By Zach Lowe

As the clock read 0.0, the fans in Milwaukee went wild. Final score: Marquette 76, Syracuse 70.  It was January 29, 2011. Syracuse was hitting bottom as the reality of a four game losing streak sank in.  Syracuse Kris Joseph walked dejectedly off the court. Scoop Jardine had his patented look of confusion meets frustration.  As the sweat poured off of them, as well as Brandon Triche, Rick Jackson and CJ Fair who had been on the floor as the buzzer sounded, one Syracuse player was bone dry – Dion Waiters.

Days earlier, the freshman guard had blown up at his Hall-of-Fame coach in the midst of an embarrassing smack down at the hands of Seton Hall, telling the esteemed Coach Boeheim to “f#*$ off.” In the days before the game in Milwaukee, there was speculation as to whether Waiters would play or even make the trip. Waiters did make the trip but could have just as easily left his uniform at home. He logged zero minutes. Mookie Jones played four. Boeheim would later blame Waiters’ performance but the obscenity probably didn’t help.

In the 50 days that followed the loss at Marquette, Syracuse had turned it around, winning eight of its final ten regular season conference games. But during that stretch, Dion Waiters’ impact fluctuated.  He had a solid comeback game in Syracuse’s big win at UConn, with nine points, four boards, three steals and a blocked shot in 18 minutes.  But he failed to score in three of the games and only played two minutes in the OT win over Rutgers.

Fast forward to March 20. Syracuse would face Marquette in the 2nd round of the NCAA tournament. We are all familiar with the disappointing result. The Golden Eagles game plan of bottling up Rick Jackson worked.  Syracuse’s season ended.

The lone bright spot was Waiters’. In possibly his best game of the season, Waiters scored 18 points on 8-10 shooting in 23 minutes.  The performance created a buzz. After a stretch of ups and downs, Waiters final performance of the season against Marquette cast him as a player to watch in 2011-12. The two performances (or lack thereof) against Marquette demonstrated the best and worst qualities of Dion Waiters.

Then the turbulence began. Rumors of Waiters transferring began to build, fueled mainly by Boeheim himself. Thankfully, as some here at Otto’s Army predicted, this was just a complicated step in the Boeheim-Waiters tango, with Jimmy B simply looking for Seinfeldian “hand.”

Instead of an offseason transfer, what we got from Waiters was an offseason re-dedication. The numbers and performances thus far speak for themselves. Averaging just shy of 22 minutes, Waiters is the team’s second leading scorer with 12.6 per game including sensational performances against George Washington, NC State, and Seton Hall.  But the competition thus far has not been that daunting and against the best team on the schedule, Florida, Waiters shot a dreadful 1-8 and scored only two points.  

Marquette is possibly the team’s greatest challenge yet.  It is a wounded animal coming off a devastating loss at Georgetown where it blew a 17-point lead. And that’s why it’s the perfect story arc for a reborn Waiters at this point in the season.  Because of the relatively easy schedule, Syracuse has had, and will continue to have, its fair share of doubters.  Marquette provides the Syracuse team the opportunity to silence the haters. But Marquette, and its very competent backcourt led by Darius Johnson-Odom, once again provide Dion Waiters an opportunity to define himself.  For Waiters against Marquette, first there was silence, and then there was brilliance. Let’s hope the trajectory continues.  

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