NEW YORK — Now that Syracuse has been ousted from the Big East Tournament, the Orange are hoping history is on their side.
Some history, anyway.
“Most national championships — not all, but a lot of them have been won by teams that lose in their conference tournament, including us,” Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said following his team’s 71-68 loss to Cincinnati in the Big East semifinals.
“So as much as we want to win this tournament, the tournament that starts next week is the only one that matters.”
Syracuse (31-2) still figures to be a No. 1 seed in the Big Dance, if not the overall No. 1.
Four of the last 10 NCAA champions didn’t win their conference tournament, including Carmelo Anthony and Syracuse in 2003. Maryland in 2002 and North Carolina in 2005 and ’09 were the others.
Of course, a year ago, UConn won the Big East championship with five wins in five days and then won six more in a row in the NCAA Tournament.
“That’s the main goal and that’s what we all talked about at the end of the day,” said Syracuse guard Dion Waiters, who scored 20 of his game-high 28 points in the second half. “I mean, winning the Big East don’t mean nothing at all. We’re trying to win the NCAA Tournament. That’s the main focus.”
Syracuse is just the third Big East team ever to complete league play with just two losses.
Georgetown went 30-2 in 1984-5 and won the national championship with Patrick Ewing leading the charge.
UConn went 29-2 in 1995-6 and lost in a regional semifinal to Mississippi State.
“It doesn’t matter that you win 31 games,” Boeheim said. “It doesn’t matter that you win your conference tournament. The way college basketball is now, whoever you are, whether you’re VCU or Syracuse, the only thing that really matters is how you do in the tournament. We know that, and we’re going to be prepared for that.”
Photo: AP
