ALBANY — One is a slasher. The other, a smasher. One is demonstrative. The other, shy.

But for all their contrasting qualities, Billy Edelin and Jeremy McNeil share a bond. The Syracuse men’s basketball teammates both endured hardship in the last year. Edelin was suspended twice. McNeil considered leaving the team last season, and his mother died in October.

After the Orangemen clinched a spot in the NCAA Tournament’s Final Four yesterday with a 63-47 win over Oklahoma, Edelin pulled McNeil aside.

‘I reminded him what I told him when I was about to come back from suspension and his mom had just passed,’ Edelin said. ‘I had said, ‘Don’t worry. Bad stuff doesn’t happen to good people for no reason. And we’re gonna be in the Final Four.’ ‘

At the time, McNeil shrugged at Edelin’s prophetic advice. But when Edelin reminded him of the chat after yesterday’s game, McNeil responded with a smile.

‘Oh yeah,’ the center said, ‘you did say that.’

Though he had just two points and two rebounds yesterday, McNeil played well in earlier tournament games. He grabbed seven rebounds and blocked four shots in the Orangemen’s second-round win over Oklahoma State. In the Sweet 16 against Auburn on Friday, he had six points, seven rebounds and four blocks.

‘He’s pretty much shut down the middle these last three games,’ SU guard Kueth Duany said.

When Oklahoma assistant coaches Bennie Seltzer and Jim Shaw watched the Auburn game, they marveled at McNeil’s athleticism. Seltzer wrote a note to himself describing McNeil as a ‘BT (big-time) shot blocker.’

‘Really?’ McNeil asked, his eyes lighting up when informed of Seltzer’s note. ‘It looked like that, because when I got in the game, they didn’t want to go in the lane.’

He admitted he ‘hates’ when other teams notice him, a theory that fits his spotlight-dodging personality well. Sometimes, after SU practices, he’ll retreat to Archbold Gym to further hone his game.

Though McNeil remains reserved, his attitude changed from last year, when lack of playing time frustrated him so much that he took a short leave of absence. The turning point, he said, was the death of his mother, Zohnnie.

Last summer, Zohnnie told McNeil the Orangemen were going to have a ‘special’ year.

‘I wish she was here to see it,’ McNeil said, his tone mellowing. ‘She’s very happy. I know she’s looking down on me. I just wish I could call her on the phone.’

For Edelin’s part, he said his two-suspension ordeal crossed his mind as the clock ticked down.

‘I did (think about it) toward the end of the game,’ he said, ‘when I saw all the parents and drunk people in the stands going crazy.’

Edelin sat out last year after two female SU students accused him of sexual misconduct. He missed 12 games this season because of an NCAA-imposed suspension.

After the game, Edelin’s father, William, hopped a barricade so he could snap a picture of his son cutting down the net. Even CBS commentator Len Elmore congratulated William, telling him, ‘You’ve had a hell of a year, man. Go enjoy this.’

Moments later, Edelin walked toward William behind press row. The father and son embraced, and Edelin placed a Final Four hat on William’s head. A few feet away, Edelin’s stepmother, Vera, glowed.

‘I’ve been praying all day,’ she said. ‘A long road.’

While William and Vera strode, hand in hand, down the Pepsi Arena’s front steps later, their son sat alone in the SU locker room and watched Texas play Michigan State in the South Regional final. After all, his long road has at least one more exit.

‘I expected us to do it,’ he said. ‘So it wasn’t so much of a shock.’

Published on March 30, 2003 at 12:00 pm