SYRACUSE - It's hard to believe that someone the size of Paul Harris can be overlooked.

A 230-pounder isn't an easy guy to miss.

But it happens.

With Jonny Flynn's flash, Arinze Onuaku's strength and Eric Devendorf's bravado, Harris' blue-collar style sometimes gets lost.

He's not quite a player with a position - Harris is no sharpshooter and at 6-4, he's not a post player either.

But he does fill the stat sheet.

And as No. 16 Syracuse played its first game as a ranked team in more than a year, Harris is becoming the team's most consistent force.

The junior scored a game-high 22 points and grabbed five rebounds in an 86-51 victory over Colgate Monday night. Harris also had a big hand in the Orange's 21-5 run to open the game, scoring 11 points in the span.

“I was particularly pleased with Paul's focus,” head coach Jim Boeheim said. “He came out really active - he was all over the court from the beginning.”

In fact, Boeheim has been praising Harris a lot this season. That hasn't always been the case.

For two years, it's seemed like Harris has been on the receiving end of many icy stares from the hall-of-fame coach. It's not that Boeheim questions his talent or his drive - both are through the roof - but the Niagara Falls native hasn't always been the greatest decision-maker on the court.

In an interview with ESPN's Doris Burke following last week's win against Kansas, Boeheim admitted that he gets on Harris a lot because he sees plenty of unused potential.

But of late, that potential has translated to points, rebounds and some lockdown defense.

In the past five games, Harris has averaged 15.3 points and 9.1 rebounds per game.

Hard to overlook.

“(Paul) has tremendous confidence in Eric and Jonny and some games he thinks they're gong to do it all,” Boeheim said. “Today, he came out and did it.”

This Syracuse team has a problem that most teams would like to have - there aren't enough shots to go around.

Flynn and Devendorf are pure scorers, Onuaku needs touches inside and Andy Rautins needs to get his shots from the outside.

So Harris has to get his points the hard way - off offensive rebounds, in transition and from the free-throw line.

Every time you look at a Syracuse box score, the numbers don't always tell the truth.

Take Monday's game for example.

Rautins was 0-for-5 from the field, missing badly on some of his 3-point attempts. So he must have played a bad game, right?

Wrong.

Rautins wasn't his typical self from behind the arc, but he had some tremendous passes on fast breaks and into the post.

His shot was off, but he helped out in another way - with six assists.

Box scores don't always tell the whole story.

Except with Harris.

Every single rebound, every single point, every single steal he accrues is well-earned.

When Harris gets a rebound, bodies are usually flying.

When he scores, he goes strong to the tin, whether or not there's a defender in his way.

When he defends, he's right up in a player's face.

Yes, he's not always the smartest player on the court. But he's probably the hardest worker.

Harris won't be an All-American.

He may not even land on an all-Big East team.

But I guarantee that when opposing coaches are drawing up a scouting report, Harris is the player that makes them sweat.

He's unguardable.

In fact, the only thing that can stop Paul Harris is Paul Harris.

That's why Boeheim stays in his face.

Harris may keep going unnoticed.

Heck, Boeheim might want to keep it that way.

But like this year's team, Harris can only be overlooked for so long.