In the last three years, so many nights passed with Jeremy McNeil alone in his South Campus apartment, whispering into the phone.

He’d complain to his mother, Zohnnie, about Syracuse men’s basketball coaches Jim Boeheim and Bernie Fine.

“When I used to say I hated them,” McNeil said, “she would tell me, ‘Don’t because they know what they’re talking about.’

“And she ended up being right.”

Zohnnie, a minister at a gospel church in San Antonio, died Oct. 5 at age 43.

McNeil — who will come off the bench in SU’s regular-season home opener against Valparaiso on Sunday at 1 p.m. in the Carrier Dome — said he’ll never be the same.

Indeed, he’s approached this season with new resolve. He shed 15 to 20 pounds during the summer. Former SU center Billy Celuck said McNeil even mastered a jump shot.

“My momma just passed, I’ve got to do something,” said McNeil, who had zero points and three rebounds in SU’s 70-63 loss to Memphis last Thursday. “I regret ever talking crazy to (Boeheim and Fine). They told me to get in shape and everything would be all right. I just shouldn’t have been so stubborn back then.”

Last season, McNeil, a center, averaged 3.4 points and 3.7 rebounds off the bench. His year hit rock bottom Jan. 28 at Georgetown, when Boeheim benched him for most of the second half.

McNeil left the team Jan. 30 but returned eight days later.

“A lot of people know how he acts and misunderstand him,” Celuck said. “But when you’re close to him, you understand exactly where he’s coming from.”

Indeed, McNeil’s been an enigma since he arrived at SU in 1999. Off the court, he was reserved, often resisting teammates’ pleas to go out on weekends. On the court, he redshirted his freshman season while battling hammer toes.

In the next two years, he flirted with the starting lineup but was the constant object of Boeheim’s ire. The coach said last season that having McNeil on the floor was like “playing 4-on-5 on offense.”

Strength was never a problem for McNeil — he can deliver a thunderous dunk and bench press more than any other Orangeman. But he was ineffective catching the ball, making him a liability.

Guard Josh Pace said McNeil’s hands are better this year. But, during the summer, McNeil focused on his other drawback — lack of speed.

He played pickup games with the San Antonio Spurs, sweating his weight down to 245.

McNeil’s 300-plus-pound bench press hasn’t lagged, he said. Now, his 6-foot-8 frame looks more chiseled.

“Kueth (Duany) was always getting on him, calling him fat (last year),” forward Hakim Warrick said. “So this year, he can’t say that.”

Said McNeil: “I used to eat like a pig. I’m a big boy, so, of course, I (still) eat a lot. I just don’t overdo it no more. Instead of three desserts, it’s one.”

McNeil raised eyebrows during road trips last year, when he would plow through plates of chicken wings and gulp three milkshakes at a time.

“He’ll be the first one at the table and the last one to leave,” said Celuck, who graduated in the spring.

Celuck, always gregarious, and McNeil, often soft-spoken, had a distant relationship when McNeil arrived at SU. But over time, they became friends.

Celuck did a double-take when he first saw the slimmed-down McNeil.

“You can tell he’s changed his whole way of thinking,” Celuck said. “He’s not hesitating. And he actually has a jump shot, which I’m surprised at.”

Said McNeil, in his Texas drawl: “Naw, I ain’t never try a jump shot in no game.”

He’s embracing the skinnier image, ever so reluctantly.

“I’m still a tank,” he said. “I just can run. I’m still strong as a house, don’t let it fool you.”

Published on November 21, 2002 at 12:00 pm