At his press conference Sunday night, Jim Boeheim said Syracuse was “probably” the only team ever to make the Final Four after starting conference play 0-4.

The unlikeliest run in college basketball kept plugging away, SU just having beaten top-seeded Virginia 68-62. It seemed forever ago that the Orange (23-13, 9-9 Atlantic Coast) had fallen to Pittsburgh, Miami, Clemson in overtime and North Carolina to begin Atlantic Coast Conference play.

Perhaps that stretch was a necessary growing pain for a Syracuse team dealing with a new point guard, two freshmen playing starters’ minutes and a center returning to basketball from 22 months away.

Now, Syracuse is still standing when its first three ACC opponents are not. And the last team it lost to in cementing the 0-4 stretch is the only team that stands in its way of returning to the national championship game.

There were some close calls. The 1999-00 Wisconsin Badgers began Big Ten play 1-4, and the 1987-88 Kansas Jayhawks won its first Big 8 game of the season before dropping the next five.

But what SU has done this season has never been done before. Syracuse is the only team in college basketball history to make the Final Four after starting conference play 0-4.