12B = THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
TUESDAY, APRIL 8,2003
Carmelo Anthony key to victory over Jayhawks
The Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS — There's a lot more to Carmelo Anthony's game than the raw numbers on the Syracuse side of the boxscore.
The freshman with NBA talent scored 20 points, had 10 rebounds and seven assists last night in the 81-78 victory over Kansas that gave the Orangemen their first national championship
But coach Jim Boeheim said Anthony's contribution went beyond that.
"I thought the key is that Carmelo is hard to guard," Boeheim said. "He got (Keith) Langford in foul trouble. Everyone who's played him gets in foul trouble. There's no way to guard him unless you do"
Langford, who was hurting Syracuse on offense, eventually fouled out of the game, leaving
Kansas with one less option as the game wound down.
Playing with what seemed to be a permanent smile on his face — even while pawing at his aching back — Anthony scored 20 points, had 10 rebounds and seven assists.
The performance helped him earn the honor of Most Outstanding Player in the Final Four.
He got banged up a bit,but that was nothing new,he said.
"I paid a physical toll the whole tournament," he said. "The whole season, everybody's been beating me up. Coach told me to tough it up."
That was easy for him to do. He is a tough kid from the hard streets of Baltimore, a neighborhood he calls "The Pharmacy" because of all the drugs. His mother was determined that he go to college and if this was a one-
year stopover on the road to the NBA, Anthony stamped it as a season Syracuse would never forget.
"I enjoyed every moment," he said. "I had a fun year on and off the court. I don't regret coming to college."
Never more than the moments after the game when he wore the net around his neck, beaming at the championship he had been so instrumental in achieving.
"All my hard work, everything I did in the gym from preseason, all of it just paid off tonight," he said.
He was instrumental in delivering the victory.
When Kansas sliced what had been an 18-point deficit down to three, Anthony nailed a crucial 3 pointer that settled things down and helped the Orangemen rebuild the lead to 10 points.
In the final minutes with the game in the balance,he became a 6-foot-8 point guard, trusted to bring the ball down the court.
Anthony had seven assists in the first half, a career best for the player widely recognized as the best freshman in the country. And if he decides to turn pro now, he almost certainly would be a topthree pick in the NBA draft, perhaps even challenging high school hotshot LeBron James for the No.1 slot.
This was not exactly the way Boeheim thought the kid with the headbund and braided hair style would work out.
"He wasn't a top 40 player when I recruited him." Boeheim said. "He was 170 pounds."
But Anthony showed up on campus at a hefty 220 pounds and became an impact player immediately.
Boeheim plugged him into the starting lineup and Anthony responded. His first basket of the season was a spectacular dunk against Memphis in the season opener and he ran off 15 straight points in that game. Things only got better after that.
Anthony averaged 22 points and 9.8 rebounds per game and he was the mainstay of the Orange offense. Even when he didn't score, he was a factor. In the first half of the round of 16 game against Auburn, he was scoreless but found his teammates often enough for Syracuse to build a 10-point lead. Then he scored 18 points in the second half and finished as the game's high scorer anyway.
When he finished off Oklahoma in the East Regional championship, he was excited about going to the Final Four.
"This is my first Final Four," he said. "I hope it's not my last."
Boeheim, well aware of all the NBA talk, quickly endorsed that idea.
In the national semifinals against Texas, he scored 11 straight points and finished with a career-high 33. That set the stage for the championship game.
When it was over, Anthony was jubilant.
"I've never had a feeling like this," he said. "This is the best feeling I've ever had in my life."
Asked what he thought it meant to Boeheim to win a national championship in his third try after 27 years on the job, Anthony said, "I know he's happy. Tonight, he's probably the happiest man on Earth."
And if he puts off the NBA for another year, the coach will be even happier.
Third time's a charm for Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim
The Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS — Jim Boeheim finally got those four seconds back. And they were about the sweetest four seconds of his life.
Sixteen years after Keith Smart's baseline jumper with :04 left gave Bobby Knight's Indiana Hoosiers a 74-73 victory over the Orangemen in the national championship game. Boeheim guided Syracuse to a heartstopping 81-78 victory last night over Kansas to win that elusive first national title on the third try.
"I'm happy, but I'm happy for all those fans," Boeheim said, a championship cap hiding his balding head, and his 4-year-old son, Jim Jr., in his arms. "They
packed the Carrier Dome, they follow us all over the country. They've been with us.
"I'm just glad we won it for (Derrick Coleman), Rony Seikaly, Sherman Douglas, all those guys (on the 1987 team). Our kids had great heart. We played the best first half we could play, then we just hung on."
When the final horn sounded, Boeheim's trademark scowl turned into a wide grin. He raised his arms in triumph, having validated his insistence on using a 2-3 zone defense — a defense of which he is the master and which most coaches disdain.
Then he walked over and shook the hand of Jayhawks coach Roy Williams, who lost his
second title game in 12 years.
"I told him the same thing Bob Knight told me in 1987." Boehme said. "You'll be back some day."
Exhausted after the biggest triumph of his career. Boeheim wanted to leave the court and let his players soak in the moment. His wife thought otherwise.
"He said, 'Let's go home,' " Juli Boeheim said. "I said, 'No.' "
Boeheim's resume now is crammed with 653 victories, 22nd all-time, and his.742 winning percentage is third among active Division I coaches. He's the longest-tenured coach at the same school, having coached the Orangemen for 27 years.
Not bad for a walk-on who had to talk his way onto the team when
he arrived at Syracuse in 1962. By the time he was a senior, he was starting in the backcourt alongside Hall of Famer Dave Bing.
After four years of minorleague basketball, he returned to the Syracuse bench as a graduate assistant in 1969 and has been there ever since. He was appointed head coach in 1976 with a first contract that paid him $28,000.
"It's the only thing I know," he said after the Orangemen eliminated Auburn in the East Regional semifinals. "I don't like change. I've gone to the same barber since I was 17. I'm comfortable where I'm comfortable."
It was Syracuse's third trip to the title game under Boeheim;the
Orangemen also lost to Kentucky 76-67 in 1996.
This may have been his best coaching job ever. Older, wiser and more mellow than ever with three young children at home, Boeheim molded a team that started two freshmen and two sophomores into a winner.
"I've never had a feeling like this," said freshman forward Carmelo Anthony, voted Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four. "This is the best feeling I've ever had in my life."
Despite guiding the Orangemen to an 11-1 record at the start of the season, Boeheim managed to incorporate freshman guard Billy Edelin into the lineup. That decision he called the hardest in
his career because it meant the lone senior on the team, Kueth Duany, would lose minutes.
That Edelin even stayed with the program is a testament to the way Boeheim runs it. He has had Bernie Fine as his top assistant for his entire time at Syracuse. Mike Hopkins, another assistant, was a team captain for Boeheim in the early 1990s.
Edelin endured a one-year suspension by the university and a 12-game NCAA suspension at the start of the season, then became a key reserve for the team in the tournament.
"We all went through a lot," Edelin said. "Everybody doubted us. It feels great to come out on top."