GAME: No. 12 Brigham Young (21-8) vs. No. 5 Syracuse (21-7).
REGIONAL: Phoenix, First Round.
TIME: Thursday, 3:10 p.m. EST.
SITE: Pepsi Center, Denver.
To emerge from Carmelo Anthony's large shadow, Syracuse will have to make some kind of run in the NCAA tournament.
The fifth-seeded Orangemen will open defense of their national championship when they take on No. 12 Brigham Young in the first round.
"Judging by the reaction of BYU I think they look forward to playing the defending national champs," Syracuse guard Gerry McNamara said. "We also have to look at it like we won it last year and we have to prove that there was a reason that we won last year and we have to prove that to ourselves.
"A lot of people already counted us out," he added. "We have to go to Denver with the purpose of repeating and if you don't approach it that way then you've already lost."
Though the Orangemen come in having won at least 20 games for the 26th time in coach Jim Boeheim's 28-year tenure, the prevailing theory around the country is they can't repeat without Anthony, last year's Most Outstanding Player in the NCAA tournament.
Anthony left Syracuse after his freshman season and is now a leading candidate for NBA Rookie of the Year with the Denver Nuggets.
Despite the loss of arguably the most important player in school history, the Orangemen have earned their place in this year's field of 65.
A month ago, the Orangemen seemed destined to not even get the chance to defend their title after losing five of six games. To further complicate matters, point guard Billy Edelin, an integral part of last year's team, has sat out 11 of the last 12 games for personal reasons and was not expected to travel with the team to Denver.
The Orangemen persevered and finishing the season with five straight wins, including upsets of sixth-ranked Pittsburgh and No. 9 Connecticut, before losing to Boston College in the Big East tournament quarterfinals. Syracuse, which has held its last six opponents under 60 points, is 5-6 this season against teams that made the tournament.
"We've been challenged all year," Boeheim said. "We've had as tough a schedule as I think we've ever played. I think we're as well-prepared as we could be.
"Everything we did last year we've been very proud of. It's obviously been a great thing, and for a little bit longer we're going to be the defending national champions. We've got to try to extend that for as long as we can."
BYU had won nine straight before losing 54-51 to Utah on Friday in the Mountain West tournament semifinals.
Cougars coach Steve Cleveland feels his team should be up to this challenge.
"In my 27 years of coaching I have never seen a team as focused as this one, to come from last to second and win nine games in a row," Cleveland said.
One of the more interesting facets of this contest is Syracuse's 2-3 zone trying to slow down BYU's 6-foot-11, 280-pound Rafael Araujo. The Mountain West co-player of the year comes in shooting 57.2 percent from the floor.
Syracuse leads the all-time series with BYU 4-0, but the teams have not played since 1968.
PROBABLE STARTERS: Brigham Young - F Mark Bigelow (13.3 ppg, 3.8 rpg), F Garner Meads (4.4 ppg, 2.8 rpg), C Araujo (18.2 ppg, 10.0 rpg), G Mike Hall (12.7 ppg, 3.5 rpg), G Luiz Lemes (8.6 ppg, 4.8 apg). Syracuse - F Hakim Warrick (19.6 ppg, 8.8 rpg), F Demetris Nichols (3.8 ppg, 2.1 rpg), C Craig Forth (5.8 ppg, 5.6 rpg), G McNamara (16.2 ppg, 3.9 apg), G Josh Pace (9.9 ppg, 5.5 rpg).
HOW THEY GOT HERE: Brigham Young - At-large berth. Syracuse - At-large berth.
ALL-TIME TOURNAMENT RECORD: Brigham Young - 11-23, 23 years. Syracuse - 46-28, 28 years.
