By John Kekis
The Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS - Standing at the foul line with his back to the basket, he quickly spins to his left, and with one long step slithers through a maze of bodies and slams the ball through the rim.

Basket Syracuse! "The Helicopter" has landed.

Whenever the Orangemen need a jolt, sophomore forward Hakim Warrick is usually there to provide it. Carmelo Anthony's frontcourt partner has blossomed into a star.

"He's a tremendous player," head coach Jim Boeheim said Sunday as the Orangemen prepared for the national championship game against Kansas. "He can shoot it, he gets in the lane, he can rebound. He's a challenge for anybody's defense."

In five NCAA tournament games, Warrick is averaging 13.4 points and about six rebounds.

"I'm finishing more plays that I would have been knocked down on last season," Warrick said. "I just try to go out there and be more aggressive. I know teams are going to try to come out and play me physically. I just try not to back down to any challenge."

It has taken lots of work to reach this point.

Warrick played high school at tiny Friends Central, a Quaker-affiliated school in suburban Philadelphia. A late bloomer, he didn't draw a lot of attention from major colleges until Boeheim spotted him at a Nike camp in the summer before his senior year.

After Boeheim lost a top recruit to another school, he offered Warrick a scholarship. He has been a project ever since.

Although Warrick started 19 games as a freshman, Boeheim was frustrated by his soft play in the bruising Big East Conference. He benched the rail-thin, 6-foot-8, 185-pounder for a game against Pittsburgh.

Point well taken. In the final 11 games last season, Warrick averaged 9.3 points and 7.3 rebounds and finished with averages of 6.1 and 4.8.

Long hours in the weight room during the offseason helped boost Warrick's weight 20 pounds and increase his bench press by nearly 100 pounds. The results: He has nearly tripled his scoring (15) this year and more than doubled his rebound average (8.7), becoming a valuable go-to guy in the lane and clutch rebounder.

"Hakim has improved tremendously from last year," said Boeheim, who, nevertheless, still berates Warrick incessantly. "They were kicking sand in his face last year. Now, they're not kicking it quite as much."

Warrick was voted the most improved player in the Big East. He just might be the most improved player in college basketball.

Warrick's teammates have dubbed him "The Helicopter" because of his 7-foot armspan and 36-inch vertical leap, which make him especially important in Syracuse's vaunted 2-3 zone defense. And he's shooting a team-best 54.5 percent for one reason - he leads the Orangemen with 80 dunks, his signature move.

"Warrick finishes about as good as anybody because he has those long, long arms and jumping ability that can dunk anything close to the basket," Kansas coach Roy Williams said.

And that might be Warrick's greatest asset because those dunks usually mean something good for the Orangemen.

"Whenever I get a dunk, I know it's going to really excite my teammates and get the fans into it," said Warrick, whose shyness - he's barely audible when answering questions - belies the thundering effect he can have on games.

In the Orangemen's 95-84 semifinal win over Texas, after the Longhorns rallied early in the second half to take their first lead, Warrick helped put Syracuse back in charge. His one-handed follow slam off a missed 3-pointer by Gerry McNamara made it 68-62 midway through the second half.

"That might be the dunk of the year," senior Kueth Duany said. "It's a big statement-maker when he puts it on three people. The other bench is looking like, 'Wow!' People kind of step back."

Although Warrick drew a charging foul on the play, the basket counted and the Orangemen took off from there.

And to think that if not for Julius Hodge's decision to choose North Carolina State over Syracuse, Warrick wouldn't be playing for a national title Monday night.

"I was just thinking about it," he said, "how I went from not being a high Division I recruit to going to the championship game."