Dressed in street clothes and stuffed with pizza, the Syracuse men’s basketball team joked and jostled Sunday night in the Manley Field House halls.

The reason for the celebration? A berth-day party, of course.

SU had just gathered for the NCAA Tournament selection show and learned it earned a No. 3 seed in the East Region. That means the Orangemen — all but two of whom are NCAA Tournament virgins — begin their march against No. 14 Manhattan at 12:15 p.m. on Friday at Boston’s Fleet Center.

Should Syracuse (24-5, 13-3 Big East) beat Manhattan and then the winner of No. 6 Oklahoma State and No. 11 Pennsylvania on Sunday, it will play a virtual home game the following weekend in Albany for the Regionals.

The selection was particularly satisfying for Syracuse given it settled for the NIT last season. Syracuse has qualified for the NCAA Tournament 20 of the last 25 years.

‘This year, everyone’s all smiles,’ said sophomore center Craig Forth, who hails from the Albany suburb of East Greenbush. ‘Last year … (SU head coach Jim Boeheim) told us, ‘You know what, I’m sorry. Get ready for next year.’ This year he told us to go eat some pizza and have some fun.’

Syracuse players dismissed suggestions that a lack of experience — two freshmen and two sophomore starters — would hold them back. Instead, the Orangemen cited 13 come-from-behind wins and late-season road victories at Michigan State, Georgetown and Notre Dame.

Of SU’s five starters, only senior Kueth Duany has played in the NCAA Tournament. He and backup center Jeremy McNeil are the only Orangemen who have waltzed in the Big Dance.

‘People are going to want to talk a lot about that,’ sophomore forward Hakim Warrick said. ‘But we’ve been through so much this year, we feel like this is an experienced team.’

Including experience against Manhattan. Last season, the Orangemen opened against the Jaspers in the Preseason NIT and won, 78-58, at Madison Square Garden.

This year, Manhattan (23-6, 14-4 Metro Atlantic) won the MAAC regular-season title and tournament to earn an NCAA berth. The Jaspers beat two Big East teams this season, winning at Seton Hall, 74-70, and downing St. John’s, 72-65.

Junior Luis Flores, whom Boeheim called ‘as good as any player in the country,’ leads the Jaspers, averaging 25 points. He was named MAAC Player of the Year and conference tournament MVP.

‘You don’t look past even one game anymore,’ Boeheim said. ‘You have to play great basketball to get by anybody.’

That’s what Syracuse has done the last month. An eight-game win streak that began and ended with losses to Connecticut — which landed as a No. 5 seed in the South Region — probably garnered Syracuse its high seed and favorable itinerary.

‘In the beginning of the year, we’d have been happy to get in this tournament,’ Boeheim said. ‘That stretch run after the loss in Hartford (on Feb. 10) was a tremendous accomplishment, looking back on it. Quite honestly, we got rewarded for that run. Before the run, we weren’t a top-four seed.’

The Huskies perhaps should have been, considering they bumped Syracuse from the Big East tournament Friday with an 80-67 win at Madison Square Garden. The following night, UConn lost to Pittsburgh, 74-56, in the finals.

Against the Huskies, the Orangemen shot miserably, hitting 29 percent from the field. SU forward Carmelo Anthony led all scorers with 29 points, but he shot just 9 of 28.

Connecticut quickened the game’s pace, quickly transitioning Syracuse misses and dashing through the press, to maximize easy baskets. The Huskies combined that with solid perimeter shooting — 5 of 12 from 3-point range — to bury the Orangemen.

‘We started slow and dug ourselves a little hole,’ Duany said of SU, which shot 21 percent in the first half and was down, 36-27, at halftime. ‘That’s something you don’t want to do.’

In the quarterfinals, Syracuse beat Georgetown, 74-69. SU utilized a balanced attack, getting 21 from Anthony, 16 from Duany and 14 from Warrick. That helped the Orangemen overcome a 29-point performance from Hoya center Mike Sweetney.

Still, the Orangemen shot poorly at times and trailed, 63-62, with six minutes left.

‘We’ve got some young guys in their first Big East tournament,’ Boeheim said Friday. ‘We didn’t play well either night. That’s not all that unusual for a young team.’

On Sunday, Syracuse showed no signs of dwelling on the Big East tournament.

‘We’re thrilled to be back in the tournament,’ Boeheim said. ‘Whenever you miss it like we did last year, you’re thrilled to be back in. For these guys to go through the year like this and be a three seed, that’s a tremendous accomplishment.’

Published on March 17, 2003 at 12:00 pm