Mention The Beast’s name, and Hakim Warrick will stare at the floor for a minute, offer a sheepish grin and change the subject.

Bring up The Beast again, even in the aftermath of a blowout of West Virginia on Wednesday, and Warrick relents.

‘Man,’ said Warrick, the Syracuse men’s basketball team’s slinky forward, ‘I don’t even want to start thinking about Mike Sweetney until Friday.’

Understandable considering Sweetney – Georgetown’s 6-foot-8, 260-pound forward — torched Syracuse for 32 points in the teams’ first meeting, an 88-80 SU win Feb. 3 in the Carrier Dome. The No. 15 Orangemen stumble upon The Beast again tomorrow, when they meet the Hoyas at 1 p.m. at the MCI Center.

‘I don’t think anyone’s slowed him,’ SU head coach Jim Boeheim said. ‘There’s not much you can do. He’s difficult to stop. He’s the best inside player in the country.’

Sweetney’s numbers back Boeheim’s anointment. The junior is second in the Big East in points (22.4 per game) and rebounds (9.8). In the first SU-GU game, NBA scouts sat shaking their heads as he baffled the Orangemen (20-4, 10-3 Big East) with a combination of strong-armed inside tactics and soft touches from 10 feet.

And while he systematically dismantled and devoured SU centers Craig Forth and Jeremy McNeil — both fouled out — The Beast barely uttered a word. Should Forth and McNeil foul out again, the onus to stop Sweetney falls on Warrick, who goose-pimpled when he heard ‘Sweetney.’

‘Sweetney’s one of those guys who can go off for 40,’ SU forward Kueth Duany. ‘You’ve got to keep the ball out of his hands as much as possible. We’re gonna isolate him and make everybody else beat us.’

For Georgetown (13-11, 5-8), ‘everybody else’ is forward Gerald Riley and guard Tony Bethel, who average 14.3 and 10.9 points, respectively. The Hoyas’ other big man, 6-foot-11 senior Wesley Wilson, last played Feb. 1 at Notre Dame. He did not travel to Syracuse because of what Georgetown head coach Craig Esherick called ‘back spasms.’

But three days after the SU game, Esherick announced Wilson was taking a leave of absence because of personal reasons. Wilson has re-enrolled at Georgetown, according to a Feb. 15 published report. Esherick said yesterday that Wilson will not play Saturday.

Senior forwards Victor Samnick and Courtland Freeman have filled Wilson’s spot, combining to average 9.4 points and 7.9 rebounds in seven games. Wilson averaged 6.6 and 4.9. Still, the Hoyas are 3-4 without Wilson.

While the Orangemen will likely focus their defense on stopping Sweetney from grazing on Forth and McNeil, the Hoyas need to slow SU’s 3-point shooters. In the first meeting, guard Gerry McNamara and forward Carmelo Anthony combined to shoot 6 of 12 from 3-point range. Each finished with 22 points.

‘I told our guys they have to pay attention to Anthony and McNamara from the 3-point line,’ Esherick said. ‘They didn’t pay attention, but they will this time. They saw last time that they have to pay attention.’

Esherick’s Beast draws plenty of notice, too. The last team to hold Sweetney to fewer than 20 points was UCLA in a 71-70 Bruins win Feb. 8. So while Georgetown has struggled — GU currently sits two games out of last place in the Big East West Division — Sweetney makes the Hoyas a threat.

Warrick and his SU teammates took yesterday off, but The Beast is back on their minds today. Still, at least one Orangeman — albeit one who doesn’t guard Sweetney — admitted a rematch with The Beast remained on his brain’s back burner.

‘I want to think about him,’ McNamara said after Wednesday’s game. ‘He killed us. He puts it on people. We’ve got to find a way to stop him.’

Published on February 27, 2003 at 12:00 pm