Syracuse, N.Y. — Syracuse basketball fans have always been in a love-hate relationship with head coach Jim Boeheim.
They love when Boeheim’s 2-3 zone flummoxes a clueless opponent but also cry for more man-to-man defense.
They cringe when he goes off on one of his own players in a press conference but cheer when a “disloyal” media member is in his crosshairs.
They love it when Syracuse lights a fuse and makes a surprising NCAA tournament run but also use the “do something” meme in the regular season often.
They’d like to see SU return to the Top 25, a list it has spent a total of 549 weeks on but has not appeared on since the 2018-19 season.
With Syracuse far off its normal pace with a record of 9-10, the blame game directed at the Hall of Fame head coach is getting noticeably louder.
Social media. Podcasts. Talk radio. Message boards. My email inbox. Texts from prominent SU alums and national media members. The frozen food section at Wegmans.
You name the place and the criticism of Boeheim is lurking.
You name the place and the criticism of Boeheim is lurking.
Some of the messages are on repeat from prior years. Others bemoan the lack of athleticism on the current roster or number of minutes his children play even though one of them (Buddy) is a top-five scorer in the ACC.
The critics point to how Syracuse has been treading water in the ACC. The Orange hasn’t had an ACC record better than 10-8 and hasn’t finished higher than sixth in the league since 2014.
Recruiting classes aren’t what they should be according to some social media armchair coaches.
Syracuse has a top-25 recruiting class coming in for the Class of 2022, but just one player (Chris Bunch) is rated in the Top 100.
Boeheim has a history of taking players off the radar and developing them into stars. In the meantime, a five-star talent on the roster in Benny Williams barely plays.
SU’s 79-59 loss to Duke on Saturday was a humbling display of the talent gap between the two schools.
Duke has six players projected to be picked in the 2022 NBA Draft. Syracuse has maybe one prospect who will get a look in Buddy Boeheim.
To think, Mike Krzyzewski is the coach walking away into retirement after this season.
Boeheim, 77, gets the retirement question often as the oldest tenured coach in the history of Division I college basketball.
He usually greets those queries with a cocktail of answers that includes how he is in good physical shape and sound of mind. That he has talked to too many of his colleagues over the years that warned of not walking away too early.
He still loves coaching and says he has the energy, passion and X’s and O’s prowess to do it at a high level.
Even if the critics got their wish and Boeheim retired tomorrow, what would happen next?
Syracuse AD John Wildhack doesn’t strike me as someone who would do a hard target search outside the family.
Would current assistants Adrian Autry or Gerry McNamara really shake things up if named successor to Boeheim?
Mike Hopkins might coach his way out of Washington soon and would be an intriguing option to be brought back on the hill. But does one fail out of the Pac-12 to succeed in the ACC?
Boeheim’s plight is a delicate balance of the historic resume he has built and the what-have-you-done-for-me-lately world we live in.
Syracuse routinely ranks near dead last in the country in bench minutes. Boeheim’s trademark 2-3 zone defense takes time to learn.
Patience is a virtue, but earning playing time to the satisfaction of the head coach and absoribing a defense that takes time to master works against SU in the current environment.
The transfer portal looms for the unsatisfied as we learned with Kadary Richmond, Quincy Guerrier, Robert Braswell and Woody Newton seeking greener pastures last season.
Cole Swider, Jimmy Boeheim and Symir Torrence arrived via the portal. All have given Syracuse needed attributes and have noticeable flaws.
Swider can hit the outside shot and rebound but is challenged on defense.
Boeheim has scored in double-figures in all but three games but also lacks the athleticism to defend ACC-level players.
Torrence gives the Orange a lift off the bench, especially ball-handling and distributing with confidence in the face of opposing pressure defenses, but is limited in scoring prowess.
The trump card Boeheim has thrown down time and again for the non-believers when things looked bleak in recent years is conjuring up a deep NCAA tournament run: a Final Four in 2016 and Sweet 16s in 2018 and 2021 — all done with the Orange listed as a double-digit seed.
I may be jinxing myself here, but as it stands now this Syracuse team does not have the makeup of one Boeheim can work his March magic on. It would be the fourth time in the last eight years Syracuse does not make the NCAA tournament (note-the 2020 NCAA Tournament was canceled due to Covid-19).
Due to a myriad of factors, including a lack of quality wins and the weakest ACC in decades, Syracuse’s only hope to make the 2022 NCAA Tournament at this point would be to win the ACC Tournament, a tall task for a team that hasn’t won more than two games in a row all season.
Boeheim still believes he can salvage a season teetering on the brink.
“We’ve played pretty well together, especially in the league,” Boeheim said Saturday after SU’s loss to Duke citing close games, albeit both losses, with Miami and Wake Forest as examples. “I think we’re still good. I think we’ll finish strongly.”
The harsh reality is this could be Boeheim’s first losing season as head coach. It’s a remarkable achievement that not one of his prior 45 seasons as head coach ended below .500.
The question is how much slack history will earn him from the jackals circling what they see as SU’s carcass.
It hasn’t seemed to stop the barking for now.
It will only get louder if SU slips further down the hill.