A Syracuse official came around the media seating after Eric Devendorf scored his 25th of Saturday’s 27 points to inform the media that the SU sophomore just scored his career-high in SU’s 75-69 win over DePaul. The number seemed impressive at first and remained noteworthy.

Then when scrolling through the pages of the media guide and going through a game-by-game of his career, the number that pops out is 58. Saturday was Devendorf’s 58th game, a game in which he was re-inserted into the starting lineup and set a new career high.

The number sticks out because Devendorf’s career at Syracuse has been as eventful as perhaps any sophomore this side of Billy Edelin.

Even his path to Syracuse was an adventure, starting with an early verbal commitment to Michigan State before he rescinded that commitment, drew the ire of many Spartan loyalists in his hometown Bay City, Mich., and eventually decided on Syracuse after also considering Florida.

He was SU’s hyped freshman last year, the yin to Gerry McNamara’s yang. He took over Louie McCroskey’s starting spot just six games into the season, breaking up a lineup that featured four juniors and a senior. Devendorf started slowly but was never shy, finishing the season one of SU’s most consistent players.

This season, Devendorf was supposed to be the man – or at least before the season turned into a whirlwind of its own.

He entered the season as the SU player on the promotional ads, the player targeted by other teams’ student sections. The Orange was counting on him to provide scoring from the perimeter and spot duty at point guard.

Early in the season, Devendorf had a lot to talk about. He reached double-digit scoring in his first six games – all wins. Then came nine points against Holy Cross. Against Wichita State, he played just 18 minutes.

The low point came when Devendorf played only nine minutes against Oklahoma State Dec. 5 and didn’t score a point for the first time in his career. The next game, he was removed from the starting lineup.

Devendorf accepted the role off the bench, a role that never seemed to fit a player who reacts like a ‘Price is Right’ contestant winning a new car every time he’s the last one called in the Carrier Dome’s pregame introductions.

‘It felt real good to come out there with the guys and get my name announced,’ Devendorf said. ‘It’s not really a problem coming off the bench, but I like getting it started from the tip.’

His benching started without much explanation – the official report was that he was sick, although he never entered the lineup after he recovered.

‘I’m not a doctor,’ Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said after the Dec. 9 game against Colgate when asked about Devendorf’s illness.

‘We talked about why he was sitting out. It’s solved now,’ SU center Darryl Watkins said after that game.’

Devendorf also told 88.3-FM WAER’s ‘Double Overtime’ in a post-game interview he had been battling emotions surrounding the shooting of a childhood friend during Winter Break.

The benching ended with little explanation, too.

‘I just thought he had given us a lift coming off the bench and just thought it would help him,’ Boeheim said. ‘It helped him and it helped Andy (Rautins).’

The move to the bench seemed curious in the first place. Starting a game is more symbolic than anything else, considering Devendorf played starters’ minutes. In Devendorf’s 13 games off the bench, he played more minutes than his replacement, Andy Rautins, in all but two games.

He played minutes like a starter. He performed like a starter. He was guarded like a starter and he definitely acted like a starter.

Naturally, he returned to a starter’s role. But the timing was more eye-opening than anything else. Devendorf didn’t re-enter the starting lineup after his 20 points against No. 15 Marquette led SU to its biggest win of the season. He didn’t join the lineup after his then-career-high 23 points against St. John’s kept SU in that game, nor when he was SU’s best player on the floor in the loss against Louisville.

Devendorf entered the lineup after the worst game of his career – zero points on 0-for-11 shooting night in SU’s worst loss of the season against Notre Dame.

‘It made me feel real good that coach is sticking with me,’ Devendorf said. ‘He told me, everyone’s going to have a bad game, but he’d be worried if I wasn’t a good player. He knows I’m a good player, so he wasn’t worried it all.’

So now Devendorf is a starter, although not much has changed. He played 32 minutes, just two more minutes than his Big East average. He scored a career high and was as confident after it as he is after every game.

Chalk it up as just another chapter in Eric Devendorf’s book. The irony is after just 58 games, the sophomore’s book is as thick as a senior’s.

Zach Berman is the sports editor at The Daily Orange, where his columns appear occasionally. E-mail him at zberman@syr.edu.

Published on February 4, 2007 at 12:00 pm