The members of the Syracuse University men's basketball team didn't wear their hearts on their sleeves; they wore them on their chests. When the SU players ran onto the Carrier Dome court for their exhibition opener against Kutztown Nov. 2, they wore orange T-shirts that read "UN-FINISHED BUSINESS" on the front. On the back: "OOO YEAH THATS HOT!"

"Unfinished business" is the theme for this year's team, which wants to avenge its disappointing loss to Butler in the Sweet 16 of the 2010 NCAA Tournament. "I think we feel in our hearts we could have went further than we actually did last year," SU junior forward Kris Joseph said.

As for the "Ooo Yeah Thats Hot," that's junior guard Scoop Jardine's favorite saying. The T-shirts, by the way, complete with typos, are available through SU's Team Shop at www.suathletics.com and Manny's on Marshall Street. "We kind of caught a bad break last year and we're trying to come back this year and redeem ourselves," Jardine said. "I felt we could have done great things in that tournament."

The Orange entered the tournament as the No. 1 seed in the West after winning the Big East Conference regular-season title and finishing 28-4. But playing without injured center Arinze Onuaku, the Orange couldn't hold a 54-50 lead against Butler in the closing minutes and lost 63-59.

It was the second consecutive year SU was ousted in the Sweet 16. That Butler reached the championship game before losing to Duke was no consolation to the Orange players, who believed they had the best team in the country. "That's why we call it unfinished business," Joseph said.

The Orange will open its regular season Friday, Nov. 12, at 7 p.m. at the Carrier Dome against mid-major darling Northern Iowa, which upset overall No. 1 seed Kansas in the second round of the 2010 Tournament. There's a long way to go between Friday and the Final Four in early April, and here are five keys that will determine if SU will have a chance to finish its business:

1. Replacing the Big Three - again. After reaching the Sweet 16 in 2009, the Orange lost its top three scorers: Jonny Flynn (17.4 points per game), Eric Devendorf (15.7) and Paul Harris (12.0), who provided 56 percent of SU's points.

Iowa State transfer Wes Johnson (16.5), a healthy Andy Rautins (12.1), and a balanced attack with five other players averaging between 8.1 and 10.8 points per game supplied the offense last season. But now Johnson, Rautins and Onuaku are gone, and they accounted for 48 percent of SU's points last season.

Joseph, Jardine, senior power forward Rick Jackson and sophomore guard Brandon Triche will need to provide that kind of production this season. "We've got a good group of young guys, and we've got a good group of guys who are ready to step in that role that Andy, Wes and A.O. were in," Jardine said.

2. The bench: Last season, SU coach Jim Boeheim had the luxury of bringing Joseph and Jardine off the bench. Joseph ranked third on the team in scoring (10.8) and rebounding (5.5) and was named the Big East's Sixth Man of the Year. Jardine (9.1 ppg) ranked second on the team with 151 assists and was named The Sporting News' national Sixth Man of the Year.

But now Joseph and Jardine start along with Jackson, Triche and freshman center Fab Melo. The spark and production that Joseph and Jardine supplied last year will have to come from a bench that includes sophomores Mookie Jones and James Southerland, and freshmen Dion Waiters, C.J. Fair and Baye Moussa Keita. DaShonte Riley, a 6-foot-11 center who played in 17 games last season, is likely out for the year after undergoing surgery to repair a fracture in his right foot.

"The guys who didn't really get a great opportunity last year, Mookie and James, have great opportunities to see what they can do this year," Boeheim said. "You win in this league by having veteran guys, and we also have some young guys who we think are really good."

3. The freshmen big men. The 7-foot Melo, from Brazil, and the 6-10 Keita, from Senegal, join Waiters and Fair in SU's highly rated freshmen class. While the Orange will need some offense from Melo and Keita, it's more important that they grab rebounds, block shots and anchor SU's zone defense.

The Orange won last season because it ranked first or second in the Big East in field goal percentage defense (40 percent), 3-point field goal percentage defense (30 percent), and steals (9.6 per game).

"We'll have a couple of bigger guys {Melo and Keita} out there along with Rick, who knows our defense," Boeheim said. "I think Kris, Brandon and Scoop know what we're doing offensively, and I anticipate that they're going to be good on the defensive end."

4. Shooting the 3. Rautins and Johnson both shot more than 40 percent from 3-point range last season and combined for 149 3-pointers. Joseph will have to improve his 3-point shooting (22 percent last season), while Triche (40 percent) and Jardine (39 percent) will need to maintain those percentages while taking more 3-pointers. Jones is SU's best returning 3-point shooter (25-of-56 for 45 percent), but he'll have to play well in other areas to get on the court.

"One of the question marks is going to be how well we can shoot the ball from the perimeter with those guys," Boeheim said. "I think we have more guys who can shoot them, we just have to find out if we have guys who can make them."

5. The chemistry. Last year's group was unselfish and the players genuinely liked and cared about each other. It's up to the veteran starters-Jackson, Joseph, Jardine and Triche-to keep the "unfinished business" theme alive through what promises to be a brutal schedule.

"We've been here when we weren't going too good, and we've been here when things were going great at times," Jackson said. "So we know what it takes to win and we've just got to talk to these young guys and show them the right way." *