Jim Boeheim's "Money Grab" Comment

[sagegrouse]

Boeheim, among many other coaches, would like to ease into the college hoops season, playing lower-tiered schools and, well, patsies. In fact, in a Sports Illustrated article he is quoted as calling it a "money grab"

Get a grip, Jim! It's really good for the sport.

Following Syracuse’s 48-34 season-opening loss to defending champion Virginia at the Carrier Dome, coach Jim Boeheim blasted the ACC during his postgame press conference, calling the early-season conference matchup “a money grab.”

...[T]he main target of his ire was the ACC.

“You never want to play the league games early. That’s stupid. It’s just a money grab,” said Boeheim to reporters after the game. “You want to build up to league. The league’s the most important thing, so why would you play the first game of the year in the league? Makes no sense to me but that’s what happens when you go up to 20 games…”

Uh, Jim, laying the blame at the feet of the ACC is an easy target, when it's really the networks and sports channels. Their position seems to be, "We are paying you all this money, why don't you play some games that people want to watch?" I think they are right; the early-season schedules have been laughable... Moreover, losses to tough teams, in addition to helping the teams develop, are unlikely to be penalized by the Tournament Selection Committee.

[JasonEvans]

If it was Izzo or one of the coaches who plays a challenging early season schedule complaining then I might put some weight in it, but Boeheim would schedule local high school teams if he could for the first third of his season. Syracuse routinely enters January having not played a single top 100 team and having not left the state of New York. Jim knows that kind of thing is not good for the sport and that if other teams did it the TV revenues would plummet and no one would pay any attention to college hoops the first two months of the season. He has forfeited his right to complain about scheduling.

-Jason "the mention of scheduling high school teams makes me think... how would this year's IMG or Sierra Canyon teams do playing D1 teams... I think they could be close to .500 in some of the mid-major conferences" Evans

[AGDukesky]

Absolutely agree with both of you. Boeheim is just so predictable and loves to blame everyone but himself. Just retire and become an analyst who can freely attack anyone you want without seeming quite so bitter- right, Seth Greenberg?

[MChambers]

Heck, NCAA football and men's basketball are mostly money grabs. Boeheim has gotten wealthy on a giant money grab.

[OldPhiKap]

Glad to see that Boeheim is already in mid-season grump form though. He must have trained during the off-season.

Although to the extent the ACC made this scheduling move to give content to its precious fledgling ACCN, he's got a point. There is nothing fairer or inherently greater about 20 conference games than there was 18.

[mattman91]

I kind of agree with Jim here.

[elvis14]

I like challenging early season games, like the game we played Tuesday night where we beat Kansas. I think teams should play these types of games early in the season and not just patsies. That said, I'm actually not a fan of playing ACC games early in the season. If you care about being first seed in the conference (I won't call it a regular season championship because with an unbalanced schedule there is not such thing) then you care about conference games more. For example, had we lost to Kansas Tuesday night I wouldn't have been that upset and looked at it as a growth opportunity for our young team. But had we lost to UVa, I would have been upset about it.

Of course, we beat Kansas Tuesday...and ah...there's no real point to this sentence, I just like typing we beat Kansas.

[ShaneRyan]

It's probably a slight money grab to some extent, but from a fan's perspective I still think it's terrific to have ACC games in November and December, and from a practical perspective all Duke fans should be happy since our team is usually far better at getting to prime form early thanks to Coach K, so the more ACC games we have before the rest of the slow starters find their footing, the better. But truly, I don't see the point in the extensive Nov-Dec cupcake scheduling, and it's always felt frustrating. You have one good game to start the year, one good ACC/B1G game, and if you're lucky a decent tournament somewhere with a wet floor or poor lighting, and aside from that you have to wait until January to see consistent basketball. I would frankly be happy with a 24-game ACC schedule and eliminating all the soft teams.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

I kind of agree with Jim here.

I was about to post the same thing. Jim is an easy target for lots of reasons. But what happens of we play Kansas close and lose? We shrug, learn something, and move on.

If we played Notre Dame first, had a close game, and lost - it has season long repurcussions. Might bump us from a Thursday ACC start to a Wednesday. Or worse.

I'm glad we got tested this week and passed. I'm also glad it had no consequence.

[CrazyNotCrazie]

Absolutely agree with both of you. Boeheim is just so predictable and loves to blame everyone but himself. Just retire and become an analyst who can freely attack anyone you want without seeming quite so bitter- right, Seth Greenberg?

