Jovan Miller can now appreciate Danny Brennan’s job.

Before last Saturday, the freshman midfielder estimated he hadn’t taken a faceoff since last summer. The athletic Miller plays the wing on the faceoff. He’s there to clean up the mess that ensues at the X.

But with Brennan injured and Syracuse looking for anything that worked, Miller was thrown into the middle by the coaching staff.

‘(Assistant coach Kevin Donahue) just pointed at me,’ Miller said. ‘Usually he says, ‘Jovan, on the wing.’ But this time, he said, ‘Jovan, on the X.’ I was looking at him like, what are you talking about? I was surprised. I was really surprised.’

Miller could see an increased role on the faceoffs this Sunday in Syracuse’s first-round NCAA tournament game against Canisius (7:30, ESPNU) if Brennan isn’t ready to go. Brennan has a pulled leg muscle, among other bangs and bruises, which forced him to miss last Saturday’s 12-11 loss to Colgate.

Whether or not the nation’s best faceoff man will be on the field Sunday night is still up in the air.

‘He did a little running (Tuesday), and our expectations right now are to have him out there and get him some runs,’ SU head coach John Desko said. ‘We’ll see how the game goes and decide at that time how far along he is in the healing process.’

Desko said Brennan would do some more running, hopefully with a stick, but would be limited in the Orange’s Wednesday practice.

Miller said he’s been practicing at the X this week more than any other time this season.

Without Brennan, Syracuse (12-2) won only 8-of-25 draws against the Raiders. Colgate controlled the ball much of the game and built up a four-goal lead. SU came back within one goal but had trouble forcing turnovers at the end of the game after Colgate won the faceoffs.

The Orange used three players at the X to replace Brennan Saturday. John Carrozza took most of the draws and went a dismal 5-of-17. Junior Jake Moulton lost both he took. And then there was Miller, inserted late in the game, who won 3-of-6.

‘We’re definitely praying that (Brennan’s) going to be able to run,’ Miller said. ‘I think because of that butt-kicking we got at Colgate, everybody’s stepped their game up on faceoffs. I think we’ll be ready even if (Brennan doesn’t play).’

Brennan leads the nation with a 67.1 percent success rate at the X. Part of that is thanks to his wings, Miller and fellow freshman Joel White, who have scooped up groundball after groundball.

Miller would much rather prefer his role on the wing, but he and Syracuse’s other offensive stars reiterated Wednesday they feel SU can win without Brennan, if necessary.

‘I hope Danny’s ready,’ senior midfielder Steven Brooks said. ‘Danny’s a big attribute to this team. But hopefully we can have other people step up. Jovan played very well at the end of the Colgate game and locked up their faceoff guy. But right now we have to focus without Danny. If he comes to play, he comes to play.’

Canisius (10-5) comes to the Carrier Dome riding high after clinching its first-ever NCAA tournament bid by winning the Mid-American Athletic Conference Championship Sunday. Desko and the players emphasized the need to get off to a quick start to quell any thoughts of an upset.

That begins at the X.

The Golden Griffins’ leading faceoff man, Tim Rowley, wins his draws 48.9 percent of the time. He’s ranked 39th in the nation.

Desko said after looking at film and tendencies of Canisius, a team which coaches and players admitted they knew little about earlier in the week, the opponent likes to play the same fast-paced style that the Orange does.

‘It’d be great to get off to a fast start,’ Desko said. ‘I don’t know the game plan they’re gonna use. They play more like Syracuse. They like to get out. They like to run. They like to push the ball. And that’s OK with us. We’d like to get into that kind of game with them.’

But the run-and-gun style needs consistent wins at the faceoff X. Syracuse is hopeful it will improve on its ugly mark at Colgate, regardless of who is taking the draws.

Miller, though, is plenty ready to see Brennan back at full strength.

‘Definitely,’ he laughed. ‘I really enjoyed the experience of being out there, but I’d really like Danny to be back.’

magelb@syr.edu

Published on May 10, 2008 at 12:00 pm