With the undoing of the Big East’s divisional alignment, the Syracuse men’s basketball team will face both Connecticut and Pittsburgh twice this year. Seems a bit unfair considering both teams are ranked in the Top 25 and known as the top two teams in the conference.

‘I’m not going to complain about it, but it’ll be a tremendous disadvantage for those teams to have to play them twice and other people won’t,’ Boeheim said. ‘That’s the way it plays out. You don’t play Pittsburgh and Connecticut twice, that’s a big difference. The Big East is always close. There’s a big difference between 10-6 and 9-7, and if you play Pitt and Connecticut twice versus not playing those teams twice, it’s a big difference. But we’ll see how it plays out.’

Syracuse already lost to Pitt, 66-45, on Jan. 24. The Orangemen next play Pitt on Feb. 29 before hosting UConn on March 7.

‘I don’t want (UConn head coach) Jim (Calhoun) to get mad at me, but I think they’re the best team in the country,’ Boeheim said of the Huskies. ‘Every other team in the country has weaknesses. But at the end of the day, when Connecticut gets through this season, they’ve still got young guys, they’ve got the dominant center certainly in college basketball and a couple guys playing at the next level. When the tournament comes, I think they’ll be the team to beat.

‘They’ve got four-year, three-year starters who are going to be the guys who are going to get them there.’

Matt’s back

The last time Matt Gorman saw court time, it was against a UNC-Asheville power forward. So naturally, anyone watching last night’s game may have been shocked to see him guarding Emeka Okafor on the low block in SU’s biggest game of the year.

Gorman entered the game with 4:11 remaining in the first half to play power forward. In five minutes, he had no points and one rebound. Boeheim sounded like he has been trying to play Gorman more often, but he hasn’t been able to because of depth at the forward position.

‘Hakim (Warrick) can’t play (small forward),’ Boeheim said. ‘When he’s at the three, he can’t score. Unfortunately, those two guys play the same position.’

Elite company

Three weeks ago, after Boeheim passed UCLA legend John Wooden on the all-time wins list, Boeheim said the only thing he had in common with the Wizard from Westwood was that they both wore glasses.

Connecticut head coach Jim Calhoun doesn’t wear bifocals. But after last night’s win, he still can be paired with Boeheim and Wooden in an elite group.

Calhoun passed Wooden on the all-time wins list by winning his 656th game.

‘To be mentioned in the same breath, the same words, as John Wooden, who is clearly the greatest coach, I believe, who ever lived … I will remember this night,’ Calhoun said.

This and that

UConn forward Josh Boone dislocated his left shoulder in the first half. … Twenty-three scouts attended the game, including former Houston Rockets head coach Rudy Tomjonavich. ESPN personality Andy Katz also covered the game, which was called by Dick Vitale and Dan Shulman. … Throughout the game, the UConn student section berated Syracuse with chants of ‘You Need ‘Melo!’ Pretty creative, but there’s one problem: When SU had Carmelo Anthony last year, UConn still beat Syracuse twice.

Published on February 2, 2004 at 12:00 pm