THE HARD WAY: Michigan’s Tim Hardaway Jr. reacts after a basket in the first half of last night’s 61-56 victory over Syracuse to send the Wolverines into tomorrow night’s title game against Louisville. (REUTERS)
ATLANTA — When you get to the Final Four, and it ends before you get a chance to play for the national championship, to climb a ladder and cut down the nets and stand on top of the college basketball world, you trudge to your locker room and discover that heartbreak is dressing alongside you.
Maybe on another night, maybe against another opponent, the 2-3 zone that had carried you to the Georgia Dome might have carried you to tomorrow night against Louisville. You are Syracuse, and you will never know.
“It hurts to lose the way we did,” C.J. Fair said after Michigan defeated Syracuse, 61-56. “We had it in our hands.”
“It [stinks],” Michael-Carter Williams said. “It’s not a good feeling. I can’t really describe it. We just lost. Our season’s over.”
Maybe if Jim Boeheim had a Carmelo Anthony to turn to in crunch time he would be shooting for his second crown. Maybe if one of John Beilein’s Wolverines turned into Chris Webber and called a timeout he didn’t have it would have ended differently. Maybe if Boeheim had Gerry McNamara to shoot the 3-pointer that might have forced overtime instead of Trevor Cooney attempting an ill-fated runner, he would be celebrating today.
“We were trying to get James [Southerland] the ball and they covered him, so I just tried to make a play,” Cooney said.
Michigan began choking at the free-throw line down the stretch, and the Orange had clawed back to within 58-56 when Brandon Triche drove to the basket one last time in his Syracuse career — 19 seconds left in his Syracuse career — and Jordan Morgan, who had lost his job to Mitch McGary, was waiting under the basket and drew the charge.
“I thought he stepped underneath him — a little bit late,” Carter-Williams said. “The refs were giving ’em that call the whole game, so at least they were consistent. I know Brandon was already in the air when he stepped in to take a charge. … The call could have gone either way, and it just so happened it went the other way.”
Maybe if Carter-Williams, who had been hounded by the Wolverines, hadn’t run over Tim Hardaway Jr. with 1:14 left, there would have been no Orange crushed.
“I tried to find [Southerland] for a 3, and I ran into one of their players,” Carter-Williams said. “He did a good job of faking like it was a foul, but…”
He was asked if he felt the foul should not have been called.
“I mean, nothing at that time of the game, it shouldn’t be called, but a foul’s a foul, I guess,” Carter-Williams said.
Michigan has a new Fab Five, not all of them freshmen this time, but still babes in the NCAA Tournament woods. Boeheim won’t be meeting pal Rick Pitino in another title game; Beilein will try to win his first championship instead.
“We kept fighting to give us a chance to win, but we just came up short,” Fair said.
Cooney was asked what Boeheim had told the team.
“No one really picked us to be here,” Cooney said. “He was happy that we came together as a team and started playing a lot better towards the end.”
Assistant coach Mike Hopkins sat inside a cramped corner locker.
“To see where we were a month ago as a team, no one would have anticipated that we’d make a run,” McNamara said. “These guys are really, really mentally tough, I think they just believed in themselves. Once we lost to Georgetown on the road, they felt a little bit embarrassed, and I think the true character came out how they performed down the stretch.”
All of them tried so hard to put on a brave face.
“Not too many people had us making it this far,” Carter-Williams said.
Still…
“It’s frustrating how the whole game went down,” he said. “If I could take back everything and restart the game, I would. I’m just frustrated right now. I’m just mad that we lost.”
What might the future hold now for Fair?
“That’s not something I’m worried about after a loss like this,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s my time yet or not.”
What might the future hold for Carter-Williams?
“I have no idea,” he said. “I’m not really thinking about that right now, I’m just trying to support my guys, and just sink everything in.”
steve.serby@nypost.com