After just three weeks as a Syracuse University student, Carmelo Anthony barely knows the campus. And four months past his 18th birthday, he hardly qualifies as a man.

Yet Anthony — ready or not — has already assumed the Big-Man-on-Campus title, shouldering a man’s share of responsibility for the success of this year’s basketball team.

‘A lot of people recognize me,’ said Anthony, a 6-foot-8-inch small forward. ‘I walk around and hear people saying, ‘There’s Carmelo, there’s Carmelo.’ It’s pretty cool. Some people will actually come up to me and just say that they’re glad I came to Syracuse.’

Good thing, too, because the Orangemen enter this season having lost leading scorer Preston Shumpert, who used up his eligibility, and second-leading scorer DeShaun Williams, who transferred to Iona. With roughly 35 points per game missing from the lineup, Anthony, a 2002 McDonald’s All-American, will be counted on to pick up much of the scoring.

‘We’re going to need a whole group of people to replace those two guys,’ assistant coach Bernie Fine said. ‘But Carmelo can be a big part of it.’

For how long remains another question. NBADraft.net, an extensive draft Web site, predicts Anthony will be the second pick next year — provided he makes himself available. The Orangemen last had a player selected that high when Derrick Coleman went first overall in 1990.

‘Well, I am planning on four years, but if anything happens, things happen,’ Anthony said. ‘If I’m gonna be a No. 1 pick or a top-five pick, I’m leaving.’

Either way, Anthony seems intent on making his freshman year at SU productive. Over the summer, he played on the USA Basketball Men’s Junior National Team, which won a bronze medal at the World Championships in Venezuela. In five games, Anthony led the team in scoring with 15.6 points per game.

He’s also added 20 pounds of muscle after a summer of lifting. He morphed from a spindly, 205-pound kid into a considerably bulkier player who could pass for a power forward.

More likely, though, Anthony fits into the starting lineup as a small forward, surrounded by other youngsters like sophomores Craig Forth and Hakim Warrick and freshman Billy Edelin.

‘Everybody’s pretty young,’ Anthony said. ‘Not many guys here have made it to the (NCAA) Tournament, so we’re all excited. I just can’t wait, man.

‘A lot of people ask me, ‘How good will the team be this year?’ And all I say is: ‘We’re going to be good. Real good.’ To be honest with you, (assistant coach Troy Weaver) said that, judging by our chemistry, it looks like this team has been playing together for two years.’

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Under review

Terrence Roberts, a high school senior and potential SU recruit who’s making his official visit to the Hill this weekend, is trying to avoid an NCAA investigation into his SAT test scores.

St. Anthony High School coach Bob Hurley said Roberts recently scored an 1100 on the exam after previous attempts closer to 700. The sudden increase served as a red-flag to the NCAA, even though Roberts was taking an SAT prep course.

An ongoing appeal process will decide the case.

‘If he gets credit for the 1100, then no, he probably won’t take the SAT again,’ Hurley said. ‘But if he doesn’t get credit for it, then he probably will have to take it again, and that’s the approach he’s taking right now.’

Roberts, who is working on math with a tutor, will visit Syracuse this weekend along with Courtney Sims, a power forward from Noble & Greenough High School in Dedham, Mass.

The Orangemen seek at least one more recruit to join their 2003 recruiting class, which already includes top-100 players Demetris Nichols and Louie McCroskey.

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Trivia question

When was the last time a freshman led Syracuse in scoring? Answer below

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Crossover move

What a wicked crossover.

On this year’s schedule, which Syracuse released Friday, the Orangemen will play 16 games within the 14-team, two-division Big East. Twelve of those contests come via home-and-home series against the six other West Division teams. The remaining games, though, come against four teams chosen from the other division, affectionately referred to as ‘crossover games.’

After receiving a relatively weak selection of crossover teams last year, this year’s Orangemen square off against Boston College, Connecticut, St. John’s and Miami — the top four teams in the East Division a season ago.

‘We’re playing the best four teams on the other side,’ Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said, ‘so it’s going to be a little tougher.’

It will also be a little more familiar. Long-time rival UConn is back on the schedule after a notable absence last year — the first time since 1976-77 that the two teams didn’t meet.

Before the Big East gradually expanded from nine teams 12 years ago to its current 14-team format, Syracuse played every league opponent twice each season.

‘I liked it a little more back when the Big East was just nine teams and everyone played everyone,’ Huskies coach Jim Calhoun said. ‘I liked going to the Dome every year and playing Jimmy’s team.’

Fine, Boeheim’s 27-year assistant, is glad that teams such as UConn are back on the schedule, but thinks conference standings would benefit by excluding crossover games. If that were the case, he said, SU and the other teams in its division would compete on a more equal playing field.

‘They alternate the crossover games every year, so you’re not playing the same teams every year,’ Fine said. ‘Some years you get a break with the schedule. Other years it might be a bit harder.’

Count this year among the harder ones.

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Trivia answer

It’s never happened. Since freshmen became eligible to play, no SU freshman has led the team in points per game. Lawrence Moten came closest, averaging 18.2 points in his rookie season of 1991-92. He finished second to Dave Johnson’s 19.8.

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This and that

Former Syracuse favorites Allen Griffin and Billy Celuck spent yesterday afternoon with a group of current SU big men working out at Manley Field House … Syracuse decided on UNC-Greensboro as its final opponent for the 2002-03 season. The Orangemen needed one more game in their non-conference schedule after the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic reformatted into a series of single games. SU is 2-0 all-time against the Spartans … Times for all of Syracuse’s Big East games have yet to be determined.

Published on September 10, 2002 at 12:00 pm