Xzavier Gaines will walk on to the Syracuse men’s basketball team, assistant coach Mike Hopkins said Tuesday. After quitting the football team last week, Gaines joined the basketball team last Thursday to begin workouts.

Basketball head coach Jim Boeheim talked to Gaines before he decided to leave the football team, Hopkins said. Gaines first approached Hopkins last week to inform him of his decision.

‘He’s as athletic as all our guys,’ Hopkins said. ‘When we won the national championship, he was a big part.

‘He’ll really help out in practices.’

Gaines was a member of the 2002-2003 national championship team, playing in six games and scoring two points. He did not play last year.

The junior was part of a three-quarterback race for the football team’s starting job this off-season. Freshman Joe Fields was named the starter before the season’s first game.

After Fields and sophomore Perry Patterson split time throughout SU’s first four games, it became clear Gaines would not see much playing time. Patterson won the job for himself after a strong performance at Virginia on Sept. 25.

Gaines was given the next week off from practice for personal issues. He met with football head coach Paul Pasqualoni the following Monday, and a press release announcing his departure was issued the next day, Oct. 5.

Gaines is still on scholarship for football.

Troy native Tiki Mayben always had his eye on Syracuse.

The 2005 basketball recruit made his official visit to the Syracuse campus this weekend with his mother and his sister. After verbally committing in December 2003, Mayben has never thought twice about his decision, even though he can’t officially sign until later this fall.

‘That would be downplaying my commitment to Syracuse,’ Mayben said. ‘I pretty much knew I always wanted to go there.’

Mayben said he won’t visit any more schools.

‘That was his first letter,’ said his mother, Anita. ‘A lot of mail he received, he has never even opened. Syracuse was everything for him.’

After getting suspended during his sophomore season at Troy High School and leaving the team his junior season, Mayben is looking forward to a full senior campaign.

Mayben left Troy last year for Winchendon Prep School in Massachusetts. Syracuse coaches and Mayben’s AAU coach, Jim Hart, encouraged Mayben to transfer to improve his grades and play against better competition.

After two weeks, Mayben became homesick and returned to Troy.

‘I’ve always said he’s a big fish in a small pond,’ Hart said. ‘I’ve never seen a game where I’ve said the other point guard is better.’

Anita Mayben said that Tiki, whose real name is Emanuel (Tiki comes from his middle name, Lateek), has been focusing on academics this fall. Mayben has considered a year of prep school to help his grades but is trying to make it to Syracuse next year.

‘He’s the best passer I’ve seen – big guys just love playing with him,’ Hart said. ‘He just needs to keep working hard in the classroom.’

Matt Gorman might redshirt his junior season, Hopkins said Tuesday.

A crowded frontcourt – Hakim Warrick, Craig Forth, Darryl Watkins, Terrence Roberts, Dayshawn Wright and Gorman – has forced the coaching staff to consider sitting out either Gorman or Wright, both forwards.

‘It’s a possibility,’ Hopkins said. ‘I think if there was somebody, it would be Matty.’

With a 2005 recruiting class of only two guards – Eric Devendorf and Mayben – and three seniors leaving SU after this season, it would benefit SU to sit one of its 11 scholarship players for next season.

Gorman saw limited action last season and was almost always passed over for then-freshmen Watkins and Roberts. Hopkins said SU will wait for a couple of weeks to pass before deciding if anyone will redshirt.

‘(Gorman) wants to play whatever way he can,’ Hopkins said.

Walk-on tryouts will be held this Saturday, Oct. 16, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Manley Field House. Any student with a valid SUID, sneakers and shorts can show up. … At basketball workouts Tuesday, players tested their vertical leap. Josh Wright, a 6-foot-2 freshman point guard, had an impressive leap of 42 inches.

Published on October 12, 2004 at 12:00 pm