(Photo by Todd Melet)

Careful, Tar Heels, don’t get trapped at Syracuse!

Okay, Carolina has won five straight and put itself in position to do just about anything — except catch Virginia for first place in the ACC. Here is what’s now within reach:

Second or third place — and seed — in the ACC race and tournament; climbing as high as a two or three NCAA seed; beating Duke in Durham for a season sweep (wouldn’t that be something!); shooting it in all the way back to a third straight Final Four.

As long as they don’t get trapped tonight at Syracuse, which is definitely a trap game. A bunch of no-names who want to make a name. Threats like leading scorer Tyus Battle, who up north is already a big name, present a challenge to a Tar Heel squad that seemingly just found its stride.

The Orange are 18-9, but just 7-7 in the ACC. Currently in tenth place, they need a marquee win to push their NCAA bit forward. Now that Carolina has moved rapidly up in the tournament metrics, this is the game for Syracuse to solidify its bid to the Big Dance.

The game is in the spacious Carrier Dome, and we all know that football stadia haven’t treated the Heels well over the years. Sure, they have a good record up there in the big bubble, but 2-1 against the ‘Cuse is a small sample size and 5-1 in the NCAA tourney is when all the chips are on the table.

So we still have shooting concerns, especially in this team. Have you noticed that when the Tar Heels are putting the ball in the basket from outside, it feels like they can beat anyone? But when they don’t sink those buckets and don’t get anything inside, they can almost lose to anyone? Can you say “Wofford?”

A third reason to worry is cagey coach Jim Boeheim, who has not played a defensive possession of anything but zone unless the Orange are way behind and have to press. That means they must be pretty good at their zones, say, good enough to hold opponents to 33 percent from the arc this season.

So, again, Carolina has to shoot it in to win, and it must be selective against the Syracuse zone. Don’t take any old three-pointer, work the rock until we get a good look, Let Kenny Williams pump-fake some defender into press row to get open.

The best way to bust a zone is to penetrate by the latest and greatest post man in Carolina history: Theo the zone-buster. Give it to No. 1 in the paint and let him find Joel or Cam or Kenny or Luuuuuke cutting or spotting up, or else wheel and deal to the basket.

I like that new outside-inside game. Let’s call it “In Theo We Trust.”