PITTSBURGH – Throughout this season, Syracuse’s big men have viewed themselves as one cohesive unit.

Rakeem Christmas is the rookie that’s still learning the college game. Baye Keita is the energetic center who specializes on the defensive end. And Fab Melo is the rock that holds down the back of SU’s 2-3 zone.

The three bigs are close. They text each other often and consistently give each other feedback during games.

‘The really cool thing with those three guys is they all support each other,’ assistant coach Mike Hopkins said. ‘If you ever watch during the games, those guys are constantly helping each other. They see themselves as a unit. They see them all being one.’

But now, the Orange’s frontcourt has been whittled down to two without the Big East Defensive Player of the Year. Melo was ruled ineligible for the NCAA Tournament on Tuesday, leaving Christmas and Keita with a 7-foot hole to fill in the middle of the Syracuse defense. They were forced into the same situation earlier this year when Melo was suspended for three games due to what is reportedly the same academic issue now keeping him out of the tournament, and SU went 2-1 in that span.

Starting Thursday at 3:10 p.m. with a matchup against No. 16 seed UNC Asheville (24-9) in Pittsburgh, the top-seeded Orange (31-2) will once again rely on Christmas and Keita in the middle.

But this time, the entire season will be on the line.
‘It feels like you lost a brother,’ sophomore Dion Waiters said. ‘I know he’s here in spirit. It’s going to be tough, but I’ve got faith in Baye and Rak, for those guys to come out here and do what we need them to do.’

Syracuse learned of Melo’s fate just two days before its opening game of the tournament. Before the team left home for Pittsburgh, though, the sophomore center left the Orange with one final message.

‘It was really tough,’ Hopkins said. ‘He had said to the team he wished he could be there and felt bad that he won’t be able to be there and represent us. But he said both Baye and Rak will be able to step up. … These guys have grown pretty close.’

Despite the close relationship shared by the three big men, Melo has been far ahead of his two counterparts on the court. Melo led the Big East in blocks during conference play and averaged 25.4 minutes per game. Keita and Christmas average a combined 21.9 minutes per contest, and their roles have fluctuated throughout the year.

Christmas has started in 31 games but has rarely played past the first media timeout toward the end of the season, and Keita has mostly come off the bench to provide minutes on the defensive end.

Hopkins described the pair as a two-headed monster Wednesday, but they fell far short of that in the three games Melo missed earlier in the year. Both struggled in the loss to Notre Dame, Keita had on off night against Cincinnati and head coach Jim Boeheim said Christmas looked like a freshman against West Virginia.

Yet those three games have given Keita, Christmas and the rest of the Orange confidence that the young pair can step up now that Melo is gone.

‘It helped me a lot,’ Christmas said. ‘Against Notre Dame, I didn’t know what I was doing at first. (Hopkins) came to me, and we watched film. He told me all the things I need to do, and I did it against Cincinnati and the other games. It worked for me.’

The freshman said his job now becomes to grab as many rebounds as possible, be physical on the interior and shut opponents down defensively. The same applies to the sophomore Keita.

And to do that, they will rely not only on each other but on Melo as well.

During Melo’s first suspension, he texted both with advice and critiques of their performances while the Orange was on the road. In the third contest without Melo at home against West Virginia, he was on the bench to deliver those messages in person.

Keita said in addition to the feedback he and Christmas give each other on the bench, Melo will once again likely be in touch via text message.

And while the most important piece of the Orange’s frontcourt won’t be available for the tournament, that unit as a whole may still ultimately decide Syracuse’s fate.

‘It’s going to be me and Rak talking, and we know we’re probably going to talk to him, too,’ Keita said. ‘We’re just going to play our game throughout the tournament. Right now, it’s one game at a time, and we’ve got to move forward from it.’

zjbrown@syr.edu

Published on March 13, 2012 at 12:00 pm