The Syracuse men’s basketball team had only secured itself a date in the Sweet 16, but the celebration was bigger. As Rick Jackson remembers it, last year’s second-round victory in the NCAA Tournament over Arizona State elicited a reaction as if SU had made the Final Four.

There was the memory slip — there were still two more games to get to Detroit, and SU eventually lost to Oklahoma in the Sweet 16.

This year there was little, if any, celebration. The locker room following Syracuse’s 87-65 win over Gonzaga Sunday was just Q-and-A sessions with the media. There was no jubilation. If anything, it was a little too quiet in the locker room.

That’s because this team knows Salt Lake City is just a steppingstone.

‘Last year we were real pumped to be in the Sweet 16,’ Jackson said. ‘This year I think guys are happy, but we want to win it all. We’ve got a legit chance of winning the whole thing, and we want to just go out there and keep playing hard.’

Syracuse stands just two games away from reaching the Final Four and will try to advance to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2003 when it faces No. 5 Butler Thursday night at 7:07 p.m. in Salt Lake City. Second-seeded Kansas State meets No. 6 Xavier in the other Sweet 16 matchup in the West Regional.

‘We got complacent last year, and we were a little too excited to get there,’ shooting guard Andy Rautins said. ‘But this team has a whole different mindset this year, and we’re not satisfied yet.’

Seeded third last year, the Orange (30-4) rolled through Stephen F. Austin in the opening round and then defeated a James Harden-led Arizona State squad, 78-67. This put the Orange in the Sweet 16 against No. 2 seed Oklahoma and future top pick in the NBA Draft Blake Griffin.

Oklahoma jumped out to a 48-26 lead and cruised to an 84-71 win over the Orange. Point guard Jonny Flynn, shooting guard Eric Devendorf and small forward Paul Harris all fled the team in hopes of professional careers in the following weeks. This set the stage for this year’s squad, entering the season unranked and unnoticed by all.

But here it is, with two weeks left in the basketball season and SU a favorite to reach the national final. As a No. 1 seed, the Orange doesn’t want to end up like Kansas — a highlight on ESPN for its failures. The team is hungry to keep going. No need for celebration. It hasn’t accomplished anything yet, outside of a Big East regular-season championship.

‘There’s no tomorrow in the NCAA Tournament,’ Rautins said. ‘So you have to stay focused and prepared for every game.’

Butler, a team as synonymous with mid-major status as Gonzaga, arrives to EnergySolutions Arena as the hottest team in the country. The Bulldogs (30-4) have won 22 straight games heading into its matchup against the Orange.

The Bulldogs’ last setback came against UAB on Dec. 22, 2009. They evaporated a halftime deficit to beat UTEP, 77-59, in the opening round, and then made a defensive stop to vanquish No. 13 Murray State, 54-52, in the second round. Butler has never made it to the Elite Eight, but it did push eventual champion Florida in the 2007 Sweet 16.

Rautins said he’s seen the Bulldogs play throughout the year and thinks they are a very smart team, like Gonzaga. He was impressed by the team’s shooting, led by Gordon Hayward at 15.2 points per contest, and said SU will have to turn in another great defensive performance. Butler attempts 40 percent of its shots from 3-point range.

When Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim sized up the Bulldogs, he was even more complimentary.

‘I’ve watched them play all year long. They’re one of the best teams I’ve seen all year,’ Boeheim said. ‘I’ve had them in the Top 10 in my poll from the very beginning of the year. I think they have a tremendous team. And so we’ll have our hands full.’

Only four games remain until glory, with two signifying a trip to the biggest event in college basketball. There’s no time to celebrate now. At this point in the season, no game can be considered an upset. Teams that make it to the Sweet 16 are there for a reason. For Syracuse, that means continuing to take care of business, something it couldn’t do last year.

‘As you can see around this locker room right now, nobody’s satisfied until we bring home a trophy,’ Rautins said. ‘So we’re definitely going to be ready to play (tomorrow) in Salt Lake.’

mrehalt@syr.edu
 

Published on March 23, 2010 at 12:00 pm