The question was pitched to Jim Boeheim about a week ago.

His then-No.4 Syracuse team had just bludgeoned a Top 10 archrival in front of more than 25,000 fans and extended its winning streak to seven games. It was worth a shot.

Do you have a special feeling about this team?

Even before the rest of the question spilled out, it was easy to gauge Boeheim’s response. The 34-year veteran had been here before, had seen winning streaks like this before. And even though his team defied preseason expectations and confounded a Big East conference which was thought to have just two power players, there was still no cause for celebration.

‘I have special feelings after the season is done,’ Boehiem said. ‘Anything else is premature, and premature is never good.’

But after Tuesday’s victory over Providence – giving Syracuse (22-1, 9-1 Big East) its best start in program history – some of the players are starting not to follow suit. Perhaps there is something special about this year’s Syracuse team. Special enough to, at least, vault them into the record books.

‘I just know we got something special here,’ sophomore guard Scoop Jardine said. ‘It’s an honor to be a part of that. There’s a lot of tradition going on around here, and just to be a part of that and have it in the history books -I mean, no one can take that from me and the rest of my teammates – is an honor.’

The Orange hopes to extend its program-record start one more game when it takes on Cincinnati (14-7, 5-4 Big East) Sunday at 2 p.m. inside the Fifth Third Arena.

Without question, the vibe is different. With the departure of its three leading scorers from a year ago, there’s no reason it wouldn’t be.

But on the court, it’s easy to see. There is no panic, no quarrels. In the locker room after a tight game where the team plays poorly, everyone is down. After a blowout victory, everyone gets worked up.

‘We’ve been so much of a team,’ senior guard Andy Rautins said. ‘We got here as a family, and we have all the talent in the world. So when you put those two things together, I don’t think it’s a surprise to anybody.’

If there is something special, it’s also transparent in the statistics. At the 23-game mark last year, the 2008-09 Orange had fewer wins, a lower field-goal percentage, a lower free-throw percentage, a lower 3-point percentage, fewer steals and more turnovers.

Steals and assists are up by nearly 100 in each category.

‘It feels good, especially with the fact that coming into this season we weren’t supposed to be good as we are, according to a couple reporters,’ sophomore forward Kris Joseph said. ‘I don’t blame them because we did lose three of our best players, but it just feels so good to know that our hard work in the offseason is paying off right now.’

Yet, the team stays grounded. After each game, Boeheim stands at the podium and fires off a list of things his team has done well, and a longer list of things they did not.

Following the win over Providence, Boeheim wasn’t ready to let go of DePaul. A two-point win over a conference bottom-feeder in which his team struggled up and down the court was a win, but it didn’t excuse the team from playing badly. Though, with the words special feeling being tossed around, sometimes others could make excuses for Boeheim’s players. Something the coach doesn’t appreciate.

‘We were ready to play at DePaul. Whenever you have a bad game, people say you aren’t ready to play,’ Boeheim said. ‘It’s never about that. We did not play well, period.’

Special, like he said, will be reserved until after the season.

‘It wasn’t that it was a road game,’ the coach continued. ‘It wasn’t that it was in the afternoon. It wasn’t that we didn’t have good food. It wasn’t that we were tired. There’s none of that. You have bad games, and we had a bad offensive game.’

ctorr@syr.edu

Published on February 3, 2010 at 12:00 pm