By SCOTT PITONIAK
Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle

ALBANY, N.Y. - He will walk into the Louisiana Superdome later this week, and he'll no doubt take a look at the spot on the court where Keith Smart broke his heart back in 1987.

Had that shot found iron rather than the center of the cylinder, Jim Boeheim would have won that elusive national championship. He would have owned the only jewel missing from a sparkling, Hall of Fame-caliber coaching career.

The subject of his Nightmare on Bourbon Street was broached Sunday afternoon, because, on the 16th anniversary of the toughest loss in Boeheim's 27 seasons as Syracuse University's basketball boss, his Orangemen presented him with a ticket to another Final Four in New Orleans.

And, with it, comes an opportunity to exorcise a ghost and fill a void.

At the Pepsi Arena, a 15,000-seat gym that was transformed into a mini-Carrier Dome, a group of underclassmen who refuse to act their age, got into a zone - a suffocating 2-3 zone - and totally dominated top-seeded Oklahoma, 63-47, in the NCAA East Regional finals.

The 'Cuse is back in the Final Four for the first time since 1996, and only the fourth time in the program's rich history. Boeheim was involved in the first trip in 1975 as an assistant, and the last two trips as the head coach.

The one, of course, that sticks out is the one in New Orleans. Four seconds left. Smart from the corner. Nothing but net. Indiana wins the national championship. Say it ain't so, Jim. Say it ain't so.

"I had a tremendous experience for five days, 39 minutes and 56 seconds there," he said. "I'm gonna try to get that other four seconds in this time."

You only get so many shots at this. When the Cuse went in '75 and '96, the better team probably won. But in 1987? Well, it was there for the taking.

"It's been about once a decade for our program, so when you get an opportunity, you really have to go for it because there aren't any guarantees that you are going back any time soon," he said. "I thought we did all we could do in '75 and '96. I thought those teams went as far as they could go with it; they overachieved. But '87 is one that you tend to play the 'what if' game with. When it comes down to one shot, you can't help but think you should have won it."

Maybe, just maybe, this is the Syracuse team that will present its coach with the big prize. After watching the Orangemen beat a hardnosed Oklahoma team at its own game - defense, rebounding and hustle - you can't help but think that maybe the 'Cuse can go all the way.

The Sooners are a heck of a basketball team from the nation's best conference, the Big 12. But the nation's third-ranked team looked totally baffled by SU's trademark 2-3 zone.

Oklahoma shot just 31 percent from the field. Hollis Price, the Big 12 Player of the Year, hit just three of 17 attempts. Point guard Quannas White was 1-for-8 with five turnovers and just two assists. As a team, Oklahoma shot 5-of-28 (18 percent) from beyond the 3-point arc.

"People make too big a deal out of the coaching end of it," Boeheim said. "We didn't make any alterations to our zone. It's just that our kids were very, very active. They did a great job of sliding and contesting shots. You can coach your butt off, but it still comes down to players making plays."

True enough, but you can't minimize the job Boeheim has done this year with a team that features three freshmen and three sophomores among its eight-man rotation. Yeah, these kids are basketball wise beyond their years, and yeah they play without fear. But Boeheim has done a superb job of mixing the ingredients. He has a great feel for this team, when to substitute, what offense to run, when to press, etc.

It's tough to say whether this is his best coaching job, because he did take a much less talented team to the championship game in '96.

But this has to rank near the top.

The coach with the most NCAA tournament victories (36) without a championship has a chance to exorcise a ghost and fill a void. Sixteen years after being out-Smarted by Indiana, he just might be able to enjoy the experience next Monday night for the entire 40 minutes of a national championship game.