WASHINGTON — On the same court where Syracuse’s season seemed to come apart, where its confidence reached its lowest point and where its future looked grim, the Orange punctuated a remarkable turnaround by earning a trip to the Final Four.

As soon as the final buzzer sounded, ending its 55-39 win over Marquette, euphoria swept up Syracuse as it fell into a wild celebration near the sideline. The players put on their white “Final Four” T-shirts and black “Final Four” caps, and one by one, they climbed the ladder underneath the basket, each clipping away pieces of the net before head coach Jim Boeheim took care of the rest.

With each step up that ladder, with each clip of the net, concerns about this team’s ability never seemed so distant.

“These guys have come a long way from three weeks ago,” Boeheim said. “Today, someone reminded me we were here for another game and it’s been a great transformation in that period.”

Syracuse befuddled Marquette with a zone defense that’s leaving good shooting teams frustrated and hopeless. With this win, the Orange took the East Regional of the NCAA Tournament, erased any lingering doubts, affirmed itself as one of the nation’s best and for the first time in 10 years, advanced to the Final Four. The Orange held the Golden Eagles, who beat Syracuse 74-71 in Milwaukee on Feb. 25, to a paltry 22.6 percent from the field and 12.5 percent from the arc.

Michael Carter-Williams was brilliant again, scoring 12 points on 4-of-9 shooting. James Southerland had 16 points and hit three 3-pointers.

The game was never seriously in doubt, but much of Syracuse’s season once was.

Exactly three weeks ago, the Orange lost to Georgetown 61-39 on the same Verizon Center floor. Its offense was nonexistent. An early end to the postseason seemed inevitable.

It was the Orange’s lowest point, which closed a 1-4 end to the regular season.

Boeheim had to remind his players of how good they were. Those same players had to find another level of toughness, grit and perhaps most importantly, confidence.

They found it.

“It’s pretty much a 180,” guard Brandon Triche said. “After losing so many games in a row, we stayed positive, but you can’t say we didn’t lose confidence. We were probably unsure of ourselves a bit.”

Since then, Syracuse has lost only one game, and that was in the Big East tournament finals against Louisville, which pulled off a 16-point comeback in the second half to earn the win. Other than that half, the Orange has been dominant.

It’s rolled through the NCAA Tournament. With its stymieing 2-3 zone, it’s made teams that can normally score efficiently into teams that can’t find a good shot.

Marquette was Syracuse’s latest victim. The Orange forced its arms into the passing lanes, intercepting passes and disrupting shot attempts. Syracuse ended up finishing with 19 points off of turnovers on a night when it looked simply unbeatable.

“We were as active these two games here in Washington as we’ve ever been, and I just really can’t say enough about how good these guys played on the defensive end of the court,” Boeheim said. “They were just tremendous.”

By the time Southerland nailed a deep 3-pointer with 2:23 left against Marquette, the celebration had already begun.

Emotions swelled throughout the pro-Orange crowd. Syracuse’s players on the bench rose to their feet. With about a minute left in the game, Boeheim, normally stoic on the sideline, cracked a wide smile.

When the game’s final second ticked off of the clock, those smiles never faded. The players walked to the side of the court, in front of their families and fans, and flapped their jerseys. On the stage where Syracuse was presented with the East Region trophy, Boeheim and his assistant Mike Hopkins hugged.

Chants of “Let’s go, Orange” and “Jim-my Boe-heim” rained down on the court.

After the way the Orange finished the regular season 1-4, after the way it struggled to make shots for much of the season, this was a dream-like scene.

But those losses and those struggles might have been for the best for Syracuse, forward C.J. Fair said.

“When you’re losing, it brings the team together,” Fair said. “It’s going to make or break the team. I think it made us.”

It made Syracuse into a dominant tournament team. It made Syracuse into a nightmare to play against.

And on the very court where the Orange looked disoriented three weeks ago, it made Syracuse into a member of the Final Four.

Concerns never seemed so far away. A championship has never seemed so close.

“We can’t wait,” Carter-Williams said. “It’s going to be a fun weekend in Atlanta.”

Published on March 30, 2013 at 5:32 pm

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