I said this in our live file from Pitt's 99-82 pasting of Syracuse Saturday inside the Petersen Events Center.
I, personally, am at a crossroads between "reporter having a blast covering a really fun team" and "Syracuse alum miserable because Jim Boeheim just won't give it up already" after Saturday's game.
The Oakland Zoo understandably ate Boeheim and the Orange alive Saturday as a result of his comments made at the beginning of the month to renowned ESPN college sports reporter Pete Thamel alleging Pitt and Jeff Capel "bought a team" through means of name, image, and likeness this past offseason.
The Zoo did its part. Plenty of signage and even some Boeheim-faced, fake dollar bills made their way into the seats. Boeheim was booed emphatically upon setting foot onto the floor shortly before tip-off -- he usually comes out beforehand in warmups to survey, but he did not do so Saturday.
Just watch:
He played that off in his post-game press conference.
"I would say (the crowd) was exactly the same as the last time we played here when they had a full house. Exactly," Boeheim said. "They're a good crowd. They always have been. It doesn't bother me. I mean, come on, seriously?"
That is all fine. It is gamesmanship to a degree and, if we're honest, all of the backlash from Pitt fans was due to him, especially since he walked back those comments on three separate occasions to Thamel, through his own statement, and via comments made in the following Monday's ACC coaches Zoom teleconference.
What he said after Saturday's game, though, was the worst of the recalls yet in this act revolving around his comments about Pitt buying its team.
Not only did Boeheim blast Thamel and call his journalistic integrity into question, he took the time to again rehash why (winning) ACC programs are dipping into the transfer portal, whereas Syracuse remains on the proverbial high road within recruiting.
"I thought I was talking, I thought, off the record, but the change in college basketball is the transfer portal and NIL money in some cases has enabled people, schools to bring in -- not one or two schools, every school. When I was talking I wasn't trying to isolate other schools. I was just talking, and the point I'm making is every school can do that. It's throughout the league. If you look at teams that have really improved, they have transfer guys for the most part. Even a team like Virginia. All those guys transferred in there. I mean, (Jayden) Gardner last year and the two, three guys this year. NC State, (DJ) Burns and (Jarkel) Joiner have really transformed that team. Here, obviously, they're all transfer guys. You look around the league, it's the same everywhere.
"You look at the top teams, for the most part, it's guys that have transferred, got a lot of transfer veteran guys. Our freshmen are 17 or 18 (years old) and we're playing against 23-year-olds. That's not good. It's not a way to win. But, that's college basketball. That's the way it's going to be from now on in.
"We're in a different situation. We've taken six guys early, freshmen, so we couldn't engage in the transfer portal because we've got guys at every position, and we want to give those guys the opportunity to play because we recruited them to play. But, in the future, I think there'll be very few programs that won't be into the transfer portal. There's programs this year, Miami has got three of their four key guys from the transfer portal, and when programs lose these guys then they'll have to go back into the transfer portal because they'll need guys to fill those roles. It's the way it'll be going forward, especially if you have three or four guys that are fifth-year players. If their eligibility is up, you're going to have to go back into the transfer portal."
That two-minute, 25-second-long answer from Boeheim irked me in two ways.
First, the shredding of ESPN's Thamel and his reporting. It is reasonable to believe because Thamel is among the most respected college sports reporters in the country who works for an elite outlet like ESPN (and, as a Syracuse graduate himself, has a history with covering Boeheim), he would not put his credibility on the line by publishing something that was knowingly held off the record.
As far as we know, what Boeheim told Thamel was on record, and that is why it was published. That is basic journalism ethics. Saturday was also the first instance since making his initial comments in which Boeheim said what Thamel and he discussed was off the record.
Second, and frankly speaking, everyone is tired of this. The losing, the subsequent whining, the complete disconnect from the philosophy of yesteryear versus what is actually working for winning programs in the ACC. And, yes, that includes the evolving use of NIL and the transfer portal. The opposing fans which he targets certainly have been tired of the act, but the ire is now spread to Central New York, the place where he won a National Championship and carved a Hall-of-Fame career over the course of 40-plus seasons.
Don't believe me about the wearing-down of those in Syracuse? Check out this post-game interaction on Twitter from Syracuse.com columnist (and my former professor and friend of the site) Brent Axe, and check out the replies below the original tweet:
Seriously? Did he think Pete just wanted to catch up? No way Thamel prints that if impression was OTR. Considering the things Jim said (and had to walk back) from that conversation, I think it shows his true colors on those topics https://t.co/hWEPsStaHt https://t.co/WMd0qwGMIz
— Brent Axe (@BrentAxeMedia) February 26, 2023
The schools which Boeheim mentioned above, in order, are Pitt, Virginia, NC State, and Miami.
Those four schools' respective spots in the ACC standings entering the final week of the regular season are first, third, fifth, and second.
So, spare all of us from the "That's not good. It's not a way to win" jargon. That is just incorrect.
