PHILADELPHIA – Syracuse did it again. On Monday against Connecticut and Saturday against Villanova, I had a story written around halftime. All I needed to do was insert quotes and click ‘send.’ But Syracuse had this idea that it can come back, make a game out of a debacle. And both times, the Orange did.

Give SU credit. Credit head coach Jim Boeheim for whatever he says in the locker room – if anything. Credit Terrence Roberts for flexing after he dunks, more a signal of unwavering emotion than a call for face time on ESPN. Credit Demetris Nichols and Eric Devendorf for sinking second half 3-pointers on Monday and Saturday, respectively.

But a loss is a loss, a win’s a win and ‘moral victories’ should be saved for Disney movies. The bottom line is SU was 0-2 last week. Even if Syracuse lost by one point or 50 points, the losses would count the same.

These two games were simply a pair of pathetic first halves and poignant second halves. As a fan, you can look at it two ways. You can say it’s the team it’s been the first half that looks like it can’t beat the intramural finalists, or you can say it’s the team it’s been in the second half that looks like it could make noise in March.

‘If we can play with that fight, that urgency like we’re losing every game, like we’re down in the first half, we can be an unstoppable force in the Big East,’ Roberts said in an empty Wachovia Center locker room after Saturday’s game.

And maybe that’s the case. But maybe it’s just a mark of this basketball team.

The Orange will make the NCAA Tournament. It might even get a top four seed. For all I know – or anyone for that matter – SU could make a run. Back-to-back losses aren’t the end of the world. But they’re a message: Connecticut and Villanova are in the upper class of the Big East this season, and Syracuse is a step down.

Though the Orange had a marvelous second half against the Huskies and a good one against Villanova, it was clear that Connecticut and Villanova’s firepower belittled SU’s.

You name it, Syracuse tried it. Slowing the game down didn’t work. Calling timeouts had no effect. Doubling the man with the basketball was hopeless. SU had as much success stopping Villanova in the first half as a fan in section 114. But in the second half, it was a different team.

Sometimes in basketball, statistics and scores can tell the story. Other times, one has to put down the program or lower the television’s volume and watch the way a team plays. Connecticut played last Monday like a title team. Villanova played Saturday like a title team. Syracuse played like one of those teams that you can’t get a read on when filling out the bracket, the type of team that forces you to cross out your choice five different times before you flip a coin.

Maybe a coin is the right analogy. Half the time it could be heads, half the time it could be tails. Syracuse has two months to figure out which half it is.

Zach Berman is an assistant copy editor at The Daily Orange where his columns appear occasionally. E-mail him at zberman@syr.edu.

Published on January 22, 2006 at 12:00 pm