It’s the year of the freshman. Turn on ESPN any time there’s a big college basketball game — hopefully Kentucky, Duke, Kansas or Arizona are playing — and everyone on the network will let you know that the diaper dandies are all the rage, although only Dickie V will put it in those terms.

But what they probably won’t tell you is that this is also the year of the senior. Shabazz Napier and Russ Smith are still chucking up 3s in the Big East… err, American Athletic Conference. Casey Prather has gone from scrub to superstar down in Florida. Doug McDermott’s still as good as it gets.

Any player of the year conversation has to start with those four plus Jabari Parker, Julius Randle and Aaron Gordon.

The savvy vets versus the flashy young guns. And Syracuse is lucky to have one of each.

With Tyler Ennis, the freshman point guard, and C.J. Fair, the reliable senior forward, the Orange has the nation’s best 1-2 punch that also happens to feature the two templates for superstars in today’s college basketball.

For the past two weeks — as they have been for most of the season — the two have been the foundation of a narrow win and a close victory. Ennis’ big first half against St. John’s opened the door for Fair’s heroics during a win against St. John’s last Sunday. During a 75-54 win against High Point (3-7) on Friday, the duo rattled off some of the game’s most memorable plays and powered an incredible second half for the No. 2 Orange (11-0).

Ennis wasn’t thought to be in the same class as Parker, Randle, Gordon or Andrew Wiggins, but after more than two months he’s proven that he’s in that same class. He won’t score in bunches like Parker or Wiggins, but he’s a perfect fit for SU.

“He’s just been great,” Cooney said of his freshman backcourt-mate. “He’s great at what he does.”

The secret to Ennis’ success isn’t any more complicated than that. He’s not the electric athlete that Michael Carter-Williams was, but his basketball IQ is through the roof for a freshman. He’s dished 5.4 assists per game and has been the perfect complementary player for Fair.

Fair, the senior who’s improved in each season at Syracuse, is less of a surprise. He was the preseason Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year, but he’s perhaps even exceeded expectations.

He’s one of the best catch-and-shoot players in the country, the kind of shooter that gets fans excited for midrange jumpers. He’s also the Orange’s second best rebounder and, with his fierce athleticism, there’s always the chance he unleashes a highlight-reel play, like his poster-worthy baseline jam over the Panthers’ John Brown.

The only flaw in Fair’s game is the turnover issue. He’s averaging 3.2 per game — more than double his career average — as a product of his expanded role as a creator. Sometimes he throws down remarkable slam dunks, but too often the ball squirts away and leads to points on the other end.

Against High Point, though, he committed just one. Every other part of his game continues to improve — he’s gone from 6.4 points per game as a freshman to 8.5 as a sophomore, 14.5 as a junior and 17.8 this year — so head coach Jim Boeheim’s not worried about this one apparent Achilles’ heel.

“Those things will work themselves out I think,” Boeheim said. “I’m not worried about him.”

In high school Fair was a “volume shooter,” his head coach Mike Daniel said. He averaged almost 21 points per game by simply catching and shooting. There wasn’t too much dribbling or driving the lane. Just catch and shoot.

That’s what he did against the Panthers and turned in another solid offensive day without too many of those pesky giveaways.

“Not forcing some things,” Fair said. “It’s all about being in control of your actions.”

SU’s dynamic duo of Ennis and Fair will be even more electric if they can solve their few flaws, but as they are the two are still unparalleled in college basketball. Freshman-heavy teams like Kentucky and Kansas have been slight disappointments early. Senior-led squads such as Connecticut and Creighton are a bit behind the top teams in terms of talent.

Syracuse has the best of both worlds. Fair will get his. Ennis will create it. If they just keep doing that, the football team won’t be the only SU sport playing a postseason game in Texas.

David Wilson is a staff writer at The Daily Orange, where his column appears occasionally. He can be reached at dbwilson@syr.edu or on Twitter at @DBWilson2.

Published on December 23, 2013 at 1:02 pm