It’s easy to overlook Josh Pace. He’s doesn’t shoot like Gerry McNamara, so he’s just a role player, right? Can’t dunk like Hakim Warrick, so he must be a ‘glue guy,’ whatever that means.

To make it worse, he’s literally sandwiched between that pair of Wooden Award finalists in the starting lineup. Even his name – Josh Pace – flies by if you glance too fast, two syllables and eight letters that have as much panache as a chemistry lecture.

So here’s some advice, with about two months left of Pace’s time at Syracuse: Avoid the obstacles listed above and don’t bypass the Syracuse men’s basketball team’s starting small forward.

Forget the tags of role player or glue guy or whatever. Pace is too good, too important to the Orange to be thrown into that bin. He is a bona fide weapon, a player Syracuse cannot win without. And he has accomplished this status without the use of a serviceable jump shot and a right hand that might as well be tied behind his back.

Pace might be the most unique player in the country and one of the most fun to watch.

He never shoots beyond the free throw line. Then again, he never misses. He plays defense like he’s possessed, and he snags five rebounds a game over players half a foot taller than him.

So, while you cherish Warrick’s final season of elastic-armed dunks, don’t forget to watch and admire Pace, because you won’t see another player quite like him in a long time.

Because if he’s just a role player, then so are Warrick and McNamara.

‘I think people call him a role player because he plays the same every night,’ McNamara said. ‘I think it is wrong because he’s not a role player. He’s a good player that we absolutely need. That undermines JP’s game. He’s too good of a player to be called a role player.’

Wanna know how important Pace is to the Orange? Just look at what happens when he doesn’t play well, which happens so rarely. Against Pittsburgh’s zone Saturday – a style of defense he struggles against – Pace scored two points as Syracuse squandered a 17-point lead.

If you want a good barometer of how SU played, look up Pace in the box score.

It’s been like that for a while. Carmelo Anthony’s transcendence made you forget about how fiercely Pace emerged during SU’s title run two years ago. Just a sophomore, he became SU’s sixth man and played his best ball under the most pressure.

Speaking of pressure, last season, he had to carry the burden of replacing Carmelo Anthony. Did anyone expect Pace to become a local paragon and score 20 points a game? Of course not. But someone had to assume Carmelo’s starting small forward, and it was Pace who so admirably did.

And he did it all with a, shall we say interesting, jump shot.

Oh, that jumper. Since he unleashes that ghastly shot almost exclusively in practice – unless you’re a senior, you’ve probably never seen him attempt a true outside J – a brief description is in order.

Pace lifts the ball two-handed over his hand, elbows splayed and headed in opposite directions. He tilts forward as he does this, then lurches toward the hoop. Before he releases the ball, he recoils and lets fly with a shot that knuckles toward the rim with little to no chance of seeing the net’s bottom.

It does to the eyes what nails on a chalkboard do to the ears. It is an abomination, a sight that would make Norman Dale cringe.

But that’s enough about Pace’s jumper, because to belabor it is missing the point with Pace. In fact, it’s that lack of jumper that makes him so special.

He has just one weapon in his arsenal – a move that’s as simple as it effective, as unique as it is frightening for a defender. He backs down the lane, somehow grinding his way to the hoop no matter what is in his way, then spins and hoists that, that … that thing, half-floater, half-reverse lay-up, 100 percent deadly.

‘You know what he’s going to do, but he does it anyway,’ McNamara said. ‘Great players, you know their move, but they still get it done. With Hakim, you know he’s gonna spin, but he still scores. Same thing with Josh.’

Those who can’t appreciate Pace’s game are the kind that can’t appreciate the twang of Hank Williams’ voice. It’s not what you’re used to and it’s more than a little rough around the edges, but, damn, is it beautiful to behold anyway.

‘I just come out and play ball,’ Pace said. ‘I don’t really pay attention to the labels. I don’t really care about what people say about who do this, who does that. As long as we’re winning, that’s the main thing.

I just want to be known as a basketball player.’

You see? It’s easy to overlook a guy like that, a guy who just wants to be a basketball player.

But don’t do it. It might be hard, but it’s worth the effort.