The jokes started two weeks into practice.

‘Stay on defense,’ SU basketball forward Hakim Warrick yelled. ‘That’s where we need you.’

‘Don’t dare shoot,’ Terrence Roberts chimed in. ‘Save your energy for D.’

It was unfair, really, how quickly Syracuse players defined freshman Demetris Nichols. The defensive specialist, they called him. And he was allowed to do little else.

‘You’d think it would kind of bother me,’ Nichols said. ‘But I like that reputation. I believe in defense big time. It’s what I take my pride in. So if I’m a defensive specialist, that suits me just fine.’

And why wouldn’t it? After all, its Nichols’s defense that has coaches predicting big things for the freshman from Barrington, R.I. The 6-foot-8, 215-pound Nichols seems sculpted to play defense. He has long, gangly arms. He’s quick enough to stay with a guard, but brave enough to bump with a center.

During one of his first scrimmages with Syracuse, Nichols spent time defending both guard Gerry McNamara and power forward Hakim Warrick. He stopped both.

Despite his teammates’ recommendations, though, Nichols won’t be able to simply stay on the defensive end once the season starts. He takes 250 jumpers a day and has developed a consistent 3-point shot. He also packed on 15 pounds in the last two months, which should help him take the ball hard to the basket.

‘It’s not just defense like people think,’ Nichols said. ‘I can shoot the ball real well. I can go to the basket and I think I’m a big-time team player. I’ll scrap around for these guys.

‘Practice starts Saturday. I’ll start showing it all then.’

Burning questions

Nichols won’t be the only player with something to prove Saturday. The start of official practice will give plenty of players a chance to show off. But here are the five biggest issues to keep an eye on:

n Can the freshmen walk the talk?

They call themselves the Fab Four and have two, GOD GIVEN TALENT tattoos among them, but are the SU freshman for real?

If they are as good as they claim to be, they’ll carry Syracuse. Terrence Roberts hopes to start, Darryl Watkins thinks he’ll see significant time at center and Louie McCroskey expects to be an instant contributor off the bench.

Will any – or all – of those things happen? The answer begins to unfold Saturday.

nWho can shoot on this team, anyway?

To listen to them tell it, every Syracuse player developed 3-point range over the summer. Said Roberts, the freshman: ‘Hakim (Warrick) can shoot the 3. Josh Pace has a really nice outside shot now. Louie is a real good shooter. Gerry (McNamara) doesn’t miss. I’m pretty nice from the outside.

‘In the scrimmages, everybody shoots the 3 a couple times a game. And most of us make it a lot, too.’

Right. We’ll believe it when we see it.

Published on October 14, 2003 at 12:00 pm