Jim Boeheim

In 1979, Jim Boeheim was one of the original Big East personalities, along with John Thompson, Lou Carnesecca and Bill Raftery. Jim and Lesley - who covered the Big East from the beginning - shared memories of the early days, including the time Rick Pitino and Rollie Massimino almost got into a fist-fight at the coach's seminar. Jim said the coaches fought all the time until Commissioner Dave Gavitt would tell them to "Stop, just Stop." Jim said Georgetown was the best defensive team he'd faced in 44 years of coaching, until battling Virginia in the ACC, and that Pearl Washington was the most electrifying college player he's ever seen. In this wide-ranging conversation, Jim talked about everything from his once-scratch golf game to the effects of Name-Image-Likeness on recruiting. Lesley's been around Jim for decades, including in 1994, when he courted his wife Juli at the Kentucky Derby party of a mutual friend. Lesley looked across the room and saw Jim and Juli on a beautiful chintz couch, playing backgammon! (yes, you read that right.) His focus now is on getting Syracuse back to the Sweet 16 while coaching his two sons, Buddy and Jimmy, starting with the -pre-season "Battle for Atlantis" in the Bahamas.