Demetris Nichols could be the solution. Or he could be a problem. Most likely, he’ll be both.

Luckily for the Syracuse men’s basketball team and its struggling offense, any dilemma Nichols creates will be a good one to have. The emergence of Nichols, a sweet-shooting, 6-foot-8 freshman guard who replaced Billy Edelin in SU’s starting lineup the past three games, gives Syracuse a crowded backcourt to choose from with Gerry McNamara, Louie McCroskey and Josh Pace joining Edelin and Nichols.

We’ll find out tonight how the Orangemen will shuffle their full-house backcourt, when Syracuse plays Rutgers at 7 in the Carrier Dome.

SU head coach Jim Boeheim hasn’t said how he’ll rotate his quintet of guards. When asked Saturday after Syracuse’s 74-61 loss at Providence whether Edelin would retake his starting spot, Boeheim tersely responded, ‘We’ll see how things play out.’

The Syracuse coaching staff, possibly, will discover how SU’s guard rotation will play out when the fans do. Nothing’s preset, not even how to distribute minutes to five capable guards.

‘That’s tough,’ SU assistant Mike Hopkins said. ‘That’s why (Boeheim) is good at what he does. It’s all about feel, who’s playing good.’

Lately, that’s been Nichols. He had a career game Saturday, scoring 17 points in 36 minutes. He was the lone bright spot in the latest in a string of poor offensive games for Syracuse. When Seton Hall packed the lane and snapped SU’s 13-game winning streak, others took notice. Since then, opponents have used the Pirates’ scheme as a prototype, and SU’s offensive numbers have plummeted.

Nichols and his silky 3-point shot could help cure that. A second dead-eye 3-point shooter could keep defenses from sagging down on forward Hakim Warrick, who was held scoreless in the first half against PC. Boeheim called Nichols the Orangemen’s second-best 3-point shooter.

Earlier this season, after Nichols struggled mightily in his first performance, the freshman became gun shy from the outside. But through post-practice shooting sessions with Hopkins, Nichols earned the trust of SU’s coaches to take Edelin’s place over McCroskey, who had been SU’s top freshman.

‘When things weren’t going right and (Nichols) wasn’t playing a lot, he kept working hard,’ Edelin said. ‘He kept a good attitude.’

‘People think he’s been getting more comfortable because he’s playing more,’ Hopkins said. ‘But to go from not playing that much to starting – that’s a lot of pressure.’

Of course, there’s no guarantee that Nichols will keep his starting spot. And even if he does, the backcourt could still be unsettled. It’s feasible that SU could play Nichols at small forward and bring Pace off the bench, so the sinewy junior could fill the same instant-offense role he filled as SU’s sixth man last year.

While there are plenty of options for solutions, SU’s problem is obvious – a malfunctioning offense.

‘At the end of the day, Gerry, Billy and Hakim have to play well,’ Hopkins said. ‘Hakim can’t go hiding, and Gerry can’t go 2-for-17 like he did against Connecticut.’

A loss to the Scarlet Knights – who beat SU last year at Rutgers and then blew two 12-point leads at the Carrier Dome in SU’s final home game – would be a disaster for the Orangemen. It would drop SU to eighth place in the Big East and place serious doubt over its NCAA Tournament worthiness.

That sense of urgency bubbled over in practice yesterday, when McCroskey and sophomore Matt Gorman got into a brief scuffle.

‘We’ve got to get this thing turned around and run the table,’ Warrick said. ‘It’s definitely gut-check time. (Tonight) is a must-win.’

Published on February 9, 2004 at 12:00 pm