Kevin Rice didn’t do something that other Syracuse greats did.

Gary and Paul Gait three times. Mikey Powell and Roy Colsey twice. Casey Powell, Ryan Powell, Tim Nelson, Brad Kotz and Mike Leveille all once.

“When you decide to come to Syracuse, you sign up to win championships or fail,” Rice said. “And it’s hard to say it like that, something that black and white, but that’s what you come here for.”

In three years as a starting attack, Rice lost in the national championship, the first round and the third round of the NCAA tournament. The red eyes and blank stare ahead while sitting at the postgame press conference last Sunday symbolized just that, the inability to bring SU something he considered validation for his career.

But Rice’s legacy shouldn’t be defined by a zero in that category. An NCAA trophy would put him on another pedestal, but the numbers speak for themselves, numbers posted during a time when the competition in college lacrosse is at an all-time high because of the expansion of the game. This year, he finished with the most single-season points for an SU player in 11 years, the most assists in 15 and still should be considered a Syracuse lacrosse all-time great even if he doesn’t think he should.

“I wouldn’t be able to put myself anywhere near any of those sort of rankings because I didn’t win a championship,” he said. “Maybe if we had completed the comeback (against Johns Hopkins) or won the title this year it would’ve validated my career a little bit, but I’ll take a lot more from the program than I gave to it.”

It’s how he’s wired, but not how he should be remembered.

ESPN analyst Paul Carcaterra, a midfielder on SU’s 1995 title team, called the Syracuse all-time top 10 a “serious elite crew” but one Rice has an argument for. He even said the top 20 is a huge compliment, and he comfortably put Rice is that range. But Rice won’t touch numbers and that’s just his nature.

In the last three season-ending losses, Rice has been far from at fault. In the 2013 title game loss to Duke, he tied a team high with four points. Against Bryant in 2014, his four points were the most for the Orange. And in Sunday’s loss to Johns Hopkins, a team-leading seven points accompanied his name in the box score.

“I don’t think it has anything to do with how he played,” Gary Gait said of the Orange not winning a championship in Rice’s tenure. “I think he’s been an outstanding player for this program and certainly well-deserving of his accolades.”

Recently, Denver and Notre Dame have emerged as national powerhouses, something that wasn’t the case in the 80s and 90s when Syracuse won a combined five titles. Even Duke had never won a championship before 2010, so the likes of SU, Hopkins and North Carolina were the kingpins of college lacrosse year after year.

Now, that’s just not the case.

It’s harder for Syracuse to win a title but the team’s best player just so happens to take it personally.

“I think that’s always something, as a competitor, we put that pressure on ourselves to say ‘If I don’t do this, it’s not complete,’” said Nelson, who said he “for sure” puts Rice in Syracuse’s all-time top 10.

Rice led a group that didn’t consist of hyped-up recruits – Hakeem Lecky, Henry Schoonmaker and Dylan Donahue, among others – to become arguably the most feared offense in the nation.

He embodied the style of attack that is revolutionizing college lacrosse – a smaller, shiftier player that can do it all. He wasn’t a four-year starter like some names in Syracuse lore and he wasn’t even the primary offensive option two years ago with JoJo Marasco – another SU standout that didn’t win a title – on the team.

“If you sit back and take it all in, I think you really appreciate Kevin Rice’s overall body of work,” Carcaterra said. “With that said, though, it just puts you to another level when you do win a title, fair or not fair.”

Rice said he knew Syracuse would score if it came up with the last faceoff against Hopkins, down one with 23 seconds left. But Hopkins did instead, and Rice’s main purpose of playing lacrosse at Syracuse slowly trickled away as the ball did the same behind Syracuse’s goal.

After the loss, Rice said he kept his emotions together pretty well, but it’s the days after when he reflects on not winning a title that it gets hard. The last four years may be considered a failure in Syracuse lacrosse standards, but Rice’s career should be recognized for more than that.

“Is Kevin Rice a champion in my mind, absolutely,” Carcaterra said. “His body of work and what he’s done over the last three years puts him in the category of an elite player in Syracuse history.”

Matt Schneidman is an assistant sports editor for The Daily Orange, where his column appears occasionally. He can be reached at mcschnei@syr.edu or on Twitter at @matt_schneidman.

Published on May 20, 2015 at 12:18 am