Mike Allison’s shot made a few things abundantly clear on Saturday.

You know the shot, down by the baseline in front of the Syracuse bench, where the Maine reserve forward fired the ball so far right that it missed the side of the backboard all together, and plunked the State Farm-sponsored support beam.

The first is that Maine, which scored all of 12 points by halftime, was without a doubt Syracuse’s least competitive opponent this season. The second, which stems from the first, may have far more comprehensive repercussions.

With a virtual away game at No. 13 Florida in Tampa, Fla., looming Thursday, playing possibly the worst team on the schedule right before the best (so far) could be the recipe which interrupts what has been nothing short of a blissful season.

If you ask head coach Jim Boeheim, he’ll say it doesn’t matter and rattle off his team’s resume to date. More than 800 wins allow him to do so without much justification needed.

‘Well, let’s see,’ Boeheim said after the Orange’s 101-55 win over the Black Bears. ‘We beat Robert Morris by 40, and I think we played alright in New York.

‘That’s all nonsense. You play 10 easy games and the next game, if you play well – you win. You play badly, you won’t. It won’t be because you played 10 easy games, it will be because you didn’t play well.’

But take into account that California – no longer in the Top 25 – played without two of its better players against the Orange and that North Carolina’s ranking may still be a little inflated from last year’s national championship, Florida may be the first true test of the season.

Not to mention that it is the team’s first game out of its comfort zone, away from the Carrier Dome and its second home at Madison Square Garden. The St. Pete Times Forum will be decidedly pro-Florida.

And to prepare, the Orange faced off against three teams that averaged a staggering national ranking of 237th in field goal percentage, 183rd in rebounding margin and 262nd in shot defense, with Maine by far the worst.

No matter how good Syracuse may be, the Gators present quite a change of pace from Colgate, Columbia and Maine.

‘That’ll be a test for us mentally, coming off these two blowout games we just had and then going down there and playing a really good team in Florida,’ junior forward Wes Johnson said. ‘That’s going to show us where we’re at mentally and how good of a team we really are’

This is not to say that the Orange will not be properly prepared for Florida. Talk to Johnson or senior guard Andy Rautins and they’ll be the first to say that there’s been discussion of the Gators all week, even during Maine preparation.

Johnson said there were glimpses of Billy Donovan’s inside-out offense all week, sprinkled in with game-planning for Maine.

But the suggestion is, that maybe, just maybe, Maine and the rest of the three stooges were getting Syracuse used to a certain style of play – game speed, opponent size, whatever – and the team could still be stuck neutral when it heads down to Tampa.

It’s entirely possible. For Arinze Onuaku, he’ll go from bodying up Maine’s 6-foot-7, 250 pound Sean McNally to Florida’s 6-foot-10 Vernon Macklin, a former McDonald’s All-American. For freshman point guard Brandon Triche and Rautins, they’ll go from trapping Maine’s Gerald McLemore, to Florida’s Kenny Boynton, one of the most explosive and exciting young guards in the country.

‘I think Florida is a Top 10 team. I really do,’ Boeheim said. ‘It’ll be a great test for us.’

Sure, Onuaku could prep by spending the next two days of practice battling down low with fellow forward Rick Jackson to prep for Macklin, just like Triche could chase Scoop Jardine around to simulate what it will be like to guard Boynton.

But at the end of the day, neither Maine, Colgate, Columbia or Syracuse itself, can accurately prepare the Orange for what it will face Thursday.

Instead, it will be, like Boeheim said. A test. The team’s toughest to date.

‘You’ve got to have your head on either way,’ Rautins said. ‘You’ve got to have your head on, know your defense, know how to prepare for the next game.’

It’s a good motto to have, but if practice is what makes perfect, what does a 46-point demolition of an America East Conference school get you? Guess we’ll find out Thursday.

Conor Orr is an assistant sports editor at The Daily Orange, where his column appears occasionally. He can be reached at ctorr@syr.edu.

Published on December 6, 2009 at 12:00 pm