Andy Rautins was young, and he made bad passes. But, for the most part, Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim was fine with that – there was time.

‘It’ll take these freshmen some time,’ Boeheim said after Rautins’ first exhibition game back on Nov. 1, 2005. ‘It’s OK. Gerry (McNamara) will hold (the freshman guards) together for a while.’

And Arinze Onuaku, he’s always had a big frame. He showed an upside, though at the time he was nowhere near as gifted on the boards as Louie McCroskey, Boeheim said. He looked a little awkward in the post – at some point that mammoth frame needed to be refined.

‘Well, he dribbled the ball in the post once and put his hands back another time when he had good position,’ Boeheim said after Onuaku scored his first career points against Bethune-Cookman on Nov. 8, 2005. ‘But if we can’t score against 6-foot-5 guys we’re going to be in trouble. And we can’t right now.’

Five years ago, this was Arinze Onuaku and Andy Rautins. Onuaku was still better known as the pride of Episcopal High School back in Lanham, Md. As the lumbering freshman with the headband who came in when Terrence Roberts and Darryl Watkins were tired.

Back when Rautins was the boyish amateur, the son of Leo, that skinny white kid who chucked up 3-pointers.

Before the newly anointed No. 1 Orange’s game against St. John’s – Syracuse’s senior night – these are the visuals that will be exhumed from the recent archives. Videos and pictures will flash by featuring Syracuse’s two graduating seniors, the team’s two lynchpins who’ve weathered half a decade of Orange basketball. From role players to dusted-over injured reserves and now veterans catalyzing one of the best seasons in program history.

Tonight at 7 p.m. in the Carrier Dome will be a sort of culmination on what a difference a year – or five – can make.

‘I know (Syracuse) needs a shooter,’ Rautins told The Daily Orange as a senior at nearby Jamesville-DeWitt High School in 2005. ‘They lacked that in the (NCAA) Tournament, and I’m hoping to go in there and help them out.’

And also, a reminder that some things get better with time.

‘(Boeheim) said they haven’t had a freshman come in who is built like me in a long time,’ Onuaku said after that first career game against Bethune-Cookman in 2005. ‘So I feel like that’s my job, especially helping on the boards throughout the season.’

For a while, though, there was reason to believe Tuesday night wouldn’t really matter. There was always a point where Rautins and Onuaku were overlooked. As freshmen, they came in to a team packed with upperclassmen that was known for its leadership at the top from current graduate assistant McNamara.

Demetris Nichols took care of the scoring while Watkins and Roberts anchored the frontcourt. Rautins and Onuaku waited their turns.

Redshirt seasons followed when both players needed surgery. Onuaku missed his sophomore year with a nagging knee injury. Rautins tore his ACL before his junior season.

The Orange basketball world, which revolved around the now-departed Donte Greene, Paul Harris, Jonny Flynn and Eric Devendorf, seemed to pass them by. Seasons came and went while the two flew under the radar, waiting for that chance to prove what they’d been working for since the days of the bad passes and awkward post moves.

And now, in the midst of a season where their senior experience has vaulted the team to No. 1, it was only appropriate that there was no buildup.

Of course, Rautins would go on to anchor the most vaunted 2-3 zone in the country, leading the team with 61 steals and coming in second in scoring with 11.8 points per game. Onuaku would remain the frontcourt’s stalwart, solidifying it into one of the nation’s best.

For the guys who were known for grinding through the last five years, there was no reason to hype it up. Nobody would’ve guessed it anyway – except for maybe Boeheim, who’d seen it all along.

‘The nice thing is that we have a lot of guys coming back that are experienced guys,’ Boeheim said at the team’s media day in October. ‘And we expect them to go forward.’

ctorr@syr.edu

Published on March 1, 2010 at 12:00 pm