SU benefits from Jackson's move into starting lineup

Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim toyed with the idea last summer.

Putting 6-foot-9, 240-pound power forward Rick Jackson alongside 6-9, 275-pound center Arinze Onuaku in the starting lineup would give the Orange a formidable front line.

But Boeheim was hesitant to make the change, mainly because he needed Jackson as Onuaku's chief backup if the starting center got into early foul trouble.

But after Kristof Ongenaet, the starting No. 3 man for the first 11 games of the season, could not get the job done consistently, Boeheim was left with no choice. He promoted Jackson to starter, and the sophomore from Philadelphia has not disappointed.

During his 15 starts, Jackson has not only provided SU with some unexpected offense (9.5 points per game, 62-percent shooting), he has given the Orange another rebounder (6.2 per game) and an extra inside defender (22 blocks), and has stabilized a position that was in flux for most of the season.

"Rick is playing good. He's getting better,'' said Boeheim. "A lot of that has to do with the work he put in over the summer, but a lot is also maturity. He's a lot stronger and he learned a lot last year by sitting and watching.''

Jackson, a high school teammate of SU sophomore guard Antonio "Scoop'' Jardine (redshirting this season) at Neumann-Goretti High School, has not only contributed to SU's run for its first NCAA tournament bid in three seasons, he has become an integral part of the team.

"He knows basketball. He knows how to play the game,'' said SU sophomore point guard Jonny Flynn. "He's gonna be in the right position most of the time and he's going to play hard.''

Jackson, like a lot of young big men, was not ready for the rough-and-tumble play in the Big East Conference when he arrived at SU last year. Not known as a big scorer even in high school, Jackson struggled to score against the bruising conference big men, averaging just 3.7 points in 35 games as a freshman.

"Things he got away with in high school didn't work at this level,'' said Onuaku. "But that didn't deter Rick. He just went back to work and has shown so much improvement this season.''

Jackson said he worked diligently over the summer on his quickness and especially his footwork. "All the guys are really big, but they're not really fast,'' Jackson said. "If I can use a little finesse at times, you can still score.''

Jackson has reached double figures nine times in his starting role, with a high of 17 on Jan. 14 at Georgetown. He also has recorded three double-doubles (points-rebounds).

And Boeheim has actually started running plays designed especially for him. "That's a good feeling, knowing that coach has that kind of confidence in me," Jackson said.

Jackson has improved so much, he is a candidate for Big East Most Improved Player. After Jackson scored 14 points and grabbed 10 rebounds against his team, Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said of Jackson, "He just gives them another scorer up front, and he's going to keep getting better and better.''

Jackson said he is now "comfortable'' as a starter, and just wants to help the team win. "Whatever I have to do,'' he said.

SI DOES ORANGE

There is a fascinating read on SI.com (Sports Illustrated's Web site) about the rigors of the Big East, and especially how Syracuse handled a week in what the magazine called "the best and toughest'' conference in the country.

Senior writer Jack McCallum followed the Orange at road losses against Villanova and Connecticut, and Sunday's overtime home win against Georgetown. I sat next to McCallum during the Georgetown game, and he gave me a few insights into what he had observed.

"(SU coach) Jim Boeheim is one of the most sarcastic coaches I've ever seen,'' McCallum said. "But he uses it to inspire his players most of the time.''

McCallum said after deflating losses at Villanova and Connecticut, Boeheim's main theme was "that there was still a long ways to go and that the team had only one goal remaining, to make the NCAA tournament. The players seemed to believe what Boeheim was saying, but it was tough to be positive after being handled so easily by those two good teams.''

Here are a few excerpts from the article:

On the Paul Harris-Jim Boeheim relationship: On perhaps a dozen occasions, on the court or in the locker room, Boeheim had gone after Harris for hanging his head after bad plays and, as the coach saw it, disregarding instructions.

One example: Boeheim thought that Harris had repeatedly — and unwisely — challenged UConn's 7-foot-3 center Hasheem Thabeet when the big man had space to make a block or change a shot. This went against a game plan that strictly admonished, You must get into his body in order to attack him. You have to take it through his face.

"To be honest with you, having coach Boeheim on me all the time is hard," said Harris. "It doesn't do any good debating with him, because you can't win. He gets me thinking too much about mistakes." Harris paused. "But I'm going to keep going because that's what you gotta do. This is the Big East, right?"

On Jonny Flynn's love affair with Syracuse:"I been hearing about the big, bad Big East my whole life," says Flynn, who comes from Niagara Falls. "My pops [Reverend William Flynn] used to go on and on about it. Chris Mullin. Patrick Ewing. Derrick Coleman. I got it from a young age."

Flynn remembers the first time he came to the Carrier Dome in Syracuse on a rec-league trip. "Seeing that many people in one place," he says, "is something that never left me. Coming to school here was a no-brainer."

On not making excuses:Boeheim lectures his players about their propensity for making excuses and pointing fingers. "The only way to get through this is together," he says. "This is too tough a league to do it as individuals." To a man, the Orange players insist that they will stay together. Besides, says guard Andy Rautins, this tough stretch of games is exactly "what we signed on for when we came to the Big East."

On nearly blowing the Georgetown game:The coach stays positive for a minute or two but, being Boeheim, just can't keep himself from turning gloomy. "If we would've blown this game," he says, "it would've been the worst loss in the history of Syracuse basketball."

A chorus of groans follows. "No, seriously," he continues. "Are you kidding me? A 16-point lead at home. It would ..."

CANNONEERS HOST MSAC TOURNEY

Streaking Jefferson Community College, which won the regular season Mid-State Athletic Conference (MSAC) men's crown, is the top seed and host for this weekend's MSAC tournament.

JCC, which ended the regular season on a nine-game winning streak, went 21-6 overall and 10-2 in conference. Ranked 10th nationally, the Cannoneers will play No. 4 Corning CC in the MSAC semifinals at 4 p.m. Saturday. That will be preceded by the game between No. 2 Finger Lakes CC and No. 3 Onondaga CC at 2 p.m.

The MSAC championship game is at 1 p.m. Sunday.

The Cannoneers, ranked third in Region 3, hope to secure a berth in the NJCAA Region 3 Division III tournament, which they will host Feb. 27-March 1.

Leading the Cannoneers in scoring this season is freshman Kadeem Nicholas (23.1 points per game). Freshman Dennis Oglesby (17.2 ppg.) and sophomore Chris Noel (14.8 ppg., 5.2 assists per game) are also key contributors for second-year head coach Charlie Bridge III.

"We've known all year that we have a lot of individual talent,'' said Bridge. "With only two seniors (Noel, Dan Culver), it was a struggle early on for us to learn a new system. I scrapped everything we had done previously offensively and defensively. We went from playing a conservative zone defense mixed with a pick-and-roll offense to the exact opposite. Now, we pride ourselves on playing pressure man-to-man defense mixed with an equal-opportunity motion offense. The players are really buying into the defense-first mentality.''

Corning is a tough draw for the Cannoneers. The Cannoneers lost 92-89 at Corning and won 65-64 at home. Corning has a player-of-the-year candidate in 6-8 Rodney Bartholomew, who had 59 points and 31 rebounds in the two games.

"He controls the paint on both ends,'' Bridge said. "We are going to need a big game inside from Culver, Arthur Abbonsett and Edy Toussaint to help neutralize him."