Wednesday, March 12, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
If the disappointment of not making the NCAA tournament lingers for Syracuse, it doesn't show much. Donovan McNabb helped make sure of that.
"I just let them know that we had another opportunity to play together," said McNabb, who spoke to his teammates after Syracuse was eliminated by Villanova in the second round of the Big East tournament.
"For the seniors, this just won't end on a bad note. We have an opportunity to continue on and go back to the (Madison Square) Garden and have the possibility of maybe winning this thing."
This thing is the National Invitation Tournament, and the Orangemen's first foe is Florida State in tonight's first round.
"We're looking forward to the challenge," Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said Tuesday as he began final preparations for tonight's game. "It's a lot better than sitting at home being upset that you're not in the NCAA tournament. I'm glad the NIT is still around. It gives you a chance to play, and I think players and coaches would much rather be playing."
Syracuse (19-12) and Florida State (16-11) thought that maybe they had made enough of a statement during the season to make it to the NCAA tournament. They didn't.
For Syracuse, which made it to the national championship game a year ago, the reality of it all was difficult to accept. There was lingering disappointment among the Orangemen on Tuesday, but only a smidgen.
Senior guard Jason Cipolla, who three weeks ago said he didn't want to go to the NIT -- that going from the Final Four to the NIT would probably be the most depressing thing he's ever been through in his life -- declined to comment on the game at hand. He worked on his jump shot instead and let his teammates do the talking.
"Everybody's going to be down," McNabb said.
He should know. As quarterback of the football team, he watched the Orangemen's high hopes of challenging for the national championship disintegrate with consecutive losses at the start of the season. McNabb's experience and upbeat manner no doubt helped his teammates on the basketball team.
"We picked our heads up and practiced yesterday pretty hard," McNabb said Tuesday. "We're going to try to come out here and get better. We're very motivated."
They should be. The Seminoles offer a considerable challenge. They beat some of the big guys of the Atlantic Coast Conference: 84-71 over No. 4 North Carolina, 59-55 over No. 9 Wake Forest, 67-65 over No. 14 Clemson, and 74-70 over No. 22 Maryland. They also nearly defeated eighth-ranked Duke early in the season, eventually losing 72-66 in overtime on the road, and lost to the Demon Deacons 66-65 in the ACC tournament.
"They're a very, very good team, as good as anybody in the NIT field," Boeheim said. "Obviously, they've won some big games. It's a lot tougher than any of the first-round games that we've had in the NCAA tournament the last couple of times."
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