Jim Boeheim was asked after Saturday’s loss to Georgetown whether he thought the Orange would make the NCAA Tournament if ‘the season ended today.’

Boeheim’s response?

‘The season doesn’t end today.’

It doesn’t take a Syracuse degree to qualm the old clich. But prognosticators twirl into a frenzy at this time of year with projections of NCAA Tournament brackets and identifying the bubble teams and the Cinderalla story candidates.

The perception is the Orange is on the tournament bubble. A win tonight against DePaul at Allstate Arena in Chicago at 9 can greatly help SU prevent bursting its bubble.

‘We got to keep going, keep our head up,’ junior center Darryl Watkins said. ‘We need to make sure we keep doing what we need to and finish out the regular season.’

Watkins will be an important factor. SU’s frontcourt has been criticized and critiqued throughout the season, but Watkins emerged with 12 points and eight rebounds against Georgetown. He also scored 10 points and grabbed nine rebounds against West Virginia on Feb. 20. Both games, Watkins played 40 minutes.

‘For him, it was a great game,’ Boeheim said after the Georgetown game. ‘I’d like to see this every night. He’s averaging 6-and-6 (points and rebounds). If he can get 12-and-8, we’d be happy.’

The Orange has a good chance of being happy. DePaul’s front line is small and unproductive. The source of the Blue Demons’ scoring is perimeter threat Sammy Mejia and guard Draelon Burns. While power forward Wilson Chandler is also a big contributor, he’s not the type of player that disrupts an opponent’s game plan.

Fitting, considering before the Big East season, the perception was DePaul wasn’t the type of the team that disrupts anybody’s game plan. Throughout much of the season, it looked like even the Big East coaches’ preseason prediction of DePaul finishing 11th in the conference was generous.

Not anymore.

It’s a difficult time to face DePaul. After enduring a 1-9 record in January, the Blue Demons rebounded by finishing 4-2 in February, including winning their last three games. They even beat Seton Hall on Saturday, who trumped SU on Jan. 29.

Still, tonight’s game won’t be about DePaul as much as it will be about Syracuse. The scenario has been recited so many types, it’s become a catchphrase for commentators: One more win will give SU 20 wins and at least a .500 record in the Big East.

Considering the Orange’s formidable Rating Percentage Index ranking (No. 28 in the latest rankings, revealed on Tuesday), and the fact that all but one of its losses has come against teams in the RPI’s top 50 (only Seton Hall is outside of the top 50 and the Pirates helped themselves with a win over Cincinnati on Tuesday), one more win figures to put the Orange in a favorable position.

The problem is the final regular season game is against No. 4 Villanova on Sunday. Villanova, as the Orange and 21 other teams learned throughout the season, is tough to beat. The Big East tournament is always difficult, regardless who the Orange draws. (It most likely will play Cincinnati or Seton Hall, both teams who’ve topped SU this season.)

Clearly, tonight’s its best chance.

‘We just have to worry about our next game and that’s it,’ junior guard Louie McCroskey said. ‘One game at a time.’

Published on March 1, 2006 at 12:00 pm