The Daily Orange

BATON ROUGE, La. - Quentin Hillsman ambled slowly off the court, as if somehow, if he didn't leave, the season wouldn't end. Moments earlier, his Syracuse squad had been upset in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, 59-55, at the hands of Hartford in front of 3,658 at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

John Desko could feel the difference as time crept off the clock for his Syracuse men's lacrosse team against Binghamton Saturday, a stark contrast to how he had felt the past four weeks. Instead of a three or four goal deficit against a top 10 opponent, Desko's team had a more than 10-goal lead.

A shirtless Johnny Flynn, just having received treatment for his bruised back, slowly walked to his locker where a group of reporters were staked out. He threw tiny white packs of ibuprofen pills next to his cell phone and sat down with a smile. "Game over. Adrenaline's worn off," he said. "It's back to the hard times."

There was no more talk of the NCAA Tournament in the locker room and no more pervasive speculation about bubbles, bids or bracketology. No, with the postseason already determined, Syracuse could get back to basic basketball, and judging by its relaxed effort in the first round of the NIT on Tuesday night, it was clear the team's intensity wasn't quite at the level it was a few weeks ago.

Mike Williams had seen enough of last year. He and his Syracuse teammates were tired of watching film of last year's 2-10 campaign. Tired of rehashing the shortcomings and errors that doomed SU's 2007 season. No wonder Wednesday must have seemed therapeutic, as the Orange opened its spring practice with an afternoon workout at the Carrier Dome.

The NCAA Tournament will captivate the nation's attention for the next three weeks, and Syracuse won't be involved for the second season in a row. Many of the elite programs of college basketball will advance beyond this weekend. Syracuse hasn't done this in five years.

As the Syracuse men's lacrosse team ended practice last Friday at Homewood Field in Baltimore, Roy Simmons III pulled Jovan Miller aside. It was 24 hours before the Orange was set to take on Johns Hopkins, and the assistant coach with the omnipresent visor had some news for the freshman midfielder from Christian Brothers Academy.

Christina Dove drove through the fan and into a trio of Towson defenders, who quickly stick-checked the ball away. Dove looked to the Carrier Dome roof, a bit dazed, when the ball squirted to her feet. Dove didn't see it, as her teammates yelled to her where it was.

Two years ago, Ashley Spicer never thought she would be at Syracuse. She didn't think she would be in college at all. While her teammates and competitors were jumping through hoops in the junior tennis and trying to impress college coaches, Spicer blazed a different path.

Everyone crams into the tiny back room of Manley Field House, to see what Quentin Hillsman has built. They file into the small, square room with white walls and nothing but a couch and a television. Fifty people line the walls, taking up every seat, and begin to sit on the floor.

It became a common sight in practice this season. During an especially difficult defensive drill, Syracuse head coach Quentin Hillsman would shrilly blow his whistle and storm onto the court, his fiery eyes angrily fixated atop the 2-3 zone that had just broken down.

One day after being selected to the NCAA Tournament, Syracuse head coach Quentin Hillsman stood in the lobby of Manley Field House beside the displays of Syracuse's championship trophies. Some of the people who brought those championships to Syracuse, like Gary Gait and John Desko, walked by giving a congratulatory nod and smile to Hillsman for his team's recent accomplishment.