This is the same cast of characters who got blitzed by 21 points on their home court against Pitt last season. It's pretty much the same team that lost four of five Big East games last year around this time and dropped out of the national rankings less than a year removed from winning the national championship.

	Scouting Report: No. 20 Pitt vs. No. 4 Syracuse

This is the same team that didn't win a game at the Big East tournament and the one that lost to unranked Alabama in the third round of the NCAA tournament.

So how is it that Syracuse is the odds-on favorite to win the Big East and contend for a spot in the Final Four?

Talent, experience and coaching have something to do with it. And so does the health of sharp-shooting guard Gerry McNamara.

McNamara, a 6-foot-2, 182-pound junior from Scranton, played most of last season with a nagging groin injury. He still averaged 17.6 points and shot almost 39 percent from 3-point range, but he never felt like himself.

"I never was completely healthy last season, and that was a big part of our problem," McNamara said. "This year, I feel great. Last year, I never really got back to the point where I was completely healthy and that was tough to deal with."

No. 20 Pitt (13-3, 3-2) will face No. 4 Syracuse (20-1, 7-0) and a healthy McNamara tonight at the Petersen Events Center. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.

McNamara has taken and made more 3-pointers than any player in Division I. He is 71 for 201 from behind the arc, with 15 of those coming in the past three games. Barring injury, he will set school records for most 3-point field goals and 3-point attempts in a season.

Part of the reason Syracuse struggled to score against Pitt last season was Julius Page and Jaron Brown's ability to guard McNamara, who scored 17 points and was 4 for 20 from the field in the two games against the Panthers. Today, Pitt coach Jamie Dixon won't have the luxury of having Page and Brown and will use sophomore Antonio Graves and others to handle McNamara.

"He's hard to guard," Dixon said. "Antonio will probably have a lot of the assignment. It comes down to a lot of team defense."

Pitt's defense on the perimeter has been suspect all season. The Panthers are ninth in the 12-team Big East in 3-point defense. Five players have made three or more 3-pointers against Pitt in the first five conference games.

Connecticut's Rashad Anderson had five last Saturday, but only one after halftime in Pitt's 76-66 victory at Gampel Pavilion.

"We're going to play up on him and make him make tough shots," Pitt point guard Carl Krauser said of defending McNamara. "He's a great shooter. You just have to make guys like that work a little harder and make it seem like there's more than one person guarding him. We did a good job in the second half on Rashad Anderson. We made it seem like he had 1¹*₂ guys or two guys guarding him, and that's going to mess up a shooter's rhythm."

McNamara is averaging 15.6 points per game this season. He has the good fortune of playing with senior forward Hakim Warrick, who is second in the Big East in scoring with 20.1 points per game and third in rebounding with 9 per game.

Others returning from last season include senior guard Josh Pace (10.9 ppg, 4.6 rpg), sophomore forward Terrence Roberts (7.4 ppg, 3.6 rpg), sophomore guard Louie McCroskey (6 ppg, 2.8 rpg), senior center Craig Forth (5.6 ppg, 5.6 rpg) and junior guard Billy Edelin (4.3 ppg, 1.3 rpg).

McNamara, Warrick and Forth were starters on the 2003 national championship team two years ago, and Pace and Edelin played key roles on that team off the bench.

"There are a lot of similarities between this team and that team," McNamara said. "The sky is the limit as far as the talent goes. The difference with two years ago was how much better we got as the season went on. If we can do that this year, we'll be in great shape again."

The national championship team, which was led by Carmelo Anthony, began the season unranked and never cracked the top 10 in the polls until winning the title game. This team started the season ranked No. 6 and enters the game today with the school's highest ranking in five years.

"Two years ago, we were fighting to get respect," McNamara said. "Now we're fighting to keep respect. But it hasn't been much different. Every year teams out there are gunning for Syracuse. It doesn't matter what our record is. People are always going to be out to beat us."