After 30 years of coaching in the Big East, the unveiling of the conference schedule has come with an unyielding, yet familiar feeling for Syracuse basketball head coach Jim Boeheim.

Whether the Big East is up or down, it still represents a gargantuan 18-game block – the team’s chief obstacle to transcend in order to stay active during the postseason.

‘I’ve looked at the schedule, it’s very challenging – a tremendous challenge,’ Boeheim said. ‘The league will be what it always is: tough.’

As if the rigorous conference slate isn’t enough, SU’s schedule, which was released last Thursday, is laden with marquee non-conference match-ups. Undertaking one of its most ambitious out-of-conference schedules in recent memory, Syracuse will have little respite from the pitfalls of the Big East early on in the 2009-2010 campaign.

Three games into its season, Syracuse will travel to Madison Square Garden for the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic, where it will play California and, either North Carolina or Ohio State. By the time SU reaches the crux of its conference schedule in mid-January, it will also have faced Memphis (in the Carrier Dome) and Florida (at the St. Petersburg Times Forum in Tampa).

‘Cal is picked to win the Pacific 10 [Conference] and North Carolina is always good,’ Boeheim said. ‘Ohio State is good, and Florida is always good. All those games will be tough games.’

Syracuse missed the NCAA Tournament in both 2007 and 2008, partially because of its weak non-conference schedule, and the team has bulked up its lineup from November through January, enlisting a bevy of top-caliber teams.

Last season SU took on both Florida and Kansas in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Classic, and then faced Memphis a month later prior to the start of its conference schedule.

However, Boeheim cautioned that loading the schedule with big names isn’t always the best test for his teams heading into Big East play. Opponents that may be normally dismissed are often times the toughest.

Last season, Cleveland State’s Cedric Jackson drilled a three-quarter court shot at the buzzer to shock the Orange at the Carrier Dome, snapping SU’s nine-game winning streak. Boeheim thinks this season there are plenty of teams on the schedule with the potential to steal a win.

‘Cornell is good again, and you know we’re playing a bunch of teams like Cleveland State was last year,’ Boeheim said. ‘They’ll beat you if you don’t play well, like Cornell, who had us on the ropes last year and those games are good.’

Harris, Devendorf get NBA preseason looks

Former Syracuse forward Paul Harris and shooting guard Eric Devendorf will both be competing in the NBA preseason for roster spots for 2009-2010.

Harris, who spent his summer playing with the Minnesota Timberwolves, was recently offered a spot in preseason with the Utah Jazz, according to a report in the Niagara Gazette. The 6-foot-4, 230-pound forward left school after his junior season and went undrafted in June, but averaged 4.5 points per game with the T’wolves in the NBA Summer League.

Boeheim speculated that Devendorf, who also declared for the NBA draft a year early but failed to get selected, would be signed by either the New York Knicks or the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers for training camp, after initial speculation suggested he would play professionally in Europe.

A Knicks spokesman told The Daily Orange Monday that Devendorf worked out with the team last week, but would not say whether or not he was coming back for future workouts. The Lakers did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Though it may seem like a long-shot, Boeheim said getting in with a summer league team is half the battle. Once summer competition heats up, it is possible for anyone to edge his way on to a roster before the season starts.

‘[The SU players’ invitation to camp] is a great thing,’ Boeheim said. ‘It’s an opportunity for both guys to see where they are. You know you’re happy for both guys just to get an opportunity to go to camp – you get a chance in camp, and anything can happen.’

ctorr@syr.edu

Published on September 14, 2009 at 12:00 pm