Pitarresi: SU roster grows ever thinner

This season is beginning to look like last season for the Syracuse University basketball team.

 

In terms of manpower, anyway.

 

Last season, with Andy Rautins out all year and Eric Devendorf gone after the first 10 games, the Orange were a seven-man team. For the moment, with Rautins hurt again, Mookie Jones out for the season and Kristof Ongenaet pushed way to the back of the dog house, SU now looks like a six-man team – Devendorf, Jonny Flynn, Paul Harris, Arinze Onuaku, Rick Jackson, and Kris Joseph.

 

Maybe it is a five-man team, because Joseph, a physically talented freshman, has had very little impact since the Big East portion of the season began. He just is not confident enough yet to be effective at that level.

 

Ongenaet’s exile to the bench is the result of his inability to score, his tendency to foul and just overall bad numbers. However, he is a honest, blue-collar player who does some good things and brings some fire to the enterprise. He’ll be needed tomorrow at Providence and against West Virginia next Wednesday.

 

You look at that lineup and you have to realize this is a perilous time for SU. The Orange were 16-1 and ranked 8th just last week. Now they’re 17-4, ranked 15th and looking at a very tough stretch run with a group that includes only three genuine forwards (Onuaku, Jackson and Ongenaet), a swingman (Harris) who has been average or worse in his last two games, two guards (Flynn and Devendorf) and a young kid who isn’t ready to play (Joseph).

 

Plus, Devendorf is the only reliable 3-point shooter available.

 

Tough times.