Ken Davis

It seems the season of stress arrives in Syracuse earlier than anywhere else in college basketball these days.

Bubble talk becomes commonplace. Regular-season games have that do-or-die feeling. The need to win games at the Big East tournament in Madison Square Garden has become as certain as the drifting snow in Upstate New York. Excuse the fine citizens of Syracuse if they seem a little grumpy in mid-March. Shoveling out from another wintry blast and worrying about the fate of the Orange can do that to people with extreme cases of cabin fever.

For the third consecutive season, coach Jim Boeheim’s team is hanging on to the NCAA bubble by its fingernails as it heads to New York for the annual Big East bash. In 2006, Gerry McNamara was there to bail out the Orange, carrying Syracuse on the way to an amazing Big East championship run that was the only way to reach the Big Dance.

Last year, 22 wins — including 10 in conference regular-season play and one over Connecticut in the tournament — left Syracuse on the outside looking in. Now the Orange are knocking on the door with a not-so-impressive record of 19-12 overall and 9-9 in the Big East.

The good news for the Orange is a two-game winning streak that began at Seton Hall. The only reason Syracuse even remains in the NCAA discussion is an 87-72 victory Saturday over No. 21 Marquette. More work remains to be done. Syracuse needs to win at least one, maybe two, and possibly more games at the Big East tournament in order to relieve that NCAA stress. Of course, four victories and a Big East championship – just like the run orchestrated by McNamara’s band — would guarantee a spot in the field of 65.

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The Syracuse players seem to understand the approach they must take. At least it appeared that way watching them Saturday against Marquette. They played with tremendous energy and confidence. And judging from some of their comments after the game, they understand the postseason has already begun for them.

“We played like our March Madness started today,” freshman Jonny Flynn told the Syracuse Post-Standard. “This was the NCAA Tournament.”

That’s a tough way to go through the entire last week heading into the tournament, when the one-and-done promise becomes reality. It’s especially difficult for a team that is relying so heavily on freshmen. But two of those rookies showed how special they are against Marquette. Flynn and Donte Greene both scored 21 points on the way to the quality win Syracuse needed so desperately. Marquette (22-8, 11-7), which had won six of its past seven games, has its NCAA resume in place and the Golden Eagles could enter the tournament with a No. 5 seed.

Just a week earlier, on the very same Carrier Dome court, Syracuse blew an 11-point lead in the final 3:30 against Pittsburgh. Boeheim’s bunch played like inexperienced toddlers at crunch time in that game. The NCAA selection committee will have a long discussion about that.

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But the committee should also recognize the way Boeheim kept this team together through endless adversity. The Hall of Fame coach knew he had a lot to replace from last season but he was so excited about the possibilities with Flynn and Greene starting their careers and sophomore Paul Harris ready to improve.

Then Andy Rautins tore his ACL in the summer playing for the Canadian national team. Just 10 games into the season, guard Eric Devendorf, the emotional leader from last season, tore his ACL as well. The only senior on scholarship, Josh Wright, left the program in December.

The selection committee should give Syracuse some credit for overcoming all that, playing .500 in a tough conference, and for splitting the season series with league champ Georgetown. Syracuse will be helped by an RPI in the top 50, strong schedule rating that ranks in the top 10.

Boeheim praised his youngsters for making good plays in the final five minutes against Marquette. Syracuse will need to do more of that in New York, where it opens against Villanova and then could face Georgetown in the second round. A sympathy vote isn’t going to take place inside that committee room in Indianapolis next weekend.

And programs like Syracuse, which won the 2003 national championship, don’t get grandfathered into the NCAA Tournament. Never has that been more obvious than this season, when so many big-name programs head into their conference tournaments desperately seeking victories.

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