PHILADELPHIA – No, these three games won’t merit much mention years from now when people reflect on Jim Boeheim’s career as Syracuse head coach.

With more than 1,000 games and (soon to be) 800 wins to pull from, his coaching job this week won’t merit mention in the corner of one of the 14 pages devoted to him in the SU basketball media guide.

Yet in the here and now of Syracuse basketball, these three games have resurrected a team that was given up for dead. A 3-4 Big East record with seven scholarship players left and one of the most unforgiving conference schedules around? Not even the old sage Boeheim could rescue this floundering group of youngsters.

One unlikely week later, that pessimism has dissipated. Seven days. Three games. Two on the road. Six players (basically). And, of course, one controversy, courtesy of Scoop Jardine.

And somehow, this wild week has produced three improbable wins. In seven days, Syracuse has jumped from 13th in the conference to 6th. Hope has found its way back to the Carrier Dome.

And the lion’s share of the credit needs to go to Boeheim.

Certainly, give the players their due. Their backs-against-wall mentality has produced a renewed intensity and team effort. But it’s been Boeheim who got this team to finally play defense. It’s Boeheim who’s reduced his practices to essentially walk-throughs to keep his available players energized. And it’s Boeheim whose masterful game-management has this team back in NCAA Tournament contention.

‘It’s all Coach Boeheim,’ Flynn said about the team’s turnaround. ‘We just all took too long to buy into (his system). We’re finally buying into it, and you see the results.’

But this past week goes beyond Boeheim’s system and his 2-3 zone or his offensive strategies. In each game, there was a specific moment or sequence when Boeheim made a call or adjustment to turn the tide in Syracuse’s favor.

With SU tied late against Providence, Boeheim called a timeout and designed a play for Donte Greene, who popped open and hit the 3 to break the deadlock. SU would go on to win by seven.

Three days later, the Orange dug itself an early hole with poor defense, allowing DePaul easy looks inside. But Boeheim ordered the necessary adjustments, telling his D to sit back, stop penetration and force the Blue Demons to launch 3’s.

The strategy worked. DePaul shot just 25.5 percent from the field for the rest of the game, and SU won a defensive struggle, 60-55.

Much the similar thing happened here at the Wachovia Center Saturday. Villanova started the game 11-for-13 from the field and led by as much as 11.

And once again there was Boeheim on the sideline. At times quiet, observant, pondering. At other times vocal, re-positioning Kristof Ongenaet or chiding Greene for his lack of backside help.

And after a TV timeout midway through the first half gave the players a chance to adequately soak in Boeheim’s instructions, the Orange emerged with a renewed energy and a refocused defensive approach. It outscored Villanova, 27-13, the rest of the half, and the Wildcats shot just 33 percent for the rest of the game after their 85 percent start.

‘We tightened up, went back in a little bit, didn’t put quite as much outside pressure, stopped the dribble penetration, took away the high post,’ Boeheim said after the game. ‘When we did that, they threw up a couple 3’s, which they normally do in that situation. And they missed and we got right back in it.’

Remember, this is the same team that scored 100 points against Massachusetts and still lost. To make such a conversion within the course of the conference season – from defensively inept to defensively dependent – says a lot about the coach. And to do it with seven players, four of which are freshmen? That’s something special.

On Saturday, Villanova head coach Jay Wright said he saw a difference in Syracuse from the team’s first meeting, an 81-71 SU loss not two weeks ago.

‘As far as whom goes where, who takes what shots … it didn’t seem like it was as clear the first time,’ Wright said, ‘but this time it’s very clear.’

As for Boeheim, he’s taken his task of managing such a shorthanded lineup with a sense of humor.

‘I don’t have to put too many people in,’ Boeheim said. ‘Not too many decisions to make there. I can concentrate on what plays we’re going to run and stuff like that.

‘I just tell them, ‘Don’t foul anybody.’ That’s good coaching I think.’

What Boeheim was able to squeeze out the Orange this past week was better than good.

And if he should somehow guide this undermanned side to a Tournament birth, it might be one of the best coaching jobs of his career.

John Clayton is an assistant sports editor at The Daily Orange, where his columns appear occasionally. He can be reached at jsclayto@syr.edu.

Published on February 3, 2008 at 12:00 pm