Spell it anyway you like, Terrence Roberts still had a great time during his official visit to Syracuse this weekend.

The Orangemen seek Roberts — a 6-foot-8, 210-pound high school senior from St. Anthony’s in Jersey City, N.J. — as their third and possibly final recruit for the class of 2003. Apparently, so do the Syracuse fans, who trumpeted Roberts’ appearance at the Carrier Dome for Saturday’s football game by hanging an enormous welcome sign from the upper deck.

Too bad they misspelled his name.

Terrence — not Terrance — didn’t seem to mind, though, as he spent the afternoon with assistant coach Mike Hopkins and point guard Billy Edelin.

“Syracuse is great so far,” Roberts said during his visit. “It’s just the fact that I’ve gotten along with all the coaches so well, the players are all down to earth, the fans are great.”

The Orangemen have already landed verbal commitments from two players — Louie McCroskey from St. Raymond and Demetris Nichols from St. Andrews — neither of whom qualify as big men. Like most high-school prospects, Roberts remains slender, but his high school coach believes that Roberts can grow into a certifiable big man.

“He’s being recruited mostly on his upside, where coaches think he can be once he fills out,” St. Anthony’s coach Bob Hurley said of Roberts, who recruiting expert Dave Telep ranks as the 10th-best power forward in the nation. “He’s still pretty lanky. We’ve got him lifting, but he still needs to improve his diet.”

Forgive Roberts if he bypassed health food during his visit. Making the traditional restaurant stops on the grand recruiting tour, Roberts ate at Cosmos and the Scotch ‘N Sirloin. He also found some time for a pick-up game with Hopkins, who saw first-hand why Roberts’ game is highly touted.

“(Hopkins) is cool, but I took him one on one, and he couldn’t handle me,” Roberts laughed. “I beat him in a best of seven.”

Although there’s little doubt about his basketball ability, questions remain about the validity of Roberts’ SAT score. After previous attempts closer to 700, Roberts said he recently scored a 1020. He also acknowledged that his SAT scores are under review because of the sudden improvement, even though he’s been taking a test prep course.

Should his most recent score be disallowed, Roberts plans to take the test again.

“I was pissed off, man,” Roberts said about the suspicions. “But I think I can get a score like that again.”

In the meantime, Roberts will have to decide on a school, something he said he plans to do before his final high school season begins in November. Schools such as Florida, Maryland and Virginia still remain on Roberts’ list.

“Right now, Syracuse is at the top of my list,” he said. “They’ve recruited me the hardest, and they’ve shown the most interest from the very beginning.”

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Headed elsewhere

Roberts visited Syracuse by himself because Courtney Sims, another high school big man who’d originally planned for the same weekend trip, committed earlier in the week to Michigan.

In addition, center Chris Taft selected Big East rival Pittsburgh after visiting the school during the summer. Taft, a 6-foot-9 player from Xaverian High School in Brooklyn, was impressed by the Panthers’ new arena, the Petersen Events Center.

The new facility boasts a row of restaurants that are open daily, a writing lab and study center for players and a workout facility that includes two squash courts.

“It’s just a beautiful building, and it’s very attractive to recruits,” Pitt assistant Barry Rohrssen said. “It gives us an advantage because it really is a tremendous improvement over what we had before.”

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Trivia question

The Petersen Events Center houses 12,500 seats, but that’s still a far cry from the 33,000 capacity of the Carrier Dome for basketball. Last year, Syracuse averaged 17,023 fans per game, ranking it fourth in the NCAA. Who led the nation in attendance?

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Shaping up

A dozen Syracuse basketball players had just finished an exhaustive series of suicide sprints Monday evening when Hopkins gathered his team in the traditional end-of-practice circle.

But instead of breaking for the locker room, he sent them back onto the court.

Several players “cheated,” as Hopkins called it, failing to touch the baseline with their hands on repeated sprints from baseline to baseline. So out they went for more.

“It was a great way to end a tough workout,” said Hopkins, who showed his endurance during the drill by tirelessly barking encouragement. “That’s the kind of thing that will help our team win those close games later in the season.”

Help could also come from Jeremy McNeil. In the team’s informal, five-on-five pickup game yesterday at Manley Field House, McNeil – 25 pounds slimmer than last year – showcased newfound agility that came during a summer of workouts with the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs.

McNeil was introduced to the workouts by friend Stephen Jackson, a Spurs’ small forward who attended Oak Hill Academy, also the former school of SU freshmen Carmelo Anthony and Edelin.

“I’m in the best shape of my life,” McNeil said. “I really worked hard this summer. I didn’t just hang out and chill like before.”

Said Hopkins: “Just seeing how hard he’s worked has been great because nobody was there telling him to do it. He did it on his own. He’s really matured as a person and a player.”

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This and that

McNeil had this to say about the chemistry of this year’s team: “Everybody’s real cool on this team — way better than last year. It’s going to be fun, let me tell you that.” … Three walk-ons who didn’t play on last year’s team competed in yesterday’s scrimmage. Hopkins said they have yet to officially make the team … Syracuse has added two exhibition opponents to its schedule. The Orangemen will host Nike Elite on Nov. 5 at 7 p.m. They’ll also host Upstate N.Y. AAU at 7 p.m. on Nov. 19.

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Trivia answer

The Kentucky Wildcats led the nation in home attendance last season, averaging 21,014 fans.

Published on September 17, 2002 at 12:00 pm