Jim Boeheim watched Jonny Flynn depart early and become the No. 6 pick in this past June's NBA draft. Fellow starters Paul Harris and Eric Devendorf also left — or were nudged out — early.
It sounds insane, but this is clearly an upgrade over last season's Syracuse edition.
That's not to say the Orange are Final Four caliber, but they clearly belong in the conversation among the likes of West Virginia and Villanova — the preseason Big East co-favorites — after dominating No. 6 North Carolina in an 87-71 win at Madison Square Garden on Friday night.
This group — one with Iowa State transfer Wesley Johnson and the point-guard duo of Scoop Jardine and Brandon Triche — is vastly superior on defense.
"We're bigger than last year," Boeheim said after the victory.
But that's not the half of it.
These guys actually want to defend and are far more cerebral than their predecessors.
They challenge virtually every pass and shot.
The 2-3 zone is extremely difficult to score against, especially for a North Carolina team that isn't an offensive juggernaut and doesn't feature many perimeter weapons.
It was the most exciting game of the young college basketball season, and it took place in front of more than 15,000 rabid fans who saw two long and athletic teams getting up and down the floor.
Syracuse jumped out quickly, but the Tar Heels fought back and took a two-point lead into the break.
"That's when Coach told me I needed to be more aggressive," 'Cuse big man Arinze Onuaku said. "So I told the guys to get me the ball."
They did — and strength easily won out over length as he scored 13 of his 15 in the second half and dominated in the paint.
Onuaku and the Orange came out on a 22-3 run that virtually put the game away.
"That second half is about as bad as you can play," North Carolina coach Roy Williams said.
The guy who has spearheaded the Syracuse revival is Johnson, an unheralded recruit (I saw his Dallas Mustangs team play at least a half-dozen teams and don't remember him at all) coming out of Texas who ended up bouncing around to two prep schools before eventually landing at Iowa State, where he averaged 12.3 points and 7.9 rebounds as a freshman.
