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"For me, sitting on the sidelines was very tough. It got to me at times," said Wesley Johnson, a 6-foot-7, 205-pound junior forward at Syracuse who transferred from Iowa State and then had to sit out a season per NCAA regulations.

"Starting two years and then coming to sit out knowing that you won't be able to play throughout the season, you just have to get your mind knowing that you have to go out there and just practice."

Now that Johnson is ready to play, watch out.

Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim and those around the Orange are predicting big things for Johnson, 22.

"I think he'll be a first-team All-Big East player," Syracuse assistant Rob Murphy said. "If we win and we're No. 1, 2 or 3 in the Big East he'll have a chance to be conference player of the year."

A native of Corsicana, Texas, Johnson averaged 12.4 points and 4.0 rebounds two years ago at Iowa State despite battling an ankle injury. As a freshman, he put up 12.3 points and 7.9 boards a game.

"He's a super-duper athlete," Murphy said. "He can touch the top of the square on the backboard. He can defend the two, three and four position. On his side of the zone, he'll do a great job of rotating from the wing to the corner to the short corner to locking down one side of the floor. He's a well rounded and exceptional kid."

Although two Big East teams -- UConn and Villanova -- made the Final Four last season, Murphy believes Syracuse could have made a third had Johnson been eligible.

"If he would've played with our team last year with Jonny [Flynn] and a Eric [Devendorf] and Paul [Harris], we would have had a great chance to go to the Final Four and maybe win a national championship. He's that good and he would've made that much difference," Murphy said.

"It's huge when you need to fill a void that we needed at that four spot."

Tony Johnson, Wesley's AAU coach with the Dallas Mustangs and no relation to the player, thinks Johnson would have had to enter the NBA Draft had he played last year.

"I thought he was a lottery pick last year," Tony Johnson said. "If he'd have played last year, he might have had to leave school because he wouldn't have been there this year.'

Flynn, Devendorf and Harris all opted to depart school early for the pros, leaving Johnson to work with a new cast of freshmen that includes point guard Brandon Triche of Jamesville-DeWitt (N.Y.) High, forward James Southerland of Bayside, N.Y. and 7-foot forward DaShonte Riley of Detroit, along with returnees Andy Rautins, Arinze Onuaku and Kris Joseph.

"I wanted to get to play with them, but I knew it was there time to leave, so I'm not upset about that. I'm just going to try to contribute this year and try to have another winning season," Johnson said.

Syracuse is the latest stop on a basketball tour that has taken Johnson to three high schools and nearly three colleges.

Coming out of high school in Corsicana, Johnson initially signed with to Louisiana-Monroe but didn't end up there after coach Mike Vining resigned.

He was not highly recruited because he was undersized and was battling a groin injury brought on by a growth spurt.

"He had like two big growth spurts and the last one started around May going into his senior year. And he couldn't play in July. So he played [the AAU circuit], but he played hurt," Tony Johnson said. "He went from 6-4 to 6-7 in almost a summer."

"I really couldn't get out there and show the coaches my athleticism and my shooting ability, so I really didn't get out there to be like the other guys got to," Wesley said.

After not going to Louisiana Monroe, Johnson sat out a year and made a stop at The Patterson (N.C.) School. He left there because he said he wasn't getting his recruiting mail.

He then went to Eldon Academy in Petoskey, Mich., but the school shut down shortly after he arrived.

After two years at Iowa State, Johnson was on the move again because he felt his relationship with head coach Greg McDermott wasn't what it should have been.

"My relationship with my coach, it just wasn't there my sophomore year and I felt like I had to leave," he said.

Johnson considered Pitt, Ohio State, Syracuse and West Virginia and ended up at Syracuse in part because of Murphy.

"I'm from Detroit," Murphy said. "Wes spent a lot time there going to Michigan State and going to the local high schools. His brother lived in Detroit.

"I immediately got in touch with some folks I knew in Detroit and I immediately got in touch with his brother."

From John Wallace to Carmelo Anthony to Donte Greene, Syracuse has produced a slew of NBA forwards, and Johnson could be the next in that line.

"I just really [like] their system and the chance to play for a Hall of Fame coach," Johnson said. "I fell in love with the coaching staff and the whole up-tempo system that they have fits my style of play and it felt like a good fit for me."

Now, Johnson can't wait to get back out on the floor and play his first game for the Orange.

"I feel like I'm a freshman all over again," he said, "so I just want to get back out there."