Jim Boeheim walked up to a podium at the Carmelo K. Anthony Basketball Center on Wednesday afternoon with a smile on his face.

A reporter asked, “What are we here for today, Jim?”

“I have no idea. It’s football season, isn’t it?” Boeheim responded, still grinning. “I’m shocked. I’m here because you wanted me here. I didn’t call this meeting.”

After speaking briefly about his experience with the USA Basketball program, winning this summer’s FIBA World Cup and giving a brief preview to Syracuse’s upcoming season, the Syracuse men’s basketball coach was asked about the reason his name has been part of a nationwide discussion in the past two days.

Yahoo! Sports writer Adrian Wojnarowski wrote a story published Monday in which he called for a shake-up in the structure of the USA Basketball program. Wojnarowski accused Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski of using his position as the USA Basketball head coach as a recruiting tool.

“The article was very — there were a couple of things that weren’t factually true,” Boeheim, who is also the assistant coach of Team USA and is the chairman of the USA Basketball junior national team committee, said. “… I just think the whole article was really — when you look at piece by piece of what was said — it just doesn’t hold up. It just doesn’t hold up.”

Video from Boeheim’s press conference:

Wojnarowski also mentioned Boeheim and referred to SU assistant coach Mike Hopkins in the column as others who benefit recruiting-wise from their involvement with USA Basketball. Wojnarowski also took shots at the USA program for Paul George’s devastating leg injury, Mason Plumlee’s roster spot and wrote that Krzyzewski will receive credit for DeMarcus Cousins’ maturity in the NBA, instead of John Calipari.

When Krzyzewski visited George in the hospital, it was George’s parents, Boeheim said, at the foot of the bed that took the photo that surfaced throughout social media, contrary to Wojnarowski’s portrayal.

“Duke didn’t put it out,” Boeheim said. “USA basketball didn’t put the picture out. It was (George’s) people. So that really created a misleading thing.

“And the other (inaccurate) thing is that Duke and Syracuse basketball benefit recruiting-wise from this experience.”

In the beginning of the story, Wojnarowski wrote about the USA coaches celebrating a World Cup championship by posing for pictures with the NBA stars and saying the photos would be texted or tweeted to prospective recruits — referring to pictures Hopkins took with Anthony Davis, Stephen Curry and other players.

Wojnarowski also wrote that Krzyzewski benefits on the recruiting trail for his well-publicized relationships with the NBA’s superstars.

“We haven’t gotten any better players in the last six, seven, eight years than we’ve got before,” Boeheim said. “And Duke is not getting better players now than they got before.

“The fact that Mike Krzyzewski coaches the Olympic team, I don’t think it hurts recruiting,” Boeheim said. “But you’re not out on the road a lot of days that you could be … If you look at the record, Duke has always recruited well. I don’t see any difference there.”

Boeheim recalled one national-team player he coached that he was recruiting and said they were in “good shape” to land his commitment.

But after Boeheim benched the player and yelled at him “a lot,” the recruit went to Notre Dame instead.

“I’ve coached and been the chairman for about eight years now and we have not gotten one of the top recruits that have played for USA basketball,” Boeheim said. “Not one. So obviously it’s not helping our recruiting.”

“The only negative article really that I think I’ve seen,” he added, referring to USA Basketball’s portrayal in the media. “Disappointing.”

Published on September 17, 2014 at 5:05 pm

Contact Phil: pmdabbra@syr.edu | @PhilDAbb