Syracuse considers Madison Square Garden like a second home. Loyal Orange fans in the New York City area pack the legendary arena whenever SU plays there. But it needs to be careful not to become too comfortable.

Syracuse visits the Garden on Sunday at 2 p.m. when St. John’s hosts the Orange. It’s also where the Orange will most likely spend the second week in March for the Big East Tournament. But unless SU (16-7, 4-5 Big East) can quell a nightmarish skid of five losses in the past six games, it might end up playing in another Madison Square Garden tournament – the NIT.

The wicked stepsister of the prestigious NCAA tournament, the NIT features teams that aren’t good enough to crack the 65-team NCAA tournament. When a program like Syracuse ends up in the NIT, it’s a black eye on the team’s prestige. SU has avoided it for the past three seasons and has made the NCAA Tournament in 25 of head coach Jim Boeheim’s 29 completed seasons.

While published projections are still sending the Orange to the Big Dance, the thread continues to become thinner.

‘We’ve been looking at the big picture since two or three games ago when we were on the losing streak,’ Syracuse forward Terrence Roberts said. ‘We understand if we keep playing like this, we ain’t going to no place but the NIT, so we know our backs are against the wall right now and we need a complete turnaround.’

Less then a month ago, Syracuse’s prospects looked much better. It was riding a 12-game winning streak and had an undefeated Big East record. SU was 15-2 with one of its losses coming against Florida, who rose from being unranked when it played the Orange to become the No. 7 team in the nation. But a home loss to rival Connecticut on Jan. 16 sent SU into a tailspin. A buzzer-beating, game-winning 3-pointer in overtime by Roberts against Rutgers on Feb. 1 serves as the lone bright spot in the skid.

Granted, four of SU’s five losses were to Top 10 teams – three of which came on the road – but SU now finds itself at 16-7 with a losing record in the Big East. While the schedule is a bit easier, it still features three top 15 teams: No. 4 Villanova, No. 9 West Virginia and No. 15 Georgetown. The other games include St. John’s, Cincinnati, Louisville and DePaul.

‘We’d like to be better, but we’re 16-7,’ Boeheim said. ‘We’ve got four of our last seven games at home. We just have to play better. We’re in position where we have control of our fate. We just have to play better basketball down the stretch.’

Sunday in Madison Square Garden is an opportune time to start. St. John’s is in a sorrier state than SU, dropping its lost five straight games and falling to 10-11 after last night’s loss to Georgetown.

But after SU lost, 73-50, against Connecticut on Wednesday in a performance which the Orange shot a horrendous 3-of-26 from 3-point range, it’s in no position to start counting wins.

It is in position, though, to count games. There are seven regular season games left. If SU can win four of them, it will reach the coveted 20-win plateau and finish .500 in the Big East. More than four wins will provide extra comfort for the Orange. Less than four wins means it might by vying for a spot to play in Madison Square Garden’s NIT.

Recent history bodes well for Syracuse at the Garden. The Orange is 7-2 in the last two seasons in the arena, including a 79-65 win over St. John’s last season. No doubt it helps that whenever Syracuse plays in New York City, packs of Orange fans make the trip as well.

‘(The UConn game) will be a game we put behind us, and we’ll just get ready for St. John’s,’ Boeheim said. ‘This league is an up-and-down league. You’re going lose a lot of games. That’s college basketball.’

Published on February 9, 2006 at 12:00 pm