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By the end of the 1998 poker drama “Rounders,” Mike McDermott (played by Matt Damon) is disheveled, hours removed from the worst beating of his life. A bruise on his left cheek and two gashes on his nose show the damage.

McDermott’s face-to-face with Teddy KGB (played by John Malkovich), who drained his entire $30,000 bankroll at the beginning of the movie on a single hand. He needs to win one final game of Texas hold ‘em to get rid of all his debt. And with the odds stacked against him, McDermott wins one hand after another.

“Hanging around, hanging around,” KGB says, dealing cards out for the next hand. “Kid’s got alligator blood. Can’t get rid of him.”

No. 9 Syracuse has been in McDermott’s shoes twice this season, underdogs against the powerhouses of Maryland and Army. The Orange hung around, sending both losses to overtime. A goal-mouth violation and a missed empty net opportunity stands between them and an undefeated record.

“We can make some mistakes and still be there with a proven top 5 team,” head coach Gary Gait said following the 14-13 loss to Army. “So we’re close.”

The preseason buzz around Syracuse was high. Joey Spallina’s return after winning the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Freshman of the Year. Mason Kohn’s addition as the literal X-factor. And the hiring of John Odierna, who built 2023’s top defense at Manhattan.

A win over the Terrapins or Black Knights would have solidified the Orange as a team to beat this season. That didn’t happen, but they still deserve national recognition if they can improve on their mistakes from those games, even if they don’t beat No. 2 John Hopkins Saturday.

They aren’t a step below the top programs in the country like Gait’s first two years. They’re a half-step behind in a conference that’s up for the taking.

“We’ll get one, and hopefully two and three,” Gait said about the rest of their matchups against top-10 opponents. “We’ll look back one day, hopefully, at these first two overtime losses as important games for us for how we finish the season.”

The spot the Orange are in now is something Gait warned about prior to the season. They let too many games get out of hand late in 2023. There was the 5-0 fourth-quarter run from Maryland to hand SU its first loss of last year. Then, a scoreless 11 minutes which let John Hopkins get ahead for good. And the worst example, a one-goal fourth-quarter lead versus then-No. 3 Notre Dame that evaporated from a 9-0 Fighting Irish run.

This year wasn’t supposed to be a repeat. So what went wrong in both losses?

Kohn and the faceoff unit did what they needed to do, winning close to 50%. Will Mark and the defense were more than sound as well. But the glaring issue was the absence of Spallina, who combined for five points in the defeats after a total of 42 points over SU’s five wins.

When asked about Spallina’s struggles against Maryland and Army’s top long poles, Gait said Syracuse needs to help him get better opportunities to score and guaranteed that he’s going to get better. Christian Mulé felt obligated to chime in, too.

“Coach alluded to it, but Joey is a sophomore,” Mulé said. “He’s not going to have 10 points every time he plays. People are just way too hard on him.”

Mulé’s right. Spallina is much younger than most colleges’ top options — just two other sophomores (David Anderson and Teddy Malone) are ahead of him in the NCAA’s goals per game category. But the rightful criticism comes with being the No. 1 recruit heading into college and, more importantly, wearing the No. 22. It’s not something he can escape.

Spallina was far too one-dimensional versus Maryland’s Ajax Zappitello. He couldn’t get an inch of separation without the help of a pick (even then Zappitello usually got back in front of him). He never shot from the left side or pulled off a successful dodge.

Against Army’s AJ Pilate, it was the same story. Spallina committed four turnovers for the second straight game. He rarely did anything off-ball and finished with no goals for the second time in his career.

Spallina’s third turnover revealed another problem with SU’s new attack — its inability on man-up opportunities. In April 2023, the Orange had the fourth-best man-up offense nationally, scoring 57.4% of the time. So far this year, they rank 33rd with a 38% success rate.

“It could be the spark that turns it around this year,” Gait said.

Spallina and Jackson Birtwistle marshaled the man-up unit with 10 and 11 goals, respectively, in 2023. This season, Gait said there’s no urgency on executing the plays and that everyone is staying inside instead of stretching out the defense.

The same could be said about the offense overall given Spallina’s flat play. Mulé isn’t worried about that either, saying the media needs to realize that attention on Spallina opens up the rest of the offense.

Again, Mulé’s correct. It’s OK for Spallina to be out of the picture sometimes as long as the rest of the cast steps up.

SU’s attack is more talented than ever. Michael Leo and Luke Rhoa are destroying short-stick matchups. The Orange upgraded from two transfers in Cole Kirst and Alex Simmons to three in Sam English, Jake Stevens and Mulé. Owen Hiltz has flashed improvements, too, though he also combined for two points against Maryland and Army.

If more of the potency from Syracuse’s weak nonconference bouts can transfer to ACC play, there’s no stopping it from breaking its two-year NCAA Tournament drought.

Before the season, Gait chuckled about the schedule, saying the Orange could win every nonconference game and make the postseason. If they split the matchups against Maryland and Army that could’ve been the case, but now that’s out of the picture.

Still, the ACC is beatable for the first time in a while. Every ACC team lost in the span of six days, capped off by John Hopkins’ 16-14 win over Virginia on March 2.

The Blue Jays exposed the Cavaliers’ faceoff unit, winning five straight in the second half — Kohn could do the same. Georgetown shut down Notre Dame’s offense, holding the Kavanagh brothers to nine shots and just two goals — Odierna’s defense could do the same. Penn exposed Duke, which has the 49th-best clearing percentage in the country, with its ride — SU could take advantage of that, too.

McDermott’s improbable win in the “Rounders” finale comes from figuring out KGB’s “tell.” The underground Poker lord is no longer invincible and McDermott baits him to go all-in against a nut straight on the last hand.

The giants of the ACC have shown their tells this season. Syracuse just needs to exploit them.

“It’s just a matter of making one less mistake and one more big play, and when you’re up, maintain that,” Gait said.

Anish Vasudevan is the Editor-in-Chief at The Daily Orange, where his column appears occasionally. He can be reached at asvasude@syr.edu or on X @anish_vasu.

Published on March 7, 2024 at 12:38 am