PHILADELPHA – It was almost a year ago – 362 days ago, to be exact – when Jim Boeheim sat at the postgame press conference after Syracuse beat Cincinnati in the first round of the 2006 Big East tournament and answered a question about Darryl Watkins with a diatribe about Gerry McNamara and how he shouldn’t be labeled overrated.

You might vaguely remember.

In the rant, Boeheim famously declared Syracuse wouldn’t have won 10 games without McNamara, although he said it with a bit more gumption than that. Whether you agree with the claim or not, here’s another one: A similar statement could be said about Demetris Nichols with this season’s team. I don’t know if 10 games is the right number, but SU certainly wouldn’t have won 20 games and definitely would not have won five straight to close the regular season, which ended on a down note with a 78-75 loss to Villanova Saturday.

I bring this up not because of Nichols’ performance against the Wildcats – he had one of his poorest games of the season, scoring only 12 points on 2-of-13 shooting and missing a game-tying 3-pointer in the waning seconds. It’s not to diminish the work of the rest of his teammates, either, who’ve overcome injury and exodus to enter the Big East tournament in formidable NCAA Tournament shape. I bring this up, instead, because the Big East Player of the Year will be awarded on Tuesday, and the recipient should be Nichols.

‘I want to win,’ Nichols answered when asked in the locker room after Saturday’s game, a rare declarative statement for someone who’s equal parts modest and diplomatic. ‘I think I earned it.’

Nichols finished the regular season leading the Big East in scoring with 18.8 points. He’s made the third-most 3-pointers in the conference and converted on 42.3 percent of those attempts. He’s also pulled down an average of 5.5 rebounds.

But after losing to Villanova, an argument could be made Nichols lost the Big East Player of the Year. He had the chance to add more heroics to his highlight reel, and the shot missed.

Plus, SU is not one of the top four Big East teams. Often, it’s the best players on the best teams who win the award. The last time an outright Big East Player of the Year came from a school not on the top of the conference was 2000, when Troy Murphy won it for a Notre Dame that finished 8-8 in the conference.

This season, the top two teams have been Georgetown and Pittsburgh, although the Panthers slipped late in the season. The Hoyas have the most talented player in the conference with forward Jeff Green and the Panthers feature the most acclaimed player in the conference in center Aaron Gray. Both players have put up impressive numbers, although neither has the statistics like Nichols.

But this argument isn’t based around statistics. It’s a factor, though, not the convincer.

What convinces me is how talented Pittsburgh and Georgetown are. Syracuse plays with just seven or eight players, depending on Boeheim’s mood.

There have been games this season when Syracuse has won simply because of Nichols. Syracuse is 13-4 when Nichols scores more than 20 points. In the Big East, where the award is won, Nichols is averaging 18.7 points in SU’s 10 wins. In the three wins decided by four points or less, Nichols is averaging 29 points. He went off for 37 points in a Feb. 11 game when SU badly needed to qualm a skid when it lost three of four games. He hit the game-winner against Providence on Feb. 24 when SU was battling the Friars in a meeting of bubble teams fighting for their Tournament lives.

Critics can point to his missed game-tying 3 on Saturday, or the foul shot he missed in the same end-of-game sequence when he was at the line for two shots with SU trailing by four (Nichols, by the way, entered the game with only one free throw missed since Jan. 10). Critics will point to SU’s good-but-not-great record and the success of Georgetown, Pitt or even Notre Dame with standout forward Russell Carter.

But Nichols has SU in the top half of the Big East and with a good chance of hearing its name on Selection Sunday. And he’s done it on a team thinner than a freshman Hakim Warrick and was on pace to host the first round of the NIT just three weeks ago. It’s a team that entered the season with a giant question mark looming over the Carrier Dome – who will fill Gerry McNamara’s spot on the score sheet.

The answer has been Nichols. His performance this season is good enough to warrant Big East Player of the Year – not to mention a McNamara-esque rant.

Zach Berman is the sports editor at The Daily Orange, where his column will appear weekly following spring break. E-mail him at zberman@syr.edu.

Published on March 4, 2007 at 12:00 pm