Syracuse, by the way, is now 9-9 within the ACC, 16-13 overall, and is in grave danger of missing the postseason in back-to-back years for the first time in 50 years. The Orange have zero players on their roster who have transferred in.
Coincidence? Is that because Boeheim is not actively seeking transfer options? Or, is it because none of these transfer options want to come play under an archaic philosophy and a 2-3 zone defense which has far less bite than it does bark these days?
You be the judge.
Here's a quick refresh on what Boeheim told Thamel in the original story published Feb. 4:
"This is an awful place we're in in college basketball," Boeheim told Thamel. "Pittsburgh bought a team. OK, fine. My (big donor) talks about it, but he doesn't give anyone any money. Nothing. Not one guy. Our guys make like $20,000. Wake Forest bought a team. Miami bought a team. ... It's like, 'Really, this is where we are?' That's really where we are, and it's only going to get worse.
"It's crazy. That's why those guys got out -- that's why Jay (Wright) got out, Mike (Krzyzewski) got out. That's the reason they got out. The transfer portal and everything is nuts. It really is."
After Saturday's game, much more of the conversation was about Boeheim calling Pitt out as a school which "bought" its players, which naturally took away from discussion of the game in which the Orange got pounded by the Panthers. Not only did Boeheim completely shred Thamel's report a second time, he ironically found a way to quantify the likelihood of teams successfully building from the portal after just getting beat by a team which successfully built itself from the portal.
"It was a bad statement," Boeheim said, "and I apologized for that. A lot of schools who got transfers from the portal used NIL money to do it. I didn't mean -- I was really talking about schools that got overlapped into Pitt when I talked about Miami and Pittsburgh, it was transfer portal and I got -- I was wrong. It wasn't an interview. It was a walk down the hallway, and it was recorded. I should know better by then, and I apologize for that. I'm sure every player -- I'm not picking specific teams -- if you look at people that transfer in the transfer portal, a lot of them got NIL money, period. That's where I should have left it. Somebody wrote from Pittsburgh that I don't believe in players getting money and the NIL. All of our players get NIL money. Everyone on our team is getting NIL money. Guys that don't play are getting NIL money.
"I believe (in) it, 100 percent, and the transfer portal is here. I believe in it 100 percent. It's just going to be different in college basketball. Maybe it'll be better. Maybe it will be better, because it takes a team that had no chance, have a chance to be really good. Maybe that's good for college basketball, I don't know. It's just the way it's going to be, and I think 1,700 guys transfer and about 8- or 900 did worse where they transferred to. It's good for some and no-so-good for others, but that's all right. Kids are making those decisions, and that's what's going to happen. I think it's great. I mean, that's what what it's going to be, and there isn't really much that can be done about it, I don't think, to change it. I don't think it will change."
Tell me Pitt being a great team again is not good for college basketball, and I would call you a liar. Just rewind to some of the game footage and listen to the Zoo go nuts at every turn. Then try to tell me that is not good for college basketball.
I certainly don't think Boeheim did not believe in NIL as a good thing. Just look to Pitt's game at Syracuse in December, in which prominent Buffalo Bills players Josh Allen, Stefon Diggs, and Gabe Davis, among others, sat courtside at the JMA Wireless Dome courtesy of Syracuse booster and NIL leader Adam Weitsman:
The Buffalo Bills’ Josh Allen, Gabe Davis, and Stefon Diggs are here. https://t.co/B4aNVsq6DO pic.twitter.com/kZI0hXdP1U
— Corey Crisan (@cdcrisan) December 21, 2022
Do you think recruits (and transfers!) are not noticing that?
Stick with me here. This is a continuation of the answer above, as Boeheim tries to compliment Pitt but instead goes into a massive tangent about the NCAA NET Rankings.
"Pittsburgh, they've done a great job getting the right guys," Boeheim continued. "They fit well together, and they have a really good team. There's no doubt about that. I think, again, our league is getting -- and the NET (Rankings are) crazy because you can't ever get bad. Clemson is really good. I mean, they're really good, and their NET's about 90 so something like that (and will) probably go up today. But when you're in a league and there's a lot of bad NETs it hurts you when your NET goes down. Florida State proved today (by beating Miami) it doesn't matter where you are, you can lose to those teams. Clemson lost to Louisville, then they beat us (this week), and now they go to North Carolina State who I think is really good, really playing good, and they beat them by 20. It's very difficult. If you go by the NETs there's going to be really, pretty good teams going to be left out of the (NCAA) Tournament, and there's going to be some teams with NETs that are pretty good that are going to get into the Tournament that aren't very good because a lot of teams you win in November, but you're not very good now. November has to count, but you also have to look at how teams are playing, and that's hard to do. That's really hard to do.
"Pittsburgh's done a great job, Jeff's done a great job. Last year they were, like, trying to get a new coach, weren't they?"
Capel was undoubtedly on the hot seat entering this season, and Boeheim has never known a hot seat until now. That last line was said and followed by a chuckle from Boeheim.
People are not laughing with Boeheim anymore.
They're laughing at him.
