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Syracuse ultimately lost to Louisville in the Big East championship game, but the Orange clearly know how to win beneath the Garden lights.

Under Jim Boeheim, the team has won five Big East tournament titles and been runner-up nine times.

When Syracuse ventures to the Big Apple this week, it will be for the 2K Sports Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer. The Orange will meet No. 13 Cal in Thursday's first semifinal, while defending NCAA champion and No. 6 North Carolina faces No. 15 Ohio State in the second game (7 and 9 p.m., ESPN2).

The winners will hook up in Friday's championship game at 7 (ESPN2).

"We enjoy playing in New York," said Boeheim, who recently became just the eighth coach to win 800 career games. "We've had good success there. We've had tough games there, so it's hard to really say. So hopefully it will be fairly comfortable coming down there to play."

Syracuse (2-0) lost three key players from last year's team that made the run in the Big East tournament. Point guard Jonny Flynn is now with the Minnesota Timberwolves, while guard Eric Devendorf (Israel) and forward Paul Harris (NBA D-League) are playing professionally.

Cal (2-0) was picked to win the Pac-10 conference after returning four starters and 94 percent of its scoring from last season. Yet head coach Mike Montgomery knows the vaunted Syracuse zone will present problems.

Syracuse's starting guards, freshman Brandon Triche and senior Andy Rautins, are both 6-4, while Cal's top guard, Jerome Randle, a first-team All-Pac 10 selection as a junior, is 5-10.

"Jerome is small, he's quick, very explosive, but Syracuse's guards are 6-4," Montgomery said. "One of the real advantages in having big people on the perimeter, guards and really even forwards that are long, is that it makes that zone a whole lot better.

"And so you think you have a shot, but you really don't. They can contest because they're long across the board."

He added: "Their team is much more physical than what we're normally used to. They're big, strong kids with length."

One of those big, strong kids is junior forward 6-7 Wesley Johnson, a transfer from Iowa State who is averaging 13.5 points and 5.5 rebounds and whom Boeheim is touting as a potential Big East Player of the Year.

"I had heard good things about him but I didn't know how good he was," Boeheim said. "I never saw him play until he was here last fall when we were able to start watching workouts. Right away it was pretty clear that he could be a special player...He's a good all-around basketball player that has tremendous potential. He's going to be a very good player for a long time."

Boeheim said his team is still "working" and "trying to get better" on its zone defense, but North Carolina coach Roy Williams coach said the Syracuse zone should always be respected.

"Jimmy's played it," Williams said. "He coached it for many years. He knows exactly how to coach it. He hasn't won 800 games because of anything other than how good he is. It's not because of his great personality and his wonderful positive disposition."

In his typically dry style, Boeheim says he stays up "late at night" watching Pac-10 games and has a lot of respect for Cal.

"They're a very, very impressive team," Boeheim said. "A veteran team that really has tremendous ball-handling, tremendous defensive team and a great offensive team. They're picked from everything I've seen to win the Pac-10 and that's a pretty darn good conference."

Syracuse has given up just 51.5 points over its first two games, while Cal has averaged 85 points and shot 41 percent from beyond the arc (12-for-29).

"Any team that shoots well gets you in trouble," Boeheim said. "They're a very good offensive team. Whatever defense you play, a good offensive team is a difficult team to work against."

Another six-OT affair seems unlikely, but Syracuse figures to have its hands full with the seeds planted at the Garden.

"We know how good Cal is and obviously Ohio State and North Carolina," Boeheim said, "so we're looking forward to playing in this tournament."