You don’t have to look too far for signs about the expectations on Kueth Duany’s senior season. After all, they’re hanging in the University Bookstore.

This year — even with the Syracuse men’s basketball lineup still unsettled — Nike produced Duany’s No. 13 jersey as its annual Orangemen model. Now Syracuse hopes that Duany can follow with the productive season that normally follows Nike’s bestowal of marketability.

In the past three years, SU’s replica jerseys have been numbered for Jason Hart, Damone Brown and Preston Shumpert.

“I never thought I’d see this day come,” Duany said. “That’s crazy. It’s an honor. To see my No. 13, I don’t even see my parents wearing that, and now they’ll be selling it on racks.”

In part, that’s because Duany is the lone senior on this year’s team and likely the most recognizable face at season’s start. Among SU’s eight other scholarship players, Duany has at least two more years of experience than seven of them. And if Duany does start, the 6-foot-6 shooting guard/small forward will be the only upperclassman in the lineup.

“He’s already shown good leadership qualities, and being our only senior that’s what he’s going to have to do,” head coach Jim Boeheim said. “He’s matured every year, and he’s gotten better every year. We expect big things from him.”

Said Duany: “It’s funny how it works, but when I first got here, we joked about how all the older guys were like old grandfathers. Now I’m the grandpa. I’m the old man.”

The Orangemen hope the fifth-year senior doesn’t play like one. Last season, Duany started every game for SU, but his shooting tailed off after he began on a tear. In the Preseason NIT semifinal on Nov. 21 against Michigan State, Duany poured in 24 points and shot better than 50 percent from the field.

His production faltered. Three months later, when Georgetown visited the Carrier Dome, Duany managed just one point while playing 15 minutes.

“Last season, I wasn’t as consistent as I want to be at the end of the year,” Duany said. “Now I want to exceed that. My goals should get bigger every year, and that’s how you improve.”

Duany also has goals to turn his last season into the most memorable. In between talk about Big East Championships or Final Fours, Duany’s developed into one of the more intense Syracuse players.

“A few days ago we had one of those practices where nobody really wanted to be there,” assistant coach Mike Hopkins said. “But Kueth got on everyone and did a phenomenal job of keeping everyone motivated.

“He’s shown some great leadership already.”

Blast from the past

A veritable all-time team of former Syracuse basketball players has turned up at Manley Field House over the past two weeks.

First it was Etan Thomas, an SU center from 1996-2000, who worked out for several days with some current Orangemen before returning to camp with the Washington Wizards.

Most recently, Derrick Coleman and Billy Owens, who played together at the Carrier Dome in the late ‘80s, returned for a campus visit.

So were current players impressed by the presence of the school’s all-time leading shot blocker (Thomas) and rebounder (Coleman)?

“Yeah,” Duany said, “especially for those younger guys on this team who used to watch these players on TV. Now you have them standing right in front of you, and that’s priceless.”

Boeheim also enjoyed the moment.

“Spending some time with them this weekend was really nice,” Boeheim said. “It’s always fun to see those guys come back and share old stories, talk about old times.”

Trivia question

Coleman may be SU’s greatest rebounder, but the Orangemen have played against some impressive big men, too. Who owns the highest rebound total ever accumulated in a single game against Syracuse?

Griffin’s guarantee

Among the highlights from five-on-five scrimmages the past two days: On Monday, Jeremy McNeil pinned a Craig Forth turnaround against the backboard, yelling an authoritative “HAY-ell Naw!” in his Texas twang.

Later that day, Gerry McNamara displayed the lights-out shooting that made him a top-50 recruit, scoring eight points — two threes and one layup — in the span of two minutes. And yesterday, another freshman, Watertown’s Matt Gorman, displayed a soft touch on several shots inside the paint.

“It’s not just that the freshmen do some things very well, but each of these players has some special talents,” said former point guard Allen Griffin, who still works out with the team most days. “Gerry shoots the ball really well — I haven’t seen somebody shoot that well since (one-time teammate) Marius Janulis.”

Griffin believes that the current crop of freshmen — along with a group of developing sophomores — make this year’s team one of the most talented in recent memory.

“This team will make the tournament,” Griffin said. “I ain’t got no money, but I’ll put all the money I don’t have on it.”

This and that

Duany’s younger brother, Bil, a 6-foot-7 high school junior, is ranked by many publications as a top-100 recruit for next year. “When I went home,” Kueth Duany said, “I saw all those letters he has, and it brought back a lot of memories.” … Terrence Roberts, a player that Syracuse hopes will be its third and final recruit for the class of 2003, visited Maryland this weekend. Roberts said he would wait until November to decide on a school.

Trivia answer

On Feb. 22, 1971, a Massachusetts center named Julius Erving recorded 32 rebounds against Syracuse, the most ever by an opponent in a single game.

Published on September 24, 2002 at 12:00 pm