Given the chance to represent his country on the basketball court and instruct some of the finest NBA players this summer, Jim Boeheim wasn’t about to pass it up.

Plus, he got to coach his most famous former player again.

‘It was great,’ Boeheim said of teaming up with Carmelo Anthony on Team USA. ‘He was a great leader. He hasn’t changed much; he’s always been pretty good.’

Anthony’s success at the collegiate and professional level translated to the international game at the FIBA World Championships in Japan, under the watch of Boeheim. But it wasn’t enough to put the Americans on top of the world.

The U.S. finished third following a 101-95 upset loss to Greece and failed to qualify this summer for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

‘It hurt. Greece played exceptionally well.’ Boeheim said. ‘They shot the ball better than any one else we saw. We played well, but just didn’t stop them.’

Instead, the U.S. will try to qualify again next summer at the FIBA Americas tournament in Venezuela-something that Boeheim doesn’t mind at all.

‘The upside of losing is that we have to play next summer,’ Boeheim said. ‘If we play 10 more games together, there is a better relationship. In the long run, the loss could help.

‘We definitely made an improvement and there is a core group of players who will be back.’

Despite not reaching the ultimate goal, the 2006 U.S. national team showed remarkable improvement over its predecessor. In 2002, the U.S. finished sixth with a 6-3 record. This time around, Mike Krzyzewski’s squad won eight of nine games in Japan to earn the bronze medal.

Boeheim, who has been a coach on seven U.S. international teams in his career, fulfilled an unusual role for Krzyzewski-assistant coach. Boeheim, along with the Phoenix Suns’ Mike D’Antoni and Portland Trailblazers coach Nate McMillan, made up the Duke head coach’s staff.

‘We’re good friends,’ Boeheim said, about his partnership with Krzyzewski. ‘It was fun to work with the NBA guys, too. It was a very good learning experience.’

Boeheim was in charge of the zone defense, of course. D’Antoni taught the powerful and exciting Suns offense and McMillan focused on man-to-man defense. However, in the end, Boeheim wasn’t teaching his NBA players how to play the zone, but how to beat it.

‘The other teams tried to play the zone against us,’ Boeheim said. ‘We didn’t play zone. Instead, we were better off playing man-to-man.’

USA allowed 83.1 points per game, a substantial improvement from four years ago. But in the game against Greece, no defensive scheme could stop the bleeding.

The Greeks ran the pick-and-roll to perfection and found open looks all game. They shot 63 percent and turned the ball over only 11 times, the least amount for any opponent the U.S. faced in Japan.

Krzyzewski and his coaching staff tried every defensive plan against the Greeks-including Boeheim’s zone-but failed.

‘I learned a lot about the game,’ Boeheim said. ‘Just seeing different styles and the international game was different.’

The opportunity to coach his most valuable player from the 2003 national championship run was a bonus.

‘We talk all the time about the national championship and how I got that monkey off his back,’ Anthony told the Associated Press.

Anthony emerged as a leader on and off the court for USA. He averaged 19.9 points, best on the team. Before the world championships, Krzyzewski named Anthony a team captain, along with Cleveland’s LeBron James and Dwayne Wade of the Miami Heat.

Boeheim said Anthony looks stronger and plays more physical than he ever did at Syracuse.

‘The international game is more physical,’ Boeheim said. ‘It’s necessary.’

Anthony was a familiar face for Boeheim, but he was one of few. A college coach for 30 years, rarely has Boeheim dealt with NBA players once they leave the collegiate ranks.

He changed his coaching style accordingly.

‘Obviously the talent level is different,’ Boeheim said. ‘They pick things up quicker. They’re more advanced than college kids. Normally you are still teaching fundamentals to college kids.’

While you were out

Boeheim’s commitment to Team USA took up most of his summer, including time for his typical responsibilities as head coach of Syracuse.

With the head coach overseas, SU assistants Mike Hopkins, Bernie Fine and Rob Murphy assumed Boeheim’s tasks and ran the program.

Generally the summer is a crucial time for recruiting, but Boeheim could rest easy leaving the team to his three assistants.

‘The good thing was we finished our recruiting before we got started with Team USA,’ Boeheim said.

In fact, SU was done with its recruiting way back in May, when the fifth member of the class of 2007, Sean Williams, announced his verbal commitment.

And even if something had happened while Boeheim was overseas, he has people who he can trust. Fine has been a Boeheim assistant for all 30 years and Hopkins has been around since 1995.

Most of the work assigned to the three assistants was to make sure the three incoming freshmen were squared away procedurally and everyone on the team had class schedules finalized. In addition, Fine, Hopkins and Murphy planned out preliminary recruiting schedules for September.

‘The month of August usually is a vacation month for me,’ Boeheim said. ‘(Me being away) didn’t change anything for our program.’

This and that

Tryouts for walk-ons will be held the first day of practice, Oct. 13. …Scout.com now lists Syracuse as the top-ranked recruiting class in 2007. It ranks Donte Greene as the No. 2 power forward in the country and Johnny Flynn as the fourth-best point guard. … Syracuse announced the start of season ticket sales last Thursday. Single game tickets go on sale Oct. 18.

Published on September 19, 2006 at 12:00 pm