DENVER – Syracuse men’s basketball coach Jim Boeheim and Maryland coach Gary Williams may have never faced each other since coaching at their respective schools. But their friendship still dates back more than 20 years.

Ever since Williams became head coach at Boston College – where he was from 1982 to 1986 – the two have been close. As well as coaching against each other in Big East play, the two are golfing buddies in the summer.

‘I try not to think about (the friendship),’ Boeheim said. ‘When the game starts, I am worried about the opposite team. If Gary and I were on the court together, there would be a lot of fouls.’

When Boeheim emerged from SU’s tunnel with 1:30 before gametime, he walked to Williams, and the two shook hands and exchanged laughs.

‘I have coached against a lot of guys who have been friends of mine,’ Boeheim said. ‘You just try to coach against their teams.’

Said Williams: ‘We go way back. I have a great deal of respect for him and his Syracuse teams.’

Royally Treated

The dunk came in last year’s Final Four, but Texas guard Royal Ivey remembers it all too well.

Syracuse forward Hakim Warrick slammed a dunk as Ivey, helplessly playing defense, found his head in a compromising position – engulfed in Warrick’s shorts as the 6-foot-8 Warrick powered home a slam.

With both Texas and Syracuse playing in Denver for the second round, perhaps an apology has been made?

‘Nah, I haven’t talked to him since it happened,’ Ivey said, as an embarrassed smile creased his face. ‘It was an accident, something I want to forget. People asked me so many questions, the weirdest questions. I can’t even remember. It was a good dunk. It was just a hard position for me to be in.’

Two champs

Most everyone found it interesting that the game was being played between each of the last two national champions.

Everyone, that is, except the players.

‘I don’t look at it like that,’ Maryland forward Travis Garrison said. ‘This is just two tough teams going against one another. Both of them will go out there and play hard.’

Said Syracuse guard Josh Pace: ‘You can’t get caught up in that. We know we’re the only two teams to win it the past two years. But we have our own identity now.’

That’s especially true of Maryland, which only has one player from the 2002 national championship team – Mike Grinnon. Syracuse has 11 players from last year’s championship squad.

Phoenix fun

Rather than travel back to Syracuse for four days and then fly back out west to Phoenix for the Sweet 16, Syracuse is flying straight to Arizona from Denver.

‘It’s gonna help,’ Warrick said. ‘It won’t help school work. But I’m sure people won’t mind. It was a long flight going to Denver. And to come all the way out to Phoenix, it’s only like an hour-and-20-minute ride.’

The drive from Denver to Phoenix is less than two hours, allowing SU more time to adjust. Because NCAA rules prohibit teams from arriving at their site 48 hours before the game, Syracuse will travel to Phoenix on Tuesday.

‘It’ll give us a chance to get some food, catch some sun,’ Warrick said. ‘It’s supposed to snow out there in Syracuse tomorrow, I think. So I feel sorry for all of you out there.’

Golden praise

Who better to compare two of the best shooters in the country – Gerry McNamara and J.J. Reddick – than Maryland, a team that has faced both of them?

After watching McNamara net 43 against Brigham Young on Thursday, Maryland guard Chris McCray said he’d never seen a performance like it.

‘It’s never been one player like that,’ he said. ‘When we play Duke, there’s always J.J. or (Daniel) Ewing taking those treys. But when you play Syracuse, you just got that one main player who is capable of hitting 10 and sort of make up for the whole team.’

As for who’s better, McCray couldn’t say.

‘They’re the same type of shooters,’ he said. ‘You watch them shoot, and if they miss you’re just like, ‘Thank you.”

This and that

Center Craig Forth wore an orange T-shirt, with sleeves, under his jersey, the first time he had done so this season … Freshman walk-on Ross DiLiegro hasn’t been able to dress – or sit on SU’s bench – either of the first two games, because there hasn’t been enough chairs. He sat in the stands. In Phoneix, though, DiLiegro will have a seat on the bench. … With the win, Boeheim won his 40th tournament game. … Saturday marked SU’s first-ever win against the Terps. SU is now 1-5 all-time against Maryland.

Published on March 21, 2004 at 12:00 pm