PHILADELPHIA — What’s it going to take to wake up the Syracuse basketball team?

Even a hideous loss to mediocre Villanova and 45-minute tirade by head coach Jim Boeheim weren’t enough Wednesday night. Players still told the media that the one-game-at-a-time strategy was the way to go and that the NCAA Tournament was too far away to worry about.

Who are they kidding?

The tournament is, at most, five games away and at the least, two. But unless Syracuse decides to look ahead soon, it might not have to worry about the tournament at all. Having lost its last two games and five of its last eight, Syracuse is in danger of missing out on basketball’s biggest party.

So right now, that isn’t worth focusing on?

‘The tournament is too far away to worry about,’ junior Kueth Duany said. ‘If we win a game, then that will help us. I think we deserve to make the tournament. Why wouldn’t we?’

Well, first there are the basketball reasons. Syracuse rebounds poorly, can barely shoot (making just 32 percent of its shots last night) and fouls incessantly.

More disturbing are the off-court reasons. Syracuse has no leadership and admittedly tries its hardest about half the time.

Late in the second half after a Syracuse foul, freshman Craig Forth stretched out his arms and called for a team huddle. The surprising thing wasn’t that it was a freshman forced to gather his teammates, but instead his teammates’ response.

Junior DeShaun Williams walked the opposite way, senior Preston Shumpert headed toward the free-throw line and the other two Orangemen didn’t move. So in the end, Forth was left with his hands in the air and a perplexed look on his face.

The astounding indifference for team chemistry continued to the locker room, where players seemed to obey a 10-foot rule, mandating that no two players come within 10 feet of each other at any time.

‘Everybody is upset, so the team chemistry isn’t really there right now,’ Shumpert said. ‘But our problem is you can’t have that off-and-on effort, and I guess that is our late-season downfall right there.’

‘Maybe we are having some trouble coming together,’ Forth said. ‘Nobody is on the same page. I feel like I am playing better now. Unfortunately, they hit their slump right now. It’s just one game, though. It will be fine.’

No, it won’t. Not if Syracuse keeps excusing itself with the it-is-just-one-game attitude. Now there is only one game left — Sunday against Boston College — and a loss could land Syracuse back on the NCAA Tournament bubble, with the Big East Tournament one final chance for redemption.

Five teams will surely make the NCAA Tournament from the Big East. Miami, Connecticut and Pittsburgh are locks. After that, Syracuse and Notre Dame look to be in good shape. But St. John’s is surging and Rutgers maintains an outside shot.

You would think Syracuse would start looking at the standings. Isn’t it time to get scared?

‘I try to lead the team the best I can,’ Shumpert said. ‘I do that by trying to show people what is important and what we need to do to win. The NCAA Tournament, I don’t really worry about that stuff. I don’t really care about that.’

Well, there‘s your problem right there. And it’s one that no devastating loss or angry speech can solve.

Published on February 28, 2002 at 12:00 pm