Boeheim & Anthony: Success Beyond Syracuse

Story and photos by Matt D'Ambrosi

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – You didn’t have to look any farther than the outside of the building where Syracuse University Men’s Basketball Coach Jim Boeheim was speaking Tuesday afternoon to feel the connection.

Fresh off of helping guide the USA Basketball Men’s National Team to the gold medal in this year’s Rio Olympics, Boeheim was standing at a podium fielding questions about the experience in a building named after one of his former players and arguably the biggest star of this year’s Olympic squad – Carmelo Anthony.

“He’s always helped us here; with this building,” Boeheim said. “We wouldn’t be in this building if it wasn’t for him.”

The building Boeheim is referring to, of course, is the Carmelo K. Anthony Center on Syracuse University’s campus – perhaps the most concrete aspect of Anthony’s legacy at SU – equipped with amenities necessary to keep a program such as Boeheim’s competitive on a national level.

Even though Boeheim is long removed from having coached Anthony during his lone season playing for the Orange in 2003 that resulted in a national championship, being a part of USA Basketball has given Boeheim the opportunity to team now and again with Anthony at different points throughout their respective journeys.

And the results have been tremendous.

Boeheim and Anthony have both been a part of each of the last three USA Basketball Men’s National Teams to compete in the Olympics, all of which have won gold medals starting with Beijing in 2008, then London in 2012 and now in Rio in 2016.

In this year’s competition in Rio, Anthony's play on the court led to him becoming the all-time leading scorer in USA Basketball Men's National Team Olympic history. But according to Boeheim, Anthony was a crucial part of this year’s team off the court as well.

“He was a really good leader on this year’s team,” Boeheim said. “When we were struggling there, he was a good voice in the locker room [to] keep everybody together.”

When asked about this year’s Olympics perhaps being the last time Boeheim will get to coach his former star, the two’s long history together showed through.

“He’s just such a great kid,” Boeheim said. “He really is not a kid any more, but to me he is. He just gets along with everybody. He always has. He’s always given back.”