You're probably familiar with the fantastic 19-0 stretch that opened the 2000 season. Etan Thomas, Jason Hart and company climbed from 17^th to 4^th in the polls by running through November, December and January with mostly comfortable wins. That period included nine Big East victories before stumbling against Seton Hall, February 7, 2000.

That squad went a Big East-best 13-3 in conference and ended its run in a pseudo-road game against #2 Michigan State in Auburn Hills.

But are you aware of the other time Syracuse started the year 16-0? For all intents and purposes, the program's important milestones came after Jim Boeheim first stepped on campus in the early 1960s. This one predates even him by a little. 

In 1918, the Orangemen went into the season carrying over a seven-game winning streak from the previous year. They had been four years removed from the program's only perfect season, 12-0 in 1914.

While Edmund Dollard's club steamrolled Alfred, Yale and RPI twice, it had to survive squeakers at Rochester, Penn and Williams. In those days, you didn't just sleepwalk into Williams's 800-seat Lasell Gym in Williamstown, MA and get out of there without a fight.

Joseph Schwarzer was that team's best player. At least that's what the Helms Foundation felt when it named him – in 1957 – as a 1918 all-American.

As February chill thawed into March (I'm assuming), Schwarzer's crew steamrolled NYU (37-10), Colgate (27-18) and Dartmouth (27-11) before dropping the Archbold Gym return game with the Quakers, 17-16, on March 15, 1918. That ended the season and a 23-game win streak that still stands as the University's best.

The Orange won their first of two Helms Foundation championships in 1918 and claimed another with a 19-1 campaign for Lew Andreas in 1926.

From the Mailbag:
The offensive production out of the center position on this team really concerns me. Although Baye Moussa Keita is a pleasant surprise, his ppg is very low. A couple of questions: When can we expect Fab Melo to reach his potential? What is the purpose of JB starting and playing Melo for only a couple of minutes each game? Why not start Keita and let him develop more offensively?
-- Ken (Syracuse '80), Maryland

Thanks for the email, Ken. Let's see if we can take your questions one at a time. 
1) Players don't all necessarily “reach” their potential during their college years and big guys might take longer than others. Big guys from Brazil, who picked up basketball in ninth grade take longer still. Outside of the super elite like Carmelo Anthony (and even he has understandably gotten better with age), there have been few college players that have been as good as they're going to get the day they walk in the door. Fab clearly isn't putting up dominant numbers that some might expect from a McDonald's all-American. My feeling is that it was unfair to place that on him, given where he is in his development.  Danny Schayes had the longest NBA career of any Syracuse product.  Granted he was behind Roosevelt Bouie, he was't at his "potential" until later.

2) Coach Boeheim wants Fab to succeed. Starting the game gives him the opportunity to make hustle plays and get a taste of the action while the game isn't as much in the balance. If you wanted to get him some run but were looking for breathing room to do it, those opportunities might not present themselves over the course of Big East games. Melo's capable of being a tone setter early in games. He's just not yet in the physical shape he needs to be in to play the style his teammates thrive in.

3) Baye has been very good as an energy player off the bench. Think a longer Josh Pace with less offensive skill or a Kristof Ongenaet with more upside. There's something to be said for injecting that player into the game after everyone else has run around a while.

To take all of that a step further, I'd say fans don't need to worry a great deal about the offensive production of the center position. Syracuse has won a ton of games here without the likes Lew Alcindor. Craig Forth started every game for the 2003 championship team. He was a solid senior contributor, but averaged only 3.8 points and 3.3 rebounds in 17.7 minutes. Fab Melo is currently playing about 11 minutes per game. In the same playing time as Forth, he'd be at similar production levels (3.3 p/g, 3.1 r/g).

This Week's Broadcasts:
Tonight/5:30 p.m.   TK99/ESPN97.7  MBB at St. John's
Tom./8:45 a.m.      TK99                    Free Parking with Gomez & Dave
Tom./7:00 p.m.      TK99/ESPN97.7   AmeriCU Jim Boeheim Show
Sat./10:30 a.m.     TK99                    MBB vs. Cincinnati