Games like these make Jim Boeheim sympathize for Mark Mangino, Mike Leach, Jim Leavitt or any other college coach booted for disciplinary actions.

Sometimes, the truth hurts.

After getting sucker-punched by Georgetown, Boeheim called a timeout. His team was already down, 14-0, just three and a half minutes in. Players convened at his bench. Circled around Boeheim. And the heartwarming chat that ensued shall remain secret.

‘Otherwise they’ll be firing me like they fired those football coaches,’ Boeheim said. ‘It’s a politically correct world out there. Some people have never been in a locker room or never been in a huddle and don’t understand what goes on. It’s unfortunate.’

In came Kris Joseph. In came Scoop Jardine. And No. 4 Syracuse (20-1, 7-1 Big East) cruised past No. 7 Georgetown (15-4, 6-3), 73-56, in front of 26,508 fans at the Carrier Dome. After Boeheim’s death-stare address, Syracuse’s impromptu super subs were electric. Joseph scored 15 points and Jardine added nine with four assists in only 17 minutes to key the win.

Coming off the bench, both were the swig of Red Bull that Syracuse needed. Rather than needling for more playing time, they were relishing their roles. Georgetown held a double-digit advantage, but it didn’t even matter. Joseph and Jardine changed the complexion of the game.

‘We can go anywhere in the country and be starters,’ Jardine said. ‘That’s the beauty of this team and how deep we are. We don’t miss a beat.’

Early on, Georgetown head coach John Thompson III knew the antidote to Syracuse’s 2-3 zone – rip the ball around the perimeter at warp speed. The Hoyas hit four 3-pointers, three from Austin Freeman, to mute a jacked-up Dome crowd. Knowing (and feeling a tad insulted) that teams back off him on the perimeter, Jardine hit a deep three to wake his team up. Within minutes, SU’s defense-to-offense formula to success was clicking.

The athletic Jardine and Joseph made cement-footed Georgetown pay on the fast break. The game changes with them on the court.

‘We go smaller, we’re quicker and we cover better,’ said Boeheim, who passed Jim Calhoun for sixth all-time in Division I wins (819). ‘We’re not quite as good on the boards, but we’re not bad. Kris can get in, get up the court and get to the basket. Scoop, this is the best he’s played.’

Their eyes never need to meet. Weeks of playing together on Syracuse’s backup ‘orange squad’ have forged a sixth sense. Jardine calls themselves Manu Ginobili and Jason Terry. Off the bench, they thrive.

Jardine reads the floor, and Joseph is usually the finisher.

Chomping on a wad of gum, Jardine’s free-spirited vision burst the Dome into a frenzy seven minutes into the second half. The point guard knifed into the lane, looked one way, passed the other and found Joseph. Georgetown burnt a panic timeout. Jardine pointed to Rick Jackson on the bench, and the two Philadelphia natives sprung into the air to bump hips.

Suddenly, a 14-0 deficit was a 50- 37 lead.

‘I don’t have to tell him I’m going backdoor,’ Joseph said. ‘He knows I’m going backdoor. … I always have to keep my eyes peeled and know there’s a chance he’ll pass the ball.’

At the mouth of the student-side basket resided a blast from Syracuse-Georgetown past. Sitting in the first row, Derrick Coleman fist-pumped an exclamation point to Jardine’s pass, nearly creeping onto the court. Coleman has been visiting the Orange’s practices to help out.

Immediately after the Georgetown timeout, Jardine fired another no-looker, this one to Arinze Onuaku. Two Georgetown players jumped to Wes Johnson on the outside, allowing Onuaku to lurk toward the rim. Jardine hit Onuaku and he subsequently flushed the two-handed slam.

With some razzle-dazzle sprinkled in, of course.

‘I saw (Onuaku) already, but I passed it and looked away to make it look more fancy than what it was,’ Jardine said.

Thirty years after John Thompson Jr. declared Manley Field House officially closed, Syracuse and Georgetown entered the game as Top 10 teams. Monday night figured to be the renewal of a rivalry. Joseph, having played in the same Washington, D.C.-area high school league as Georgetown’s Freeman, Jason Clark and Chris Wright, knew there were roots for a new rivalry to grow.

But not yet. This one never broiled into the last-possession game many anticipated. Good thing, though. If Georgetown had manifested that 14-0 start into something bigger, Joseph has no clue what the repercussions would have been.

And he’s not referring to Boeheim. Not at all. Rather, Coleman.

‘He made it clear that we better beat Georgetown,’ Joseph said of Coleman, the legendary SU forward. ‘We don’t want D.C. getting mad.’

thdunne@syr.edu

Published on January 25, 2010 at 12:00 pm