ALBANY — The hoopla started the minute Craig Forth walked off the Syracuse men’s basketball team’s bus late Wednesday night.

Media and fans greeted the Orangemen when their bus arrived at the Holiday Inn Turf. Forth, who hails from the Albany suburb of East Greenbush, drew the most attention.

‘We had a few hecklers,’ Forth joked as he sat in SU’s locker room at the Pepsi Arena, where the Orangemen play Auburn tonight at 9:40 in the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16.

Shortly after arriving at the hotel, Forth and the Orangemen dined on steak and shrimp at a nearby restaurant. Forth said yesterday he planned to eat dinner at his family’s home last night.

‘There’s no pressure on me whatsoever,’ Forth said. ‘These people in Albany who have watched me grow up and watched me play, I know they love me and want to see me succeed. If anything, there’s less pressure.’

The Orangemen held a closed practice at SUNY Albany yesterday afternoon. When Syracuse took the Pepsi Arena court for public practice at 3:10 p.m., Forth chatted up a couple fans, and a group of his Columbia High School classmates standing behind press row bellowed his last name.

But they might not see much of Forth tonight. The 7-foot sophomore center played five minutes in the Orangemen’s 68-56 second-round win Sunday over Oklahoma State. In SU’s last three games combined, he’s scored zero points and grabbed eight rebounds.

When a reporter suggested yesterday that his season hasn’t gone as he wanted, Forth shot back, ‘Didn’t we win the games? So I guess it is the way we wanted it to go. If I don’t play, fine, as long as we win.’

Oklahoma: Is Price right?

Hollis Price swears he’s healthy. His coach is less optimistic.

Asked about his ailing groin, Price, the Sooners’ starting shooting guard and the Big 12 Player of the Year, said, ‘It’s good.’

It’d better be. When the No. 1-seeded Sooners play No. 12 Butler tonight at 7, Oklahoma’s chances could hinge on Price’s health.

‘(Wednesday), I was watching him in practice,’ guard Ebi Ere said, ‘and he’s moving a whole lot better.’

Said guard Quannas White: ‘I can see it in his eyes. He says he’s 99.9 percent. I think it’s 100 — or more than that.’

But when Oklahoma head coach Kelvin Sampson was asked whether he’s comfortable with Price’s health, he said, ‘Probably not.’

Ere has also been on the mend of late, having broken a bone in his left wrist shortly before the Big 12 tournament.

‘Having Hollis tear his groin and Ebi break his wrist is not a good break for us,’ Sampson said. ‘But we’re not going to not show up.’

Butler: Road weary

Joel Cornette Sr. and his wife, Christi, are attempting a road trip that would make Magellan blush. Their sons, Jordan and Joel, are playing in separate NCAA Tournament regions — Jordan for Notre Dame and Joel for Butler. And the Cornettes are determined to be there.

Last night, Joel Sr. watched Jordan and Notre Dame lose, 88-71, to Arizona in Anaheim, Calif. At 11:15 p.m. Pacific Time, he caught a flight to Albany. Christi drove to Albany yesterday.

‘I don’t know how good it is,’ Joel Jr. said. ‘Because looking at tapes of Oklahoma, they’re gonna see their son get beat around a little bit.’

This and that

For the Regional, all of the advertisements on the facade of the Pepsi Arena’s upper deck were removed and replaced with NCAA ads. In addition, all the Pepsi signs inside the arena were removed or covered with NCAA ads since Coca-Cola is the tournament’s prime sponsor. … On Monday, Butler guard Darnell Archey worked the phones, taking ticket orders for this weekend. Archey is an intern in Butler’s marketing and ticket office. … Butler last made a Regional semifinal in 1962, when it lost to Kentucky, 81-60. … Auburn coach Cliff Ellis is more than a one-trick pony. Ellis sings blues and gospel music, and a song on his most recent album reached No. 13 on the Beach Music chart. Ellis has authored three books, and Auburn’s media guide also lists him as an ‘ostrich farmer.’

Published on March 27, 2003 at 12:00 pm