February, for a sports fan, is a tough time. It’s a 28-night sports prison, usually void of anything but meaningless basketball and hockey games. And leap years, as this one is, tend be even worse, tacking one more day onto the sentence.

But followers of the Syracuse men’s basketball team, take heart. The rest of February should hold enough intrigue to keep you coming to the Carrier Dome and your eyes glued to the television until the basketball smorgasbord of March takes over.

That may be the only improvement from last year’s national champions that this year’s Orangemen hold. Whereas last year’s squad’s dominance, though always exciting, became predictable, this year’s SU team is harder to solve than a Rubik’s Cube. To be sure, it’s cause for frustration. But it will also make one heck of stretch run, one that could be pretty scary for Syracuse. The Orangemen, as of right now, are not a lock to make the NCAA Tournament.

With Monday night’s 84-72 loss to Notre Dame, SU lost its chance to all but sew up a bid to the NCAA Tournament. Instead, the Orangemen inched closer to the tournament bubble (ah, there’s that word – it really is getting close to March.), a place SU never thought it would be when this season began with a No. 7 ranking next to its name.

Still, the Orangemen are faced with this reality: If the Orangemen lose to No. 8 Connecticut and No. 5 Pittsburgh – which seems as likely as the sun rising in the east tomorrow – they’ll have to win their other three games to finish at 9-7 in the Big East before the Big East tournament starts.

And even that isn’t a given. If SU plays like it did against the Irish, it would have a hard time beating Villanova at home or West Virginia on the road. Syracuse has lost five of its last eight games, and really only played well once, in its win at Miami.

It’s likely that five other teams – Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, Providence, Seton Hall and Connecticut – will reach the nine-win plateau in Big East play. Since Syracuse lost to all of those teams the last time it played them, it’s fair to say that would make Syracuse the sixth best team in the Big East. Villanova and West Virginia aren’t far behind, and Syracuse still has to play both.

Last season, Boston College went 10-6 in conference, finishing in a tie with UConn for first place in the East Division, won one game in the Big East tournament and played its postseason ball in the National Invitation Tournament. The Big East is stronger this season and will certainly earn more than the four bids it got last year, but that’s frightening food for thought.

Gaining entrance to the NCAA Tournament in the ultra-competitive Big East is never easy, and with 10 teams currently sitting at .500 or better, SU needs to do something to distinguish itself. If not, it might distinguish itself in another way – by missing the NCAA Tournament a year after winning it.

Asked after the Notre Dame game what SU has to do it in its final five games, McNamara offered a quick and direct response.

‘Run the table,’ McNamara said. ‘We’ve got UConn at home. We should take care of our home games. We have to run the table. We need to approach every game like we’re going to win. We did that last year.

‘This is definitely a tournament team. I think we’re more talented than we were last year. Coach always says, ‘Play smart and play hard.’ Right now, we aren’t doing either.’

Syracuse needs to start doing both. If not, March, and the Madness that comes with it, will pass Syracuse by. That, if nothing else, will fill February with some suspense.

Adam Kilgore is the sports editor at The Daily Orange, where his columns appear regularly. E-mail him at adkilgor@syr.edu.

Published on February 17, 2004 at 12:00 pm