Tony Bland has the formula to beat Syracuse.

The former Orangemen guard — part of the 1999-2000 SU team whose 19-0 start to the season was eclipsed by this year’s team on Monday — is an assistant coach at No. 16 San Diego State. He watches as many SU games as he can and TiVo’s the games the No. 1 team plays on TV.

And he’s got a method to attack the team.

‘I think the other team needs to do a whole bunch of praying, do a whole bunch of wishing and then they have a chance,’ Bland said. ‘Unless they’re playing the Aztecs.’

The 1999-2000 Syracuse team was erased from the record books for the best start in school history when the 2011-12 Orange beat Pittsburgh, 71-63, to reach the 20-0 plateau. But players and coaches who were a part of one of the best runs in team history are content with the record being broken. They see a current team with broader goals than winning 20 consecutive games, and they see a team with the talent to do it, too.

‘Initially you’re like oh, you want to keep your names in the record books,’ said Bland, who started all 32 games in 1999-2000. ‘But when you’re a fan of Syracuse basketball, you’re excited to see those guys break the record.

‘And I think that’s how myself and Jason Hart and Etan Thomas and Damone Brown and all those guys who were on that team, I think that’s how we felt about that.’

This year’s team has already done something the 1999-2000 team never experienced: ascend to the No. 1 ranking.

Twelve seasons ago, SU was ranked No. 4 when it fell to Seton Hall, 69-67, on Feb. 7, 2000, in game No. 20.

‘Records are made to be beaten,’ said Hart, another guard on that team. ‘If I was somebody who only cared about something for my personal glory, then I wouldn’t be a true Syracuse fan. I hope they win every single game they play.’

Bland said he remembers Seton Hall playing a flawless game against his Orangemen that night. The Pirates were an unranked team.

So was Syracuse’s next opponent, Louisville. But one loss quickly spiraled into two as the Orangemen fell by 13 to the Cardinals on the road.

‘When we were 17-0, 18-0, we felt kind of invincible,’ Bland said. ‘And it may be part of the reason why we lost, so I want these guys to stay on edge. I want these guys to know that they are 19-0, 20-0 now, that guys will come gunning for them.’

The Orangemen dropped two more regular-season games and fell to Georgetown in their first game in the Big East tournament. In 1999-2000, Syracuse went 7-6 in its final 13 games after winning 16 of its first 19 games by double-digits.

The cloak of invincibility was yanked away. Hart said the level of focus needed to keep a lengthy winning streak going is enormous.

‘The players are going to say there’s no pressure, but I think it is pressure,’ he said. ‘Because you’re putting pressure to try and stay perfect. And people always say that a loss can help you — a loss can help you.

‘But winning every game, it teaches you how to focus, and it’s obvious since they haven’t lost any games, this team has a high level of concentration.’

This year’s team has more talent than the 1999-2000 team, Hart said. And he said SU clearly didn’t handle it well back then when it lost for the first time.

The Orangemen did rebound to make the Sweet 16 before losing to eventual national champion Michigan State. But in totality, SU fizzled down the stretch in 2000.

This year’s team could be different. There’s still no sign of when it will lose — the Orange’s next four games are against unranked teams. Louis Orr, an assistant on the 1999-2000 team and the current head coach at Bowling Green, raved about what he has seen of Syracuse this year.

‘They lead the country in steals, they’re active, their defense is active and they block over seven shots a game,’ Orr said. ‘All the defensive stats. And then they’ve got balanced scoring and they share the ball. And they’re probably, if not the best, one of the best teams in transition in the country.’

The big thing for Syracuse, Orr said, will be how it responds to that first loss.

It takes an immense amount of determination to discard the first loss and to avoid the blame game that comes with a poor performance.

But until the first loss happens, Bland said he’ll be pleased to see the streak continue.

‘Unless they were facing the Aztecs, I hope they don’t lose a game,’ Bland said. ‘If they ever do, I just hope that they know that they have to bounce back really fast and work that much harder.’

mcooperj@syr.edu

Published on January 18, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Mark: mcooperj@syr.edu | @mark_cooperjr