By JEFF DIVERONICA
Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle

NEW ORLEANS - He has squeezed so much into this season, most likely his only as a college basketball player, and Monday night Carmelo Anthony tries to grab it all - a national championship.

For himself. For coach Jim Boeheim. For Syracuse University fans everywhere.

"I came to college to experience something like this," Anthony said Sunday afternoon, smiling at the Superdome where he will lead the Orangemen in their quest for the school's first NCAA Tournament title.

Syracuse plays Kansas, a team that is almost the exact opposite. While the Orangemen are powered by six talented underclassmen, the Jayhawks are driven by seniors Nick Collison, an All-America forward, and shooting guard Kirk Hinrich. They want to give coach Roy Williams his first national crown.

The Orangemen want the same for Boeheim, whose 1987 and '96 teams lost in the title game.

"I know he's trying to keep it under wraps, but he wants it real bad," SU freshman guard Gerry McNamara said. "And we want to get it for him and for ourselves."

Either Williams, 52, who is making his fourth Final Four trip in 15 years at Kansas, or Boeheim, 58, will lose the label of top coach never to have won a national title. They rank 1-2 in winning percentage among active coaches and in NCAA Tournament victories for coaches without a championship.

"You're in this business and the whole thing from when you start, when you're a player and when you're a coach, is to try to win this thing," said Boeheim, who played at Syracuse, has been its head coach for 27 years and also was an assistant to Roy Danforth on its other Final Four team in 1975.

Kansas, which knocked off Duke and No. 1 seed Arizona in the tough West Regional before pounding Marquette 94-61 on Saturday, will be the fourth team from the Big 12 Conference the Orangemen play in the tournament and fifth overall. SU beat Missouri in the regular season and Oklahoma State, Oklahoma and Texas in the NCAAs.

Oklahoma State and Oklahoma had trouble figuring out Syracuse's 2-3 zone. Behind All-America point guard T.J. Ford, hot-shooting Brandon Mouton and surprisingly effective big man Brad Buckman, Texas didn't have as much difficulty in Saturday's 95-84 loss. Anthony & Co. basically beat the Longhorns with better offense.

Anthony was awesome. The freshman, who flirted with the NBA before even coming to college and is most likely going to make the jump in June, scored a career-high 33 points and hauled down 14 rebounds. McNamara (19 points), sophomore forward Hakim Warrick (18) and reserve Josh Pace (12) also played huge.

"You can't just be concerned about Carmelo," Williams said. "You have to play their whole team."

"Off the top of my head," he added, making it sound as if trying to stop Anthony hadn't consumed his thoughts since Saturday night, "you'd say Keith (Langford) is going to get the start on Carmelo, but he will need help."

Langford, a sophomore swingman, was Kansas' best player Saturday. He slashed his way to 23 points, making 11 of 14 shots. Hinrich and sophomore point guard Aaron Miles added 18 points each and Marquette had no equal for the 6-foot-9 Collison, who had 12 points and 15 rebounds. At 6-4, 205 pounds, Langford is a little stronger than most defenders teams put on the 220-pound Anthony. But he is still four inches shorter.

"We're going to play man-to-man," Williams said. "If we go to zone, it's because we're in foul trouble. We do have some tremendously tough matchups. Carmelo is a tough matchup. Warrick is a tough matchup. We have some kids that are going to accept the challenge and we'll see what happens."

SU will have to be wary of Kansas' fast break off missed shots and even baskets. The Jayhawks might even be faster than Texas in transition. The Orangemen also aren't putting much credence in the fact that they're 4-0 this season against the Big 12.

"It just gives us a little more confidence," Anthony said.

Boeheim scoffed at the notion.

"I don't see that much similar between (Kansas and Texas)," he said. "Texas to me is Ford trying to make plays and Kansas is a lot of guys trying to make plays. Both teams do get up and down the court, but whenever you play against a good transition team ... you have to be efficient on offense. We were efficient (Saturday)."

Syracuse made 32 of 56 shots (54 percent), including 7 of 13 from beyond the arc.

"They've got an unbelievable amount of talent. They're a confident bunch," Collison said of the Orange. "They're not intimidated by this scene at all."

Kansas has older players, reached the Final Four last year and is playing its best basketball. But Williams said experience "is the most overplayed factor (in the game)."

Opposing coaches have said all season when discussing Syracuse that talent often trumps experience.

"We've played teams that were led by seniors all year," McNamara said.

"At this point, we're not freshmen. We haven't played like it and we don't expect to play like it."