:04 . . . :03 . . . :02 . . . :01--Time Stands Still for No Man, Nor Orangemen

Three precious seconds? What happened to them? Why didn’t someone call a timeout? Or, why didn’t the officials recognize a timeout if one was called?

These are the agonizing questions that Syracuse will have to live with after losing to Indiana, 74-73, in the NCAA championship game Monday night at the Superdome.

In an exceptionally well-played final game, Indiana guard Keith Smart buried a 16-foot jump shot from the baseline with only four seconds remaining.

There was, of course, enough time for Syracuse to set up a possible, countering winning shot--if a timeout had been called quickly. But three seconds went off the clock before Syracuse was accorded a timeout.

There was some conflicting opinions as to just what happened in those crucial, final seconds.

“I though we called it (a timeout after Smart’s basket),” Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim said. “But they (the officials) didn’t see it. So that’s the way it is.”

Syracuse guard Greg Monroe and forward Howard Triche both said that they signaled for a timeout almost immediately after Smart’s winning shot. But to no avail.

“Both Howard and I signaled time out, and I thought there were about three seconds left,” Monroe said. “I was a little more toward half court, and Howard was there by an official. Two ticks went off and there was only one second left.”

No official was available for comment after the game.

Syracuse center Rony Seikaly had his own version of the missing seconds.

“I was in a weakside position for the rebound,” he said. “I was waiting for someone to call a timeout. There was some confusion because the whistle blew.”

Seikaly didn’t say when he heard the whistle in the final, frantic seconds. He was also under the impression that his team had used up its allotted timeouts.

The 6-foot 10-inch center grabbed the ball after Smart’s shot went through the net. Then, it seemed that Indiana guard Steve Alford knocked the ball out of Seikaly’s hands.

“I’m not sure what happened,” Seikaly said.

In any event, there was only one second remaining when Syracuse inbounded the ball. Forward Derrick Coleman threw a pass downcourt that was intercepted by Smart, of all people.

Smart, a junior college transfer, scored 12 of Indiana’s final 15 points in providing Hoosier Coach Bob Knight with his third national title.

Nevertheless, Smart’s late heroics might not have been enough if Coleman had converted both free throws of a one-and-one with 28 seconds left.

Syracuse was leading, 73-72, at the time. But Coleman’s first attempt was short and to the right of the basket. Smart (who else) grabbed the rebound with some of the Syracuse players retreating to the other end.

“I just wanted to make the damn free throw,” Coleman said, obviously frustrated.

Asked about his decision to concede the rebound on the missed free throw, Boeheim said tersely that it might have been a mistake.

The Orangemen then set up in a box-and-one defense with Triche chasing Alford, the Hoosiers’ most dangerous shooter, who finished with 23 points while making 7 of 10 three-point shots.

“We were just trying to contain their perimeter player (Alford),” Triche said. “We were successful for a while, and the ball kept going in and back out. There was a bit of a scramble and he (Smart) came up with a pretty good shot.”

Asked about his team’s defense in the final seconds, Syracuse guard Sherman Douglas snapped: “Who would you want to take that shot, Alford or Smart? He wasn’t making that kind of shot (during the game). Most of his points were coming on drives.”

Even so, Smart wound up with 21 points on 9 of 15 shooting.

It was a bitter defeat for the Big East team that wasn’t impressive in beating Providence, 77-63, Saturday in a semifinal game.

But it was a championship caliber team Monday night.

“I thought our kids did everything we asked them to,” Boeheim said. “We started out the game trying to see how our zone would react to them--but it wasn’t good tonight. We had to play man-to-man and I thought our kids did an excellent job.

“We went with the box at the end to try to keep Alford from shooting the ball. Smart just made a great play. We did a good enough job defensively to win it.”

Seikaly said that Indiana’s big men were covered inside at the end and that Alford was contained. But Smart got open for a fleeting second.

The Syracuse center also said that the defeat might have been easier to accept if Indiana had won, say, by 15 points.

“When you lose by a point, they’re (Indiana) not much better of a team than us. There is no winner in a one-point game that is won in the last seconds.”

Unfortunately, for Syracuse, there is.