When Syracuse’s Coach Jim Boeheim makes a smarmy comment to the media about a player, most fans just consider it Boeheim being Boeheim. Over his long and illustrious 30 year coaching career at the upstate New York university, the coach has been known for his odd facial expressions, at times hilarious sound bytes, and explosions at reporters during press conferences. Getting to the point, coach is a straight shooter and if he has a problem with a player, surely the whole world will know about it.
The buzz around the Cuse’s campus the past few weeks concerns a battle of wills between coach Boeheim and star sophomore Dion Waiters. The once highly rated HS prospect out of Philadelphia played limited minutes(16.3 per/gm) and was seemingly buried in the coach’s doghouse all season long, fighting for playing time behind Scoop Jardine and Brandon Triche.
Then came the now infamous comments made by Boeheim at a hoops clinic at Manhattan College when asked about his tenuous relationship with Waiters:
“Waiters’ return to Syracuse is ‘up in the air. Sometimes change is good for everyone. His situation will be resolved by the end of the school year,’ Boeheim said.”
To hear some harsh words from Boeheim are nothing new, but to a soon to be 19 year old named Dion Waiters, it sparked a war of words on Twitter. Here was Waiters’ response:
“who said I’m leaving?”“dnt believe that if it didn’t come out my mouth”
“if yu didn’t hear it frm me then y would yu believe”
“imma say this for the last time if it didn’t come out my mouth dnt believe it”
The whole love and hate relationship between coach and star player supposedly began, or rather came to a head, when Waiters reportedly told Boeheim to “fu** off” after some constructive criticism that the coach clearly aimed at player during the latter parts of a blowout loss to Seton Hall in late January.
Near the end of last week, amid tons of speculation, Waiters once again made a final rebuttal on Twitter:
“Ohk for everybody wanting to kno the answer YES I’m coming back to syracuse next year.”
Waiters was arguably one of the Orangemen’s best players down the stretch and into the post-season scoring a team high 18 points in their 2nd Round loss to Marquette in the NCAA Tournament and played in 20+ minutes in 3 of their final 5 games.
Ok. That should end today’s edition of Days of our Lives, or does it? Many questions remain as to what exactly took place between the two parties involved. Was Waiters angling for a transfer? Does Boeheim no longer have the temperament to deal with 19 year old hotheads? Is Boeheim saying that “change is good for everyone” have a hidden meaning that Waiters’ days are numbered in the program a la Paul Harris a few years ago? Or,………. is it just Boeheim being Boeheim?
I vote for the latter since most elder statesmen in the NCAA coaching profession tend to have a shorter fuse when dealing with today’s younger players. Heck even Bob Knight, although he’s been out of coaching for a few years still needs to bite his tongue sometimes. One thing is for sure, it should be an interesting ’11-’12 season in the Carrier Dome.
Allen Moll has been a lifelong NBA and NCAA College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously, and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen also provides content to Bleacherreport.com, Upperdeckblog.com, in addition to being a tenured NBA and NCAA columnist for TheHoopDoctors.com.
