Syracuse's 6-2 junior lead guard Michael Lloyd should get his biggest test to date tomorrow night when he matches up against All-America Damon Stoudamire when the 14th-ranked Orange (6-1) play sixth-ranked Arizona (7-1) in an ESPN game at Carrier Dome.
Lloyd came to Syracuse from San Jacinto (Texas) Junior College, where he averaged 34.7 points last season as an off guard. Jerry Gernander, his coach there, says Lloyd is the most gifted player to come through that high-powered JUCO program in the last 15 years. That includes Walter Berry, Boo Harvey and Sam Cassell.
Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim has been trying to convert Lloyd to lead guard, pairing him in the same backcourt as Lawrence Moten. So far, the results have been mixed.
* Fordham coach Nick Macarchuk, whose Rams recently entered the A-10, has nine scholarships to give over next two years. He plans on offering five this year.
* LIU star forward Joe Griffin is off to a fast start after missing last season with leg surgery. Griffin, a 6-5 senior, is averaging 24.3 ppg and 8.3 rebounds and is shooting 58.3 percent. He shows no after-effects of a new procedure in which doctors transplanted the Achilles' tendon from a cadaver