BARACK-ET BUSTER: Syracuse guard Michael Carter-Williams (right) is sure the Orange will take down Victor Oladipo and Indiana tonight, busting brackets everywhere — including Barack Obama’s. (Getty Images (2))
WASHINGTON — Michael Carter-Williams thinks President Barack Obama is wrong.
And he can’t wait to prove it to the world.
The Syracuse sophomore is aware Obama picked top-seeded Indiana to beat the fourth-seeded Orange in tonight’s East Region semifinal at the Verizon Center, just over a mile from the White House. But the star guard knows that even the most powerful man in the free world can do nothing to stop a team surging with confidence.
“To bust the President’s bracket would be pretty fun,” Carter-Williams said. “It’s something we can do and we’re confident we can do it. I think almost everyone has Indiana winning. I think we are an underdog, but we can play with the best. We beat Louisville. We beat Georgetown. We’ve beaten some really good teams. We’re right up there with them. We’re ready to prove everybody wrong once again. We know what it takes. We’re going to go out there and play our best basketball we’ve played all season.”
Sophomore center Rakeem Christmas was one of several Syracuse players who echoed the Orange-against-the-world mentality.
“That’s just hyping us up to have a better game against them,” Christmas said.
The two teams haven’t met in the NCAA Tournament since Keith Smart’s last-second shot gave the Hoosiers their most recent national championship in 1987, but Indiana (29-6) has one of its best opportunities to reclaim the throne since then, featuring two of the best players in college basketball — guard Victor Oladipo and center Cody Zeller.
Syracuse forward James Southerland knows just how good they are. For a team he hasn’t faced, he’s reminded of that fact far too often.
“I feel like I see them every time I turn on ESPN,” the Bayside product said yesterday. “They’re a good team, consistently all year and definitely one of those teams you look forward to playing against. They have great talent, great shooters and all‑-around great players. We feel like we will match up pretty well against them.”
Syracuse (28-9) looked like it would have this week free after losing four of five games late in Big East play, which included a 39-point effort against Georgetown at the Verizon Center. It’s a game coach Jim Boeheim said he “just can’t remember.”
The amnesia spread throughout the team, resulting in five wins in their past six games, with the defense allowing 48.6 points in the wins.
Carter-Williams said he expects Syracuse’s size to cause problems for Indiana’s smaller guards, and though Indiana has the third-highest scoring offense in the nation (79.5 points per game) and ranks seventh in shooting from the field (48.6 percent), Zeller displayed concerns when addressing the Hoosiers’ lack of experience going up against a zone defense, like Syracuse’s famed 2-3 scheme.
“It’s going to cause a lot of problems for us,” Zeller said. “It’s tough since we haven’t seen that much zone this year. We haven’t seen that kind of athleticism and length. We’ve got our work cut out for us.”
Though Indiana has made the Sweet 16 for the second straight year, following a decade-long drought, the Hoosiers are in a much different position than last year, when the upstarts attempted to knock off No. 1 seed and eventual-national champion Kentucky in the Sweet 16.
“It’s a lot different because people expect a lot more,” Zeller said. “They don’t get too excited about much.”
Not true. Everyone still loves an upset.
howard.kussoy@nypost.com