Jim Boeheim has been pretty outspoken about the NCAA Tournament lately. The Syracuse coach

has been one of the most fervent advocates of expanding the field to 96 teams. Boeheim also

sees no reason to be coy about his team's likely destination in mid-March.

"It's got to be pretty obvious," Boeheim said Wednesday from his office in Syracuse. "I

think some of our fans are already buying tickets."

Boeheim expects Buffalo to be awash in the color orange for the NCAA subregional March

19-21. The Orange is 26-2 and ranked fourth in the country. Even if it collapses between now

and Selection Sunday, SU is almost certain to be at HSBC Arena next month.

The top four seeds in each region get geographic preference for the opening round. Syracuse

would play here as part of a "pod" from another region.

"We'd love to go to Buffalo," Boeheim said. "I just wish we could go from there to a

certain other place in the East."

The East Region final is in Syracuse this year. SU isn't eligible because the Carrier Dome

is its home court. So the committee will likely cut the Orange a break and put it as close to

home as possible for the subregional.

Syracuse hasn't been in New York State for the subregionals since 1987, when it was still

allowed to host at the Dome. The Orange won the East Region in Albany en route to winning the

NCAA title in 2003. Boeheim relished having the home-state advantage.

"Oh, it was almost as good as home," he said. "It was noisy. You still have to play. That's

the bottom line. But [playing in Buffalo] would be a great thing."

It would be great for local hoop fans. Syracuse is a great team, capable of winning it all.

It is big, quick and deep.

The team is first in the nation in shooting percentage, 14th in field-goal defense.

Watching the players stifle teams with their 2-3 zone, you're reminded of the '03 team.

They're second in assists, fifth in steals, ninth in scoring. Not in the Big East, mind you,

but in the country, out of 334 Division I teams!

"I thought we'd be good," Boeheim said. "But not this good. I thought we'd be pretty good

because we had two big guys [Arinze Onuaku and Rick Jackson], and Andy [Rautins] is a very

good player. He was kind of stuck at forward. Now he's at guard where he belongs.

"We knew Wesley [Johnson, a star transfer] would be good. So we're not shocked at all.

Obviously, this is everything a coach could hope for."

The coach had a little something to do with it, too. Boeheim takes his shots from the

critics, but all he does is win. He's 825-290, sixth all-time among D-I coaches. He's never

had a losing season. Boeheim's teams have won at least 20 games in 32 of his 34 seasons as

head coach, an NCAA record.

This could be his best coaching job, one that earns Boeheim his first national Coach of the

Year award. SU was picked in the middle of the Big East pack after losing its top three

scorers (Jonny Flynn, Paul Harris and Eric Devendorf) from last year's Sweet 16 squad. But it

has gotten better.

Boeheim has a history of doing big things when expectations are low. His 1996 team, which

lost in the NCAA title game, wasn't ranked heading into the season. Neither was the '03 title

team. This year's team wasn't ranked, either.

Flynn, starting as a rookie for the NBA's Timberwolves, said recently that his decision to

leave sparked the Orange. He said the returning players knew they were being written off and

it made them work even harder during the offseason.

People are saying they're better off without last year's stars. Boeheim says it was fairly

easy to replace Harris and Devendorf. But come on. They'd be even better if Flynn had stayed

in school.

"We'd be hard to beat," Boeheim said. "We're hard to beat now."