TAMPA, Fla. — Jim Boeheim finally had time to reflect. It was his turn to talk and answer short, fleeting questions.

Time during which the head coach mused about the Big East conference in front of the assembled press.

He smiled as he simply summed up the Orange’s last six games: four losses followed by two wins. With the 23-point blasting of South Florida, he took the opportunity to speak his mind.

‘Everybody recognizes that it is a tough league, and everybody understands that. But then when you lose, they don’t understand it,’ Boeheim said. ‘So I guess they don’t really understand it is what we are trying to say here. They don’t get it. They get it, but they don’t get it. It is a very difficult league.’

‘They,’ of course, are the talking heads who spoke and wrote of SU’s apparent apocalyptic four-game skid. The highlight of which was a disaster at the hands of Seton Hall on Jan. 25. Ten days later, unfounded rumors of a point-shaving scandal from that game ensued.

On the brink of Boeheim’s first five-game losing streak in 35 years as head coach, national media members flocked to the XL Center in Hartford, Conn., to officially experience the implosion firsthand. SU needed to rekindle whatever remained of a once third-ranked 18-0 team.

Did Syracuse ever. And it did so because of something new in the past two games: the establishment of the roles each of SU’s integral parts must provide from game to game.

In the midst of the four-game losing streak after the Seton Hall loss, SU sophomore guard Brandon Triche was explicit regarding what SU needed: the proper contributions from each member of SU’s lineup. Game in and game out.

‘I think we have to just come together as a team, that’s the biggest thing,’ Triche said on Jan. 25. ‘To lose three in a row, it’s almost like losing to Le Moyne. It’s a bad feeling.’

Balance wasn’t there. Boeheim said it himself minutes before Triche, forecasting what was needed to guide his 33rd 20-win team through situations like this in the beastly Big East.

The players’ roles were filled against the Huskies and Bulls.

Rick Jackson is the MVP. Kris Joseph is the scorer who can bring scrappy effort on defense with his length. Scoop Jardine is the conductor, dishing out a top 20 national mark in assists per game. Triche is the late-game scorer who can become the X-factor.

As for the young players, C.J. Fair provides a highlight-reel freshman’s production from dunks to blocks. Dion Waiters is the utility scorer. As for the freshman centers Fab Melo and Baye Moussa Keita, they need to bring production that amounts to one solid big man next to Jackson.

And in the past two games, everyone played his role for the first time all season.

Look at the early Big East wins: Against Providence, Melo, Moussa Keita and Waiters did nothing. Against Notre Dame, it was more of the same. The first time against Seton Hall, Jardine’s four turnovers trumped his three assists. In Madison Square Garden against St. John’s, Jardine again had more turnovers than assists. And versus Cincinnati, Joseph scored two points as he left the game with a concussion.

Then came the losing streak. Then came the point-shaving allegations and the trip to Hartford. Finally, SU filled the roles: Moussa Keita played the best game of his life while Melo sat. Jackson went 13 and 13. Joseph scored when needed. Triche was that X-factor with 16 points. Jardine sunk clutch free throws. Fair jetted to the right spots at the right times. Waiters scrapped for nine points and three steals.

And it continued in Tampa: Fair skied for nine rebounds and three blocks. Waiters scored 10. And in his homecoming, Melo showed his best conditioning of the year in extended minutes while Moussa Keita cheered from the sideline.

Just what Boeheim has been yearning for. Just what will get SU through Big East play as one of the conference’s powers. Just like Boeheim has experienced for 35 years.

The furthest thing from a team experiencing a collapse. Rather, the first concrete step toward Big East basketball dominance once again.

Tony Olivero is the development editor at The Daily Orange, where his column appears occasionally. He can be reached at aolivero@syr.edu.

Published on February 6, 2011 at 12:00 pm