The players were laughing, and Lazarus Sims was trying to stop it, to no avail.

‘Come on, we’re serious,’ said Sims, the current coordinator of player development and Syracuse guard from 1992-96.

It was hard not to smile. Sims, along with assistant coach Mike Hopkins and graduate assistant manager Kip Wellman made up the defense Monday afternoon at practice. On the other side, freshmen Jonny Flynn, Donte Greene and junior walk-on Justin Thomas formed a line. Flynn was the first to take on the three defenders, took a few steps and popped a shot over Sims. It rimmed out.

Sims, Hopkins and Wellman yelled out for everyone to hear, celebrating the defensive stop. Greene, observing, couldn’t stop laughing.

And this is what they call normal these days for Syracuse.

The suspension of Scoop Jardine dealt another blow to Syracuse’s depth – the third starter lost this season due to injury or defection. But with 10 games left, there’s no time for the Orange to dwell, beginning tonight at DePaul (8:30 p.m., TW 26).

DePaul (9-10, 4-3) sits in ninth place in the Big East, one spot ahead of Syracuse (14-7, 4-4).

Syracuse played six scholarship players plus the walk-on Thomas – for three minutes – in Sunday’s 71-64 win over Providence. With Jardine’s suspension for an indefinite period, and the fact that he hasn’t practiced the last two days, it seems probable that lack of depth will continue tonight and perhaps beyond.

‘It’s very tough,’ Greene said. ‘I feel like it’s an AAU summer…playing five games a day, you know? If you love the game, you can do it. … Right now, I’m going to give it all I’ve got.’

Jardine is the fifth scholarship player Syracuse has lost this season. And to make matters worse, the one who shifted to the backcourt to replace Jardine, Paul Harris, has battled an illness the last few days. Harris did not practice Monday after Boeheim said he was sick Sunday. The sophomore did return to practice yesterday, though.

Flynn and Greene played all 40 minutes Sunday. In fact, Flynn has played the maximum 85 minutes in SU’s past two games. Center Arinze Onuaku played 39 minutes against Providence and left the locker room with two iced legs without talking to reporters.

Boeheim said there’s no one else he can bring into the team. Thomas will see limited minutes. Lanky freshman Sean Williams, the lone scholarship player who did not see the floor on Sunday, ‘is really not ready yet,’ Boeheim said.

The only time Williams will play is if Syracuse’s frontcourt is in foul trouble, Boeheim said, leaving Onuaku to play the lion’s share of minutes in the paint.

‘If he’s tired, we’re going to have him in there,’ Boeheim said of Onuaku. ‘Him tired is twice as good as anything, or four times as good as anybody else.

Two of the players who will start – Flynn and Greene – know the opposing coach, DePaul’s Jerry Wainwright, well. Both played for Wainwright on team USA this summer at the U-19 World Championships in Novi Sad, Serbia.

Greene joked that Wainwright doesn’t know much about the 6-foot-11 forward (he played only 8.5 minutes per game in eight games), but that didn’t stop Greene from imitating the normally stoic Wainwright in the locker room Sunday.

‘Coach Wainwright really didn’t know how to play me this summer,’ Greene said. ‘I also got hurt. Just sitting, though, while I was hurt, I could tell he is a great guy.

‘I think I’m one of the only guys in the country that can get Coach Wainwright to smile.’

Wainwright will see plenty of his two former pupils tonight. Boeheim doesn’t plan on changing Syracuse’s offensive strategy, which now basically centers completely around the two freshmen. The Orange will still look to run, even as the roster keeps dwindling.

‘You can play six or seven guys; it’s tough but you can do it,’ Boeheim said. ‘We’ve just got to make sure to get back and use as much energy as we can defending.’

The tall task ahead for the few remaining Orange players hasn’t stopped the excitable bunch from being loose. When Boeheim emerged from the tunnel before the start of Monday’s practice, Flynn and Greene yelled out to him.

‘Coach, suit up!’

Published on January 29, 2008 at 12:00 pm