Or run for president?

[devildeac]

Or run for president?

Make Syracuse great again?

[Indoor66]

Absolutely agree with both of you. Boeheim is just so predictable and loves to blame everyone but himself. Just retire and become an analyst who can freely attack anyone you want without seeming quite so bitter- right, Seth Greenberg?

Maybe he can get the seat next to Bilas.

[JasonEvans]

There is nothing fairer or inherently greater about 20 conference games than there was 18.

That's not true. Every step closer to a true home-and-home round-robin gets you closer to a legitimate regular season champion. While we are still a long way from that happening (28 ACC games per team) a 20 game schedule is closer than an 18 game schedule.

Under the 18 game sked, you played 10 teams once and 4 teams twice. Under the 20 game schedule, you will play 8 teams once and 6 teams twice. The latter is better than the former.

-Jason "personally, I would like to see the first ACC games the week before thanksgiving, giving teams 3-4 regular season games before they play their first ACC contest" Evans

[Edouble]

Boeheim would schedule local high school teams if he could for the first third of his season. Syracuse routinely enters January having not played a single top 100 team and having not left the state of New York. Jim knows that kind of thing is not good for the sport and that if other teams did it the TV revenues would plummet and no one would pay any attention to college hoops the first two months of the season. He has forfeited his right to complain about scheduling.

I kind of agree with Jim here.

Fully agree with Boeheim.

Conference games should not be played to start the season. It is bad for the sport, IMO.

Starting the season with a conference game should not happen. Starting the season by scheduling 15 glorified high school teams in a row should also not happen.

However, they are not mutually exclusive.

[throatybeard]

There is no value in playing in November, none.

🤣🤣🤣

[House P]

You have one good game to start the year, one good ACC/B1G game, and if you're lucky a decent tournament somewhere with a wet floor or poor lighting

LOL, but is there a reason you excluded the tournaments played in ballrooms with low ceilings?


Cancun.jpg

[OldPhiKap]

Or run for president?

Make Syracuse great again?

Orange is the new . . . something.

[budwom]

Initially I was going to post that Boeheim does pretty well in the whole money grab thing, but when I looked up his salary, it's only $2.6million, which seems surprisingly low (but above starvation wages to be sure). Would have thought he'd be making $4-5million.l Includes only Syracuse money, not shoe company money grab money.

Here's one list of the top 10 coaches by salary, and I still have no idea who Chris Holtmann is...
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/08/the-...l-coaches.html

[OldPhiKap]

That's not true. Every step closer to a true home-and-home round-robin gets you closer to a legitimate regular season champion. While we are still a long way from that happening (28 ACC games per team) a 20 game schedule is closer than an 18 game schedule.

Under the 18 game sked, you played 10 teams once and 4 teams twice. Under the 20 game schedule, you will play 8 teams once and 6 teams twice. The latter is better than the former.

-Jason "personally, I would like to see the first ACC games the week before thanksgiving, giving teams 3-4 regular season games before they play their first ACC contest" Evans

Well, you either have round robin or you don't. If one team picked up extra games against Duke/UNC/UVA/Louisville, while another picked up games against Wake/GT/BC, how does that make things better?

There is no value in playing in November, none.

������

This is the real answer.

Alabama-LSU is this weekend. Duke-ND is this weekend. Basketball does not need to run from the end of baseball season until the beginning of next season. Unless you want more games for more money because, well, Boeheim is right.

[JasonEvans]

Well, you either have round robin or you don't. If one team picked up extra games against Duke/UNC/UVA/Louisville, while another picked up games against Wake/GT/BC, how does that make things better?

Because this is not an all-or-nothing situation. The 28 game round robin is ideal... getting as close as possible to it is good.

I am sure you would agree that a 27 game schedule would come darn close to being perfect. If Duke, UNC, Louisville, and Virginia each played a 27 game schedule and each missed a road game against one of Syracuse, NC St, Notre Dame, or Miami then I can imagine at least 95% of us would say Duke, UNC, Lou, and Virginia had played pretty much equal schedules and the team with the best record certainly deserved to be crowned some kind of ACC champion.

27 is better than 26 is better than 25 is better than 24... and so on. Therefore 20 is better than 18. I'm not saying 20 is perfect, not even close. I am merely saying it gets us closer to a fair schedule than 18 does.