By Zach Lowe

Right around the time the SU football team’s penalty tally hit double-digits in its deflating loss at Louisville, Syracuse nation’s collective attention swiftly turned to the upcoming college basketball season, which conventional wisdom seems to suggest will be quite bountiful for the Orange.

With a stud freshman class working behind Wooden Award hopefuls Scoop Jardine and Kris Joseph, Syracuse comes into the season ranked #5 in both the AP and ESPN/Coaches polls.  They, along with UConn, were picked as the cream of the Big East crop.

Tonight, the hype hits the hardwood as Syracuse launches into the 2011-12 campaign with an exhibition tune-up against Cal State-Los Angeles (tip off at 7:00 PM EST), coached by former Syracuse great Stephen Thompson.  But while there is no shortage of excitement, there’s no shortage of questions, either.  Last year, Syracuse went 18-0 before a four-game losing streak that drove fans to the brink of insanity.  Last year at this time, many thought Fab Melo should just be given the Big East Rookie of the Year award. After a year of highs and lows that ended with disappointment, we’ve earned the right to be a bit skeptical.  

The team’s talent and potential is beyond question.  But as we near the season’s unofficial tip-off, here are some things that are not:

How will the heralded trio of freshmen perform?

The recruitment of Michael Carter-Williams, Trevor Cooney and Rakeem “I’ll-be-in-the-Dome-for” Christmas is one of the main reasons Syracuse is garnering the buzz that it has. But is it all hype? Jim Boeheim himself has often warned that freshmen “do not do well” in the Big East.  And some don’t even think any of these guys are among the league’s best freshmen.  

The most pressure is perhaps on Christmas, who will have to fill the void left by Rick Jackson and without anyone really knowing what Fab Melo will be contributing. But IF Cooney can hit threes consistently, a lot of pressure will be taken off Kris Joseph, allowing him to attack the hoop more than he did last year. And IF MCW is half the player some predict him to be, the Syracuse backcourt is among the best in the nation.  In case you didn’t notice, those were some big IFs.

Who gets the playing time?

With the addition of three wonder-frosh, the departure of Jackson and the enigma that is Melo, there are a lot of questions of how this rotation will pan out.  Conceivably, there are 11 guys on the team who should get playing time – unheard of for a Boeheim-coached team.  The projected starting line up is:

• G: Scoop Jardine, Sr.
• G: Brandon Triche, Jr.
• F: Kris Joseph, Sr.
• F: CJ Fair, So.
• C: Fab Melo, So.

That leaves Dion Waiters, Baye Moussa Keita, James Southerland and the three freshmen on the bench. And Mookie Jones thought getting playing time last year would be tough?

Last year, Jackson averaged just shy of 36 mins per game.  How will that be divided amongst Fab, Christmas, Keita and CJ Fair?  In the backcourt, will a reformed Waiters see more time than his 16.3 per game last year?  How will MCW factor in?  And with the deep backcourt, how tempted will Boeheim be to put three guards on the floor at a time and for how long?  So much talent yields so many questions.  And speaking of Dion…

Has Dion Waiters turned the corner?

With Waiters benching for the game at Marquette last year, chatter over whether he and his ego would survive in a Boeheim program picked up.  Shortly after the Orange was prematurely dispensed from the NCAA tournament last year, rumors started to swirl that Waiters was done at Syracuse.  But thing seem to have shifted and Waiters is taking a new attitude into this year’s campaign:

“It’s not about me this year,” he said. “Last year, I put myself before the team. I was selfish.”

If Waiters lets his play do the talking, and if he can tolerate Boeheim’s taunting, he’ll be just fine.  

Does Kris Joseph rebound from a disappointing Junior season?

At the start of last season, Joseph was pegged as a first rounder in the 2011 NBA Draft. Things didn’t exactly work out that way. Joseph was unable to take over games, as some expected he would in the absence of Wes Johnson and Andy Rautins. But this year starts anew and once again, there are high expectations of the Canadian import, especially from the writers who know him best.

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