Last season Hakim Warrick was the lone Syracuse men’s basketball player on the All-Big East first team.

This year Warrick has a little Syracuse company.

Junior guard Gerry McNamara was announced to the first team along with Warrick on Monday. McNamara was a second team selection last year.

Josh Pace also earned recognition, picking up honorable mention status in a vote conducted by the league’s head coaches.

‘The two had tremendous years,’ Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said Monday. ‘They’ve both been very good.’

Joining McNamara on the first team were Providence’s Ryan Gomes, and Boston College’s Craig Smith and Jared Dudley.

Warrick was the lone unanimous choice on the first team, making it likely that he will earn Big East Player of the Year honors tonight at the annual conference awards banquet in New York City.

Warrick ranked second in the Big East in scoring with 21.2 points per game and was fourth in rebounding with an 8.2 average.

McNamara averaged 15.7 points and led the Big East in 3-pointers with 95. He was first in conference games in free-throw shooting (89.9 percent) and steals (2.3).

Pace ranked third for SU in scoring with 10.8 points per game. He ranked eighth in the conference in assists with 3.83 per game and 12th in steals with 1.57.

‘Josh is a great kid to coach,’ Boeheim said. ‘I’m really happy to for (Josh) and Gerry and Hakim.’

Coaches placed Connecticut’s Josh Boone and Charlie Villanueva, Pittsburgh’s Carl Krauser and Villanova’s Allan Ray and Curtis Sumpter on the Big East second team.

Villanueva’s position on the second team irked Connecticut head coach Jim Calhoun who thought Villanueva deserved better. Calhoun pointed to how Villanueva helped lead the Huskies to wins in nine of their past 10 games as a reason why.

Villanueva averaged 13.1 points and 8.1 rebounds this season.

‘I wouldn’t take anyone off the first team,’ Calhoun said. ‘But I think Charlie Villanueva is one of the top five or six players in this league.’

Marcus Williams (Connecticut), Brandon Bowman (Georgetown), Chris Thomas (Notre Dame), Daryll Hill (St. John’s) and Randy Foye (Villanova) comprised the third team.

Four guards made the third team with the lone exception of Bowman. Hill ranked third in the conference in scoring with 20.7 points a game, and Williams and Thomas ranked first and second respectively in assists.

‘There’s a number of really good guards in our league,’ Boeheim said. ‘Daryll Hill doesn’t get a lot of credit. We did everything to try and contain him and he still had 33 points against us.’

Hakim Warrick’s high-flying dunks are usually a staple of Syracuse games. But in the Orange’s 88-70 loss to Connecticut on Saturday, they were almost entirely absent.

Warrick had just one dunk, coming with 4:32 left in the first half to give SU a 31-25 lead.

Calhoun said limiting Warrick near the basket was part of the Huskies’ plan to prevent huge momentum swings.

‘We didn’t want him dunking,’ Calhoun said. ‘If he made a l2-footer, it wouldn’t have the same impact on the Syracuse bench.’

Instead, Rudy Gay and Villanueva combined for the high-energy dunks. Each had a dunk during Connecticut’s 26-10 run to begin the second half.

Villanueva’s biggest dunk came with 2:41 remaining when he pushed the Connecticut lead to 21, forcing a sellout crowd at Gampel Pavilion to its feet.

Holding the fluid Warrick virtually dunk-less was an impressive feat for Connecticut.

Said Calhoun: ‘(Warrick dunks) as well as anyone in the history of the league.’

Syracuse, the No. 3 seed in the Big East tournament, will play the winner of Wednesday night’s Rutgers-Notre Dame game, at 9 p.m. on Thursday. … Syracuse fell to No.16 in the AP rankings released Monday, the lowest position it’s been all year. Connecticut usurped the Orange and moved to No. 12. Boston College dropped to No. 7, the highest ranking for any Big East school … Syracuse practiced Monday afternoon and will depart for New York City this afternoon … With his win over Boeheim on Saturday, Calhoun took a one-game lead in total victories (701) but also in head-to-head meetings. Calhoun is now 21-20 against Boeheim.

Published on March 6, 2005 at 12:00 pm