NEW YORK – Syracuse has proved it cannot play close to a 40-minute game this season. But shorten that to a one or two-minute game, and the Orange has it made.

That isn’t a good thing.

Gerry McNamara’s game-winning 3-pointer on Wednesday was just the latest example.

Hard to believe, but Syracuse shouldn’t be anywhere near this close to the NCAA Tournament. In fact, the Orange could be suffering one of the worst seasons in Jim Boeheim’s 30-year career.

If not for McNamara’s 3 with .5 seconds left to beat Cincinnati, if not for Terrence Roberts’ 3 with .4 seconds left on Feb. 1 to beat Rutgers, if not for an 11-point run against Manhattan on Nov. 30 to send the game into overtime and if not for West Virginia failing to score in the final four minutes on Feb. 20, speculation of a program regression would be rampant.

There are no games that work the other way. All of SU’s losses this season were legitimate, including the 39-pointer to DePaul last Thursday.

Look at the history.

Recalculate SU’s current 20-11 record to what it should be and you come up with 16-15. Boeheim has never finished that close to .500 in his career. Syracuse’s 16-13 finish in 1981-82 is the only season close.

Or consider the Big East only. As it stands right now, Syracuse has an 8-9 conference record. In reality, it should be 5-12. The only losing regular season for Syracuse in the Big East in the conference’s 27-year history came in 1980-81 when the Orange went 6-8.

In his previous 29 seasons as coach, Boeheim has gone to the NCAA Tournament 24 times and the NIT four times. In 1992-93, Syracuse was ineligible for postseason play despite posting a 20-9 because of sanctions against the program for recruiting violations.

Don’t blame the expanded Big East. True, Syracuse faced a more difficult schedule than most teams in the conference. But few people remember strength of schedule when evaluating past records.

So if it seems like Syracuse rarely has this type of season, it’s true. This really is one of the rare occasions the Orange may not participate in March Madness. For students who especially remember SU winning the national championship, the shock value is to be expected.

Even giving Syracuse back one or two of those wins this season and the numbers still check out: This is one of the weakest team’s ever to play for Boeheim record-wise.

Erase any ideas after Wednesday’s game that a magical run may be upon Syracuse. The Orange is not going to pull a West Virginia and make a run at the conference championship after playing in the 8-9 matchup.

By the end of the day today, McNamara’s shot will be forgotten and we’ll be talking about whether or not Syracuse stayed close enough to Connecticut to warrant consideration for an NCAA Tournament bid.

Actually, they won’t have to do much, especially with Seton Hall’s loss to Rutgers on Wednesday. Hang with the No. 1 team in the nation for a while, and it’s probable. Syracuse deserves credit for winning those four games. Those wins should certainly help the team qualify for the NCAA Tournament. But it’s pretty shocking how far the other way it could be.

It’s not encouraging that Boeheim called Wednesday’s game against Cincinnati the best his team had played the whole season. While SU’s offense was balanced when it came to scoring, it was also balanced when it came to turning the ball over. Five players had at least three turnovers, led by Eric Devendorf’s seven. The Orange’s highest lead was only 14 points, and it didn’t last long.

‘I thought for 34 minutes we played as well as we’ve played, and we just didn’t do a good job defensively against White,’ Boeheim said, referring to James White, who scored a game-high 32 points for the Bearcats. ‘He made some great shots.’

That’s all it takes, though. Ask McNamara, ask Roberts, ask all the players who contributed to the comeback win over Manhattan. A few plays can completely change the perception and outlook of a team.

The numbers clearly show Boeheim could be having one of his worst seasons, overall and in conference. The coach couldn’t have picked a better year for SU to play its best down the stretch in close games. Still, without 40 minutes, the Orange won’t go far.

Ethan Ramsey is the sports editor at The Daily Orange, where his columns appear occasionally. E-mail him at egramsey@gmail.com.

Published on March 11, 2006 at 12:00 pm