On the rise: Triche strives for breakout junior season after showing flashes as sophomore

Brandon Triche sat on the sidelines and watched Syracuse's 2010-11 season reach its distasteful conclusion.

He had been in command earlier, scoring eight points in the first five minutes of the game. But a fall and a bruised tailbone forced him into spectator mode for the final 15-plus minutes as the Orange fell to Marquette in the NCAA Tournament's third round.

Triche's leading ability was there if only for a five-minute glimpse. But there was much left to be desired. For both Triche, whose forceful offensive nature was limited after that early burst, and for SU, which suffered an early departure from the tournament.

Entering his junior year, Triche wants to alter both. This can be his time.

"I think you've seen flashes of it last year, just me trying to break out, break out," Triche said. "And I hope, I pray to God that my season is this season. But ultimately I want to win."

Triche has started more games for Syracuse than any other player on the Orange roster. The junior guard has started all 70 games SU has played in the last two seasons. And through those games, the ups and downs, the adaptation to Division-I basketball and recuperation from a high school knee injury, there has been improvement. Triche moved from a raw point guard on a veteran team to a sometimes-dominant, sometimes-passive shooting guard his sophomore season.

He scored 15-plus points nine times last year, but was held to single digits 15 times. After an offseason in which Triche might have risen to the best shape of his life, many believe it's his turn to take the leading role.

"We're all expecting Brandon to have a breakout year," Orange graduate assistant Gerry McNamara said. "We think he's extremely talented, to come in and make a big-time impact offensively."

Triche spent part of this summer playing for JD's Finest in the King of Kings Summer League in Utica. His team was comprised of current and former Jamesville-DeWitt High School players. Playing in a cooler element with familiar faces from his dominant past, Triche flourished.

He also flexed the athleticism high school teammates said Triche possesses but hasn't released at SU yet. In one game, according to Triche's former high school teammate Alshwan Hymes, Triche took a pass on the wing on the game's first play, pump faked, drove to the hoop and put home a one-handed slam.

The flashes are becoming more frequent.

"I think we've been talking about it," said Hymes, who played on JD's Finest. "If anything, this year's his year to put the team on his back and lead them to success."

The ability to transcend into Syracuse's go-to guy starts and ends with health for Triche.

Bob McKenney said he's seen Triche do things Syracuse fans have yet to witness. Although Triche was only a three-star recruit out of high school, McKenney, his high school coach at Jamesville-DeWitt, thinks the hoopla surrounding Triche could have been much greater had he stayed healthy through four years.

But in a Christmas tournament his sophomore year, Triche awkwardly landed on his left leg as he drove through the middle of the lane. It was an injury that one of his teammates, Greg Stern, said looked pretty gross when the team later saw it on tape.

Triche played the rest of the game, leading Jamesville-DeWitt to a 71-60 win over St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute. The next day he found out he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.

The injury, which kept him out for the rest of his sophomore year, altered the way Triche attacked the game.

"He was just so above the rim and hitting NBA 3s and quick and fast, it was something to watch," McKenney said. "Not that he was, he was still the best guard in the state (after the injury), but within the next two years … he had to learn to play a little differently."

Triche wore a bulky knee brace for most of his junior year. It inhibited his ability to play above the rim and made him feel uncomfortable at times.