Robinson's four seasons.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Jim Boeheim made one point crystal clear in his postgame press conference, reiterating it three times: Syracuse switching from a zone defense to man-to-man in the second half was the key to his team's 89-81 win over Kansas Wednesday night.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Syracuse team that now gives itself the label "veteran squad" has learned a few things during the past year. How to stay calm on a national stage. How to close out an opponent. How to distribute the scoring and play solid team basketball.

The Syracuse women's basketball team might be heading to Alaska for a basketball tournament, but that wasn't the only thing on Erica Morrow's mind when asked about the Orange's cross-country excursion. "It's going to be cold, I'd rather be in the Bahamas, but Alaska, they have a great tournament and it's a great opportunity for us to go somewhere as a team and be together and see some nice stuff," Morrow said after the Orange's 82-77, overtime win in its home opener again Portland State.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - The mob of Syracuse players was finally ready to move the celebration from the field to the locker room. After a glorious stretch of bear hugs, handshakes and high-fives, the horde of white jerseys and orange helmets collectively made its way toward the tunnel on the south end of Notre Dame Stadium. Touchdown Jesus loomed in the distance, just beyond the stands.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Greg Robinson danced. No really, he danced. Earlier, in those initial, blissful moments after Syracuse's 24-23 upset of Notre Dame, Robinson's team had chanted "G-Rob, G-Rob," a salute to a coach they loved but never could win for.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - There was a time this summer when Antwon Bailey thought he would spend his true freshman season redshirting. A time when the trio of Curtis Brinkley, Delone Carter and Doug Hogue looked like it would be toting all the carries for Syracuse this year.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - On the frost-covered ground, Shannon Taylor laid still with her hands over her face, trying to smother the pain. It wasn't supposed to happen like this. But before she unveiled her eyes her teammates had collected around her. They lifted her up and walked her to the sideline.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - It took an hour and 17 minutes to get Friday's game going. In 22-degrees, Trager Stadium's field developed a sheet of ice over its turf before Syracuse's first Final Four appearance. So out came field zambonis, rock salt and commercial heaters to thaw the ground.

Despite suffering a head injury last week against Ohio State, Nicole Michael still wanted to sneak into her uniform and play in the Syracuse's game against Portland State. But Syracuse head coach Quentin Hillsman thought against it. Instead, Hillsman kept the Orange's starting forward on the bench and relied on the rest of his rotation to rally together in Michael's absence.

The 3-point shots continued to rattle in, and Syracuse women's basketball head coach Quentin Hillsman knew he had to make a change. Playing in its typical zone defense, Syracuse could not stop the hot shooting of Portland State. The Vikings made seven 3-pointers in the first half, and hit another three shots from downtown in the first nine minutes of the second half during Saturday's contest.

A season of high hopes and expectations came to an abrupt ending for the Syracuse volleyball team Friday. After making the Big East tournament, one of the team's season-long goals, Syracuse's season was cut short by Louisville, 3-0, in the first round of the tournament.

Paul Harris walked back down the court after an early Syracuse turnover. He looked down at the court, talking to himself while flicking his wrist toward the ground. Only three minutes had passed in SU's game against Oakland, but Harris needed to calm down.

Kris Joseph, fresh out of the shower, slipped on his gym shorts and popped on a Russian-style fur hat. It wasn't that the Syracuse locker room was cold. Joseph just thought he'd be leaving soon for the sub-freezing temperatures outside. So he looked a bit out of place in his fur hat as he held court with an unexpected troop of media.

A win over Louisville would have given Syracuse their first Big East tournament victory. It would have been redemption for their four-set loss to the Cardinals earlier in the season. Syracuse wanted to prove that they could compete with the best of the Big East.

Vincenzo Giruzzi is tired of hearing Syracuse has no reason to stay motivated the rest of the season. True, all five Division I programs that fired their head coaches midseason lost their first games after announcing the change. But this week is different.

Kris Joseph walked out of the locker room and through the hallway out onto the court. As he took his first step onto Jim Boeheim Court, the stands distracted him. "I'll tell you what, it's not something I've ever seen before," the freshman Joseph said after Syracuse's 77-56 exhibition win over Cal-State Los Angeles.

It's been a long time since Erica Morrow played a game in front of the fans at the Carrier Dome. The last time the sophomore shooting guard and the rest of the SU women's basketball team played a home game was March 3, 2008. Since then, the Orange saw neutral courts to end the 2007-08 season and has played three straight road games to open its 2008-09 campaign.