Anguish.

It walked dejectedly down the road on Nov. 12, and then turned left into the driveway of 830 McKee St. in State College, Pa.

Euphoria.

That backpedaled down the court, arms pointing straight into the Carrier Dome crowd and a grin stretched across its face in pure elation on Monday night.

Antithetical emotions, miles apart in both distance and sentiment, yet curiously tied together as a result of nauseating allegations.

The latter is Scoop Jardine, his jubilation ignited by a baseline jumper that gave his Syracuse team a 14-point lead over Pittsburgh on Monday night. It’s a game the Orange went on to win.

The former is Jay Paterno, son of legendary Penn State football coach Joe Paterno and then-PSU quarterbacks coach. His somber trek back from Beaver Stadium to his father’s house following the Nittany Lions’ 17-14 loss to Nebraska tugged on an entirely different set of heartstrings.

Jay Paterno’s first utterance to the crowd of supporters and media gathered outside the humble ranch house was nothing short of morose.

‘Sorry we couldn’t get it done today guys,’ he said.

Jardine’s prose, spoken after Syracuse set a new school record with its 20th consecutive win to open the season, reflected the fifth-year senior’s giddiness.

‘It’s fun,’ he said. ‘Just this whole season alone is fun because we’re doing it at the highest level.’

There is perhaps no better example of the dichotomy between Syracuse and Penn State than those two images. One illustrates a program crippled by the fallout of former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, who was charged with 40 counts of sexually abusing young boys. The other reflects the joy surrounding the No. 1 college basketball team in the country, which continues to be led by the fourth-winningest head coach in Division I college basketball history.

Yet the Syracuse program, like that of Penn State, was also blindsided by allegations of sexual abuse against then-associate head coach Bernie Fine. But as the Nittany Lions football team lost the face of its program with the dismissal of Joe Paterno, staggered to a 1-3 finish to the 2011 season and saw prized verbally committed recruits slip away, the Orange has surged.

Twenty consecutive wins, blowout after blowout, and not so much as a hint of lost focus.

It is, quite frankly, remarkable. Remarkable that a series of events as ubiquitous as even the Bernie Fine drama cannot deter this Syracuse team.

‘That’s the biggest thing we can really control: what we do on the court,’ Jardine said following the win over Pittsburgh. ‘Everything that went on in the beginning of the season we didn’t know nothing about.’

The message from Jardine is one the media heard repeatedly from Syracuse players in the weeks following the initial ESPN news story in which Bobby Davis and Mike Lang, both former SU ball boys, accused Fine of molesting them as children.

Dion Waiters said over and over again that there was nothing he or his teammates could do about it. Brandon Triche said going out and playing basketball was the team’s sole focus.

But amid all the slinking in and out of the back doors of the Carrier Dome and the Carmelo K. Anthony Basketball Center to avoid the media, it was hard to believe that their performance would be truly unaffected.

And that, Jardine said, is partly what makes the 20 wins so sweet — that this SU team continues to prove everyone wrong.

‘We’ve definitely got a great team bond,’ sophomore forward C.J. Fair said. ‘And our mentality is that we’re the best team in the country, so we don’t feel like we should lose to anybody if we come out to play the way we should.’

The mentality is one transferred down to the players from the man at the top, Jim Boeheim. A man who joked about the extra-large group of media at his press conference for the first game following Fine’s dismissal. A man blasted for his comments about Davis and Lang, the very same men who subsequently sued him for defamation.

Most importantly, though, Boeheim’s a man guiding arguably the most talented team he’s ever had down a track seemingly destined for the Final Four.

Big East Coach of the Year? No question. National Coach of the Year? Without a doubt.

The Orange is in the midst of perhaps the greatest season Syracuse basketball has ever seen, casting a near total eclipse on a series of events presumed too devastating to be shrouded.

All along the players have said a national championship is the ultimate goal. Title or bust for this fiercely resilient team.

And what a twist that would be, pulling back from the brink of dilapidation to win the school’s second national title.

So with 20 games down and 20 wins in their pockets, why should we doubt them now?

‘We control what we do on the court,’ Jardine said. ‘And we’ve been doing it so far.’

Michael Cohen is a staff writer for The Daily Orange, where his column appears occasionally. He can be reached at mjcohe02@syr.edu or on Twitter at @Michael_Cohen13.

 

Published on January 18, 2012 at 12:00 am