The Daily Orange

For only the second time under Jim Boeheim, the Syracuse men's basketball team will play in the NIT in consecutive years. Syracuse (19-13) will face Robert Morris (26-7) in the first round of the NIT Tuesday at 8 p.m. (ESPNU). The Orange is a No. 1 seed in the tournament after it was a No.

BALTIMORE - Steven Brooks admitted he doesn't like playing overtime games. So with his Syracuse team locked in a tie with Johns Hopkins here at Homewood Field, the SU midfielder decided he would end it quickly. Thirty seconds into the overtime, Brooks took a pass from midfielder Dan Hardy 15 yards away from the JHU goal and gave Syracuse a 14-13 win over the No.

NEW YORK - Bleary-eyed and hushed to a whisper, Donte Greene tried burying his face in a towel. But he just couldn't escape Wednesday's biting reality. "There's no way we're making it," Greene said, referring to the NCAA Tournament that has captivated the minds of Syracuse fans and players alike practically since the start of the season.

Brendan Loftus wanted to go home. The physical play, the missed shots, the makes or breaks over the coarse of a lacrosse game. It wears on you. So when the Syracuse senior midfielder ended it all by scoring the game winner for a 9-8 victory over No. 9 Georgetown in double overtime before 4,921 in the Carrier Dome on Sunday, there was plenty of relief - even if some didn't see it.

HARTFORD, Conn. - Erica Morrow tried to change Syracuse's fate Saturday night. But it turns out she was just delaying the inevitable. South Florida was able withstand Morrow's comeback efforts down the stretch, as the Bulls topped the Orange, 68-67 in overtime, a stunning upset that knocked six seed SU out of the Big East tournament in the first round.

HARTFORD, Conn. - Something strange happened with Syracuse's defense midway through the second half Saturday night. South Florida had just hit four 3's in the first seven minutes, cutting what was a 10-point Orange lead at halftime down to a single point.

Mobbed by his teammates under the hoop, Kristof Ongenaet slapped his hand on the ground and was lifted to his feet as the praise rained down. He had given Syracuse a lift - and a nine-point lead - with his improbable fastbreak dunk. And the sight of his all-out effort was enough to prove the Orange was outright refusing to lose this game.

NEWARK, N.J. - Like a flashback - or a recurring nightmare - there was Syracuse's opponent stubbornly slicing down the SU lead again. The familiar deer-in-headlights look from last Saturday was back, too. As was the palpable shift in momentum to peel back any of the Orange's youthful exuberance.

NEWARK, N.J. - Jim Boeheim made it obvious what Syracuse's key to victory would be against Seton Hall. Playing against a Pirates team that started just one player taller than 6-foot-5, it would be on Syracuse's frontcourt to control the boards and provide points from inside.

NEWARK, N.J. It wasn't so much that Syracuse was able to beat the Seton Hall press. Outlast would be a more accurate description. After amassing a 15-point lead heading into halftime, the Orange found itself confronted for much of the second half by the Pirates' press.

Last year, Syracuse went into its final game needing a win to reach the Big East tournament, but came up five points short in a 59-54 loss against Cincinnati. The loss placed the Orange 13th in the Big East, resulting in no postseason play and an offseason of frustration.

Four days after Syracuse men's lacrosse suffered its first loss of the season, a 14-13 overtime heartbreaker to No. 3 Virginia in Baltimore, the atmosphere in the moments before Wednesday's practice was decidedly positive. The Cavaliers had won their fifth game in a row against the Orange, and in dramatic fashion.

After four games in the Gary Gait era of Syracuse women's lacrosse, the No. 6 Orange has done everything expected of it, but little more than that. With only one challenge thus far in the season, SU has gone 3-1 with its lone loss on the road to No. 2 Virginia.

Coming off a four-game losing streak, Syracuse tennis head coach Luke Jensen is taking his team to Tampa, Fla., for what he calls "Camp Hell." Jensen's sub-.500 team will use the time for "spring hardcore training" to refine the basics of Syracuse's game in order to refresh for its final matches of the season.

It's awfully difficult to be optimistic with a 0-13 record. But Syracuse softball head coach Leigh Ross knows playing nationally ranked schools will ultimately enhance their preparation against the Big East. "I think with the strength of schedule you can gain a lot of experience from that," Ross said.

The losses kept coming. The critics were quick to point out the failures of the new coach. At the beginning of the season, nothing went right for the Kentucky men's basketball team. The Wildcats, one of the most storied programs in the history of college basketball, had gone from a national contender to one of the biggest disappointments in the country early in the season with a 6-7 record.