Syracuse Basketball: Jim Boeheim candid on recruiting, recent records

Love him or not, Syracuse basketball head coach Jim Boeheim is always frank and upfront in his comments about the Orange program.

During a recent segment of his weekly radio show on TK99, Boeheim spoke about a range of things, including ‘Cuse recruiting efforts and how the team has fared in recent years, namely since joining the Atlantic Coast Conference from the Big East Conference starting with the 2013-14 campaign.

In recent years, an abundance of Syracuse basketball fanatics has lamented about the squad’s recruiting misses, and what they consider as a dearth of top-flight talent coming to the Hill of late. This train of thought is understandable.

Equally understandable is that some Orange fans are frustrated that, save for 2013-14, the ‘Cuse has proven sub-par during its regular seasons as part of the ACC, although the team has made several nice runs in March Madness, such as advancing to the Final Four in 2016 and the Sweet 16 in 2018.

Boeheim didn’t sugarcoat either topic, and I give him credit for that. Let’s delve into what he had to say, as reported in an article by Donna Ditota of Syracuse.com.

Boeheim said in part, “We always want to get better players. Sometimes you just don’t get the best player or the guy you really want. That happens. It happens to everybody at some point. But when you do get your players, you coach them the best you can.”

He noted that “if we don’t have good enough players, I should have done a better job recruiting. All of that is true. I’ve always said that. I’ve never backed away from that. I have nothing more to say about it. That’s the way it is.”

"More from Boeheim: “When a player makes a mistake – I mean, we’ve shown a guy a thing 10 or 15 times and sometimes players just don’t pick it up. And another player, we’ll show that once to and they’ll have it. But still, you’ve gotta get players to do it and you’ve gotta get players who can do it. Sometimes, you miss. The reason we’ve been so consistent is we’ve had good enough players and good enough coaching to get through the year and win some games when we’re not favored.”"

Syracuse basketball boss Jim Boeheim says going to the Final Four is not a fluke.

It’s no secret that the Orange has struggled through some recent regular seasons as a member of the ACC. Boeheim knows that, and he’s discussing it openly.

“First of all, you want to win every game. You want to be at the top of the league. We haven’t done that in the last six or seven or eight years. But we’ve compensated by playing really well in the NCAA Tournament, going to a couple Final Fours and what, one or two Sweet 16s in eight or nine years?”

"Boeheim continued, “And the critics will call and say, ‘That’s a fluke.’ If anybody thinks it’s a fluke when you go to the Final Four, you absolutely know nothing. You cannot get there on a fluke. … In the last 8-10 years we have not done as well in the regular season. There’s a lot of reasons for that that have been well-documented. I was not going to be here, (which) hurt recruiting for two or three years. The investigation hurt recruiting for several years, as it does. But we got through all that. And we were successful. We got in the Tournament or were really close. A lot of people are saying, ‘Oh, you’re just getting in the Tournament.’ Well, we’re happy to be in the Tournament. A lot of people would like to just get in the Tournament.”"

Boeheim and his ‘Cuse teams have, over the years, set a standard where the squad, these days, just getting into the Big Dance can seem like somewhat of a disappointment, because of the program’s historical track record.

Yes, Syracuse basketball has resided on the proverbial bubble a lot in recent campaigns, and a contingent of Orange fans is ready for Boeheim to retire. That’s fine. I get it.

I’m the first to acknowledge that the past bunch of terms for the ‘Cuse have proven a bit underwhelming, even with those magical March Madness journeys. But Boeheim is still one of the all-time coaching greats, and I for one want him to roam the sidelines for numerous stanzas to come.