The future of ACC basketball flashed across the court Saturday night in the original hometown of ACC basketball.
The future wore orange. The future was named the Orange.
It all sounds so simple, right down to the superior talent and depth of a Syracuse bunch that beat N.C. State 88-72. It isn't that simple.
Syracuse is ranked No. 1 with an asterisk (*all court dates not yet scheduled) and No. 2 on the college perp list in the depressing category of alleged sex abuse of under-age males by an assistant coach.
The Bernie Fine case might yet reach the docket, although a district attorney announced last week that the statute of limitations had expired on molestation accusations made by a former Syracuse ball boy and his stepbrother. "It is not my place to say that Bernie Fine is guilty of anything," Onondaga County D.A. William Fitzpatrick said. "It is my place to say that the two victims are believable."
The two men have sued Syracuse and coach Jim Boeheim for defamation because he called them liars when the story first broke, then apologized. Two other accusers have leveled charges. The feds are investigating.
Syracuse fired Fine, who was a team manager when guard Boeheim and his Syracuse teammates lost the 1966 East Regional final to Duke at Reynolds Coliseum, home of the first 12 ACC Tournaments. Fine actually coached the only game (out of five) the Orange ever lost to State, when Boeheim was recovering from prostate surgery in 2001-02.
The evolving Fine story serves as a tawdry backdrop to what might become a banner Syracuse season. Boeheim and Carmelo Anthony delivered the first NCAA championship nine seasons ago in New Orleans.
The Final Four will return to Louisiana this season. State coach Mark Gottfried nodded and said: "I've been around a lot of good teams, guys, and that team right there might be playing on Monday night in April."
Down the road, Syracuse will play lots of Tuesdays, Wednesdays and all those other nights on Tobacco Road or some ACC outpost. The Orange will join the ACC, along with Pitt, whenever the Big East signs the release papers. That might come before next season, but not likely, based on the Big East's present posturing.
Boeheim, 67, carries on while the loudest critics call for his firing. This was his 867th win, and he will soon pass Adolph Rupp (876) and Dean Smith (879) for third place on the career list. Boeheim is an expansion critic who seems keen on competing against the ACC kingpins, just not yet.
"I don't think they've figured that out yet, and I don't know if they will for a while," Boeheim said. "So, we're staying in the present and trying to get through this season."
The Orange got through Saturday after blowing a 17-point lead five minutes into the second half. Cramps sidelined Wolfpack forward C.J. Leslie (13 points), and Syracuse unloaded another diverse scoring torrent. C.J. Williams, who kept State alive with a career-best 25 points, observed: "They're No. 1 for a reason."
Upsets of Kentucky and Ohio State last weekend cleared Syracuse's path to No. 1. This was the first game since the polls came out and the Orange's first game outside the Syracuse-Madison Square Garden corridor.
"It doesn't matter when you go on the road," Boeheim said, dismissing the issue. "If you've got a good team, you'll play well on the road. If you've got a bad team, you'll play bad on the road. It's pretty simple. There's no original secret to it."
There might be several secrets about this Syracuse team, which features All-America Kris Joseph and so much talent that Boeheim concedes he's doling out playing time in novel ways. But a long season is never simple, especially with detectives, lawyers, politicians and the shadow of Bernie Fine just outside the locker-room door.
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