Syracuse Basketball 2010-2011: Now 30% Leaner & Meaner

The Syracuse basketball team is bunch of losers.

They spent all summer losing. Losing weight. Losing fat. Losing bad habits. 

Over the past few years we've seen players return from their summer regiment looking leaner, more muscular and in better shape than ever before. That seems to have become modus operandi for the Syracuse Orange heading into the 2010-2011 season. At the first official practice of the season, the SU players couldn't wait to talk about all the losing they did over the summer.

"People who needed to drop weight, dropped weight," SU guard Brandon Triche said. "People who needed to get stronger, got stronger. That right there showed maturity. It showed the type of teammates we have and the type of leaders we have – making sure everybody got in there and got the work done."

Mookie Jones has been keeping an extra-attentive eye on everyone's weight. Perhaps....a little too attentive.

"I watched everybody’s body from the summer time," SU guard Mookie Jones said, "and it wasn’t bad. But now, after the summer and getting back to school, I look at everybody’s bodies and I’m like, ‘Whoa, this guy looks slimmer.’

Fair enough, Theodore.

The big question at the forefront of everyone's mind this season...can Kris Joseph make The Leap. I mean, he made a leap last season, but can he make "The Leap" this year and become a superstar? Jim Boeheim thinks so.

"I think he wants that challenge,’’ Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said Friday at the Orange’s annual media day at the Melo Center. "I think he’s fully capable at this stage of his career to be a go-to type of guy.’’

"He goes to the basket with the ball as well as almost any player we’ve had here,’’ Boeheim said. "If I had to compare him to somebody I’d compare him to a Lawrence Moten-type with his ability to handle the ball.’’

High praise indeed.

Speaking of Boeheim, does it surprise you at all to hear that Jimmy B hates Midnight Madness?

"We don’t bring kids (recruits) in, not usually," Boeheim said. "I’m not a big proponent of Midnight Madness. I don’t like it. I never have. It’s a wasted day, and I’m not a big fan of it. We do it, the players like it a little bit, the fans like it, but I’m not a big fan of it."

TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE, FOLKS! (The players like it "a little bit?" Come on, Jimmy...you're stacking the deck a little bit there, don't you think?)