No television stations carried a live broadcast of last night’s Syracuse men’s basketball season opener, which spared thousands of SU fans from watching the Orangemen fall flat on their faces.

Life Without Carmelo Anthony began on a dubious note, as Charlotte used 31 points from guard Brendan Plavich to beat Syracuse, 96-92, before 20,268 at the Carrier Dome. While last night’s game provided the requisite amount of drama – perhaps the only certainty in this otherwise uncertain season – the 49ers exposed Syracuse’s major defensive and interior weaknesses.

‘If we play like we did tonight, we might have a chance to win 10 or 12 games this year,’ SU head coach Jim Boeheim said. ‘Maybe. That’s all.’

Syracuse appeared clueless on defense in the first half. The Orangemen fell behind, 36-22, with five minutes, 43 seconds left in the half, as Plavich nailed his sixth of 10 3-pointers – a record for an opposing player in the Dome.

The Orangemen futilely tinkered with a man-to-man defense and even tried a press with six minutes remaining in the half. But when the Orangemen first employed the press, SU forward Hakim Warrick forgot to stay back and contain Charlotte’s guards – an error that drew an unsightly sneer from Boeheim.

While the 49ers played a box-and-one defense against SU guard Gerry McNamara and limited him to six first-half points, Plavich found enough open looks to hit seven, first-half 3-pointers.

After Plavich’s seventh, Boeheim pointed at McNamara, who was guarding Plavich.

‘That’s enough!’ Boeheim screamed, as he stomped his foot. ‘He’s got seven threes!’

In the second half, McNamara redeemed himself, demanding the ball and exploding for 28 points to finish with a career-high 34. He proved pesky in the full-court press, which the Orangemen used for the entire second half, and helped cut Charlotte’s lead to three points in the final minute.

‘That’s the way I had to approach it,’ McNamara said. ‘I figured I had to create for myself.’

Said freshman Terrence Roberts: ‘He gave us the impression that he wanted to win and is willing to carry us on his back.’

But, as Boeheim told the Orangemen afterward, one player can’t carry this team. Especially when Syracuse’s centers perform as abysmally as they did last night. Craig Forth had two points in 11 minutes, and Jeremy McNeil had eight in 22. Forth started, which is becoming a token gesture, but Boeheim pulled him with four minutes, 14 seconds remaining in the first half. Forth sat on the bench for the rest of the game.

‘I’m really at a loss to understand how our big guys can be this unproductive at this stage of their careers,’ Boeheim said. ‘They haven’t provided any reason for optimism watching them play.’

In the first half, the Orangemen, especially Warrick, played tentatively in the paint. For the game, guard Josh Pace led SU with eight rebounds.

‘They just kept mixing up defenses,’ Warrick said, ‘and it was hard to find ways to penetrate.’

When the Orangemen managed to kick the ball out to the perimeter, their shooting was spotty, except for McNamara’s. Pace finished with 15 points on 6-of-13 shooting, and point guard Billy Edelin had 13 points on 5-of-13 shooting.

Both must become more reliable outside shooters for SU to succeed. Either that or Forth and McNeil must chip in at least an iota of offense, which, at this point, appears almost impossible.

‘Gerry’s not gonna shoot the ball as well as he did tonight every night,’ Boeheim said. ‘We lost 36 points of offense [without Anthony and Kueth Duany] and gained zero from what I can see. We are what we are – down 20 points to a team that got beat by George Washington. That’s what we are.

‘We were a very badly beaten team tonight. That doesn’t bode well for the future.’

Published on November 25, 2003 at 12:00 pm