With at most three games remaining in Syracuse uniforms, seniors Demetris Nichols, Terrence Roberts and Darryl Watkins have had their careers indirectly affected by the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Big East was significantly reshuffled while the threesome played for SU, but their careers have only been directly affected by the ACC once — when they played an dbeat Maryland in the NCAA Tournament in 2004.

Since then, Syracuse hasn’t played an ACC team. That changes tonight when Syracuse faces Clemson in the National Invitation Tournament quarterfinals in Clemson, S.C., at 7 p.m. on ESPN2.

In 2003, Miami and Virginia Tech left the Big East for the ACC. Boston College followed a year later. The reasons were obvious – football and money. The ACC, which has traditionally been the strongest conference in college basketball, sought the payday that comes along with a football conference championship. That could only be achieved with 12 teams, and the ACC wanted three powerful football programs.

At the time, Syracuse was also close to leaving the Big East for the ACC. SU head coach Jim Boeheim was publicly against the switch. As it turned out, Syracuse wasn’t offered an invitation and moved on along with the Big East. The conference added five schools, all from Conference USA – Louisville, Cincinnati, South Florida, Marquette and DePaul. All but South Florida are known for their basketball programs.

The end result was a 16-team basketball conference that, in addition to being the biggest in the nation, was touted as possibly the best. The hope was to reclaim the glory days of the 1980s, highlighted in 1985 when the Big East had three teams in the Final Four. Though it wasn’t publicly declared, the attention to basketball schools also appeared like the Big East could dethrone the ACC in basketball supremacy. The ACC has had a Final Four participant in 16 of the last 20 years; the Big East has had one in just six of the last 20 seasons.

In 2006, the first year with the new Big East, the conference earned a record eight NCAA Tournament bids, including two No. 1 seeds. This season, that number dropped to five. Seven ACC schools are in the NCAA Tournament this season, and the perception is the ACC is again the best conference in basketball this season.

The subtext adds additional drama to tonight’s game, in addition to a chance to reach the NIT semifinals.

‘It’s going to be one of the biggest games because of the whole situation with which conference is better, the ACC or the Big East,’ Syracuse center Darryl Watkins said. ‘You don’t want to go in there and have people say the Big East isn’t up to par with the ACC, so you go in there with a lot to prove.’

The conference rivalry was ignited during the weekend when Boston College star senior Jared Dudley compared his two years in the Big East with his two years in the ACC before BC’s second-round loss to Georgetown Saturday.

‘When we played in (the Big East) there were a lot of give-me games, you could definitely count on for wins,’ Dudley said, as transcribed by the NCAA. ‘UConn and Syracuse are both good teams, but when you say North Carolina and Duke it’s different – star power, Tobacco Road and everything and Coach K.

‘It’s no disrespect to the Big East. It’s just different here.’

The debate remains because despite the rise in mid-major programs, the major conferences still feature the best teams in college basketball.

‘Anytime you have the chance to play a team in the Big East, the SEC, the Big Ten, that’s going to be in the background,’ Clemson head coach Oliver Purnell said.

But Purnell emphasized the game is a shot at reaching the semifinals, not a chance to trump a rival conference. Syracuse’s locker room felt the same way.

‘They say the ACC was one of the strongest (conferences) this year, but it’s all a game no matter what,’ senior forward Terrence Roberts said. ‘We’re just looking to go out every night, no matter what the name says on the opponent’s jersey.’

Published on March 20, 2007 at 12:00 pm