Dion Waiters talks to Tobias Harris almost every day to make his sales pitch. He’s after the missing link, he says. He’s after something that will push the incoming class of 2010 straight to the top.

‘We’re just telling him how good we could be if we can get him,’ said Waiters, a star shooting guard from Life Center Academy in Philadelphia, who committed to play for Syracuse with the Class of 2010.

‘Like that’s all we need.’

The sales pitches are getting easier by the game. Waiters, Harris and fellow Orange commit C.J. Fair are all part of the Unique All-Stars, a top-flight team in the elite Nike iS8 fall classic. The team is attempting to recruit another SU commit, center Fab Melo, for the playoffs, which begin Oct. 23 in New York.

The Unique All-Stars allow the current Orange commits to play with Harris, a coveted recruit who has narrowed his college selection to seven schools – including Syracuse. Coached by Harris’ father, the team gives Harris a unique preview into a future with the Orange, something that he won’t get with any of the other six Division I programs knocking at his door.

‘We’re all real cool and easy to get along with,’ Fair said of SU’s current Class of 2010. ‘I talked to (Harris) the other day and to have him up here would just put us on the top.’

For Waiters, the decision was easy. He committed to Syracuse before playing a minute of high school basketball. And as he watches his recruiting class grow around him, he knows adding Harris would make the trip he’s waited more than four years for all the better.

‘We need that one piece right there and we’re going to be good,’ Waiters said.

Throughout the team’s opening round play, the Unique All-Stars coasted to a 4-0 record, earning them a berth in the playoffs. And the prospects of taking home the crown may look even sweeter, as Harris and his father are in talks with Melo to join the team for their playoff roster.

After meeting Harris at a Top 100 NBA camp in Charlottesville, Va., Melo joined Waiters in his efforts to convince Harris to commit to Syracuse. Adam Ross, Melo’s coach at the Sagemont (Fla.) School, said that Melo and Harris are in communication regularly.

Ross said Melo’s appearance in the iS8 tournament next weekend is contingent upon him completing his schoolwork. But he admitted that having those four prospects on the court together is reason for anticipation.

‘It would be tremendous,’ Ross said. ‘It would be a great preview of what Syracuse basketball is going to look like in a couple years. They would be loaded.’

Led by Harris’ playmaking ability off the ball, the Unique All-Stars are paced by his versatility as both an outside shooter and inside threat. Nicknamed the ‘point forward,’ Waiters said Harris has the ability to completely take over a game on his own.

In his own right, Waiters, the No. 29 recruit on Rivals.com, is able to hold court from the outside, bolstering his reputation as one of the nation’s premiere outside shooters. With a knack for shot selection, Waiters and Harris present an inside-outside duo that proved too much for the Unique All-Stars’ opening-round opponents.

If that’s not enough, Fair complements Harris’ inside-out game. Another 6-foot-7 dual-threat, Fair is able to kill the opposition with an established mid-range shot.

‘The first couple games, it was alright, it was OK,’ Waiters said. ‘We came across one or two good teams, but we won every one by about 20. Tobias was killin.”

Both Fair and Waiters said having this on-court camaraderie come the iS8 playoffs would have to play in to Harris’ decision-making. Running the court with three of the nation’s premiere players would undoubtedly influence Harris’ eventual choice about where to commit. Though he’s already taken his official to Syracuse, playing with Fair, Waiters and possibly Melo is a whole different pitch, which could help sway him toward the Orange.

Which puts all the more pressure on winning the tournament first, Waiters said. Before the Orange, there is the Unique All-Stars, charged with defending the hype in one of the country’s elite tournaments next weekend.

‘To most guys, we’re going to seem intimidating,’ Waiters said. ‘But at the same token, people are going to want to beat us bad. So we just have to bring our A-game – like on the jersey it says, ‘Don’t bring your name, bring your game.”

Tickets on sale for Big East/SEC Invitational

Dec.10 may be the perfect time to get out of Central New York for Syracuse fans.

On Tuesday, tickets went on sale for the third consecutive Big East/SEC Invitational, in which four teams from each conference will square off in doubleheaders at two separate venues.

The Orange will take on Florida at the St. Petersburg Times Forum in Tampa, Fla., in the second leg of a doubleheader. The game will follow a matchup between DePaul at Mississippi State.

On Dec. 9, St. John’s will take on Georgia at Madison Square Garden in New York, with Connecticut and Kentucky providing the nightcap.

This is the second year in a row the Orange will be taking on Florida, the first as part of the Big East/SEC invitational. SU took down the Gators, 89-83, in 2008 during the first round of the O’Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic in Kansas City, Mo.

SU to hold tryouts

Syracuse will open up its roster for walk-on tryouts on Saturday, Oct. 17.

Tryouts will begin at approximately 1:30 p.m. at the newly opened Carmelo K. Anthony Basketball Center, adjacent to the coaches’ wing at Manley Field House. Players are required to be in good health and bring their own gear.

ctorr@syr.edu

Published on October 14, 2009 at 12:00 pm