Jim Boeheim heard the noise. And he tuned it out. Buddy Boeheim, however, could not. Would not. Scanning social media early in the season as Syracuse – the program the elder Boeheim has run for more than four decades – struggled to find its footing, the unflappable kid they call “Buddy Buckets” stared at his phone and shook his head. “I saw a lot of stuff on Twitter talking about (Dad) and just crazy stuff, how he’s been not doing well the last ten years,” Buddy Boeheim said. “Do you know how many people would dream about going to two Sweet 16s, two Final Fours, and an Elite Eight? In 10 years, that’s pretty good. He’s never had a losing season and continues to do it.” Buddy’s shorting his pops a couple of times. The Orange have reached five Sweet 16s over the last decade – the last three as a double-digit seed – after holding off third-seeded West Virginia 75-72 on Sunday.
The latest trip to the regional semifinals – the 20th for the program during Boeheim’s Hall of Fame run at the university – featured most of the hallmarks of the previous 19, particularly the 2-3 zone defense that looked highly beatable in January before morphing into a severe problem for opponents in March.
It’s what the 11th-seeded Orange (18-9) does this time of year, the pieces that take time to fall into place suddenly gel in a way that leads to deep NCAA Tournament run after deep NCAA Tournament run.
Syracuse will face second-seeded Houston on Saturday after the Cougars slipped by 10th-seeded Rutgers. Houston coach Kelvin Sampson initially declined to discuss the prospect of facing the Orange, saying he wanted to enjoy his team’s gritty comeback.
Besides, what’s there to scout? Syracuse is doing what it has done for most of the last four-plus decades. The Orange are long in the frontcourt – where 6-foot-10 Marek Dolezaj patrols the middle of the zone – and the younger Boeheim is channeling former Orange great and current assistant coach Gerry McNamara.
Boeheim has 55 points through two tournament games, including 22 in the second half against the Mountaineers following a brief pep talk from McNamara. “At halftime, he approached me and said, ‘Keep shooting. You’re the best shooter on the planet,’ is what he tells me,” Buddy Boeheim said. “And I said, ‘Yeah.’”
Syracuse’s seeding results from middling regular seasons, the kind that forces it to spend most of January and February on the dreaded bubble. Funny how it very rarely pops. The only ones are consistently unsurprised by what Syracuse can do each March are the coaches who have spent nearly a half-century trying to figure the Orange out, with minimal success this time of year.
“I think it took some time to understand what (Jim) was asking them to do,” West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. “You don’t just roll out of bed and play 2-3 zone the way they do. He’s the best that’s ever coached the 2-3 zone, and they’re the best ever to play it. … He did a terrific job.”
The kind that routinely silences the outside noise and the noise his son will probably learn to tune out to.
“All that stuff on the Internet, not one sentence on the Internet matters, not one,” Jim Boeheim said. “When my boss, the athletic director, or the chancellor, says something to me, I listen. They have not. But as far as me worrying about people out there who don’t support our program probably do in any way, they probably don’t come to games or have season tickets, and everybody’s entitled to their opinion. Still, I don’t listen to them.”
Maybe because he’s too busy coaching his way to the Sweet 16. Again.
GONZAGA 2.0?
Loyola Chicago wrecked brackets three years ago on the way to the Final Four. The Ramblers had no March Madness pedigree to speak of saving for a 1963 national championship won five years before coach Porter Moser was born. Now, well, the Ramblers are much more than another plucky March underdog. The proof laid bare during a 71-58 dismantling of top-seeded Illinois on Sunday that not only sent the eighth-seeded Ramblers back to the regional semifinals for the second time in four years but turned Loyola back into the basketball king of its state.
