Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 23, 1990 TAG: 9003231807
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: NEW ORLEANS LENGTH: Medium
On the flight from upstate New York to the Crescent City on Wednesday, he thought about it.
Boeheim is back in the so-called City That Care Forgot, but he can't forget the night almost three years ago.
In the Superdome for the Orangemen's NCAA Southeast Regional semifinal workout Thursday, the floor was new, but it was as if the spot from which Indiana's Keith Smart launched an NCAA championship-winning shot was marked with a bold red X.
It is in Boeheim's mind.
"The ghosts are here," Boeheim said. "I'm not sure where they are, but they're here."
In 14 seasons, Boeheim's Syracuse teams have won 343 games. The Orangemen are in their 12th NCAA Tournament under the bespectacled and balding coach, their eighth in a row.
"A coach never dreams about wins," he said. "Only losses."
A win tonight at 8 against Minnesota (22-8) will send Syracuse (26-6) into its third NCAA regional final in four seasons. It will not, however, erase Boeheim's thoughts of that 1987 night when then-freshman Derrick Coleman's clanking free throw led to Smart's baseline jumper and a 74-73 Hoosiers victory.
Asked how long it took to get over the NCAA final loss, Boeheim said, "I might get over it someday."
He second-guessed some of his strategy on that night almost three years later. That's because he knows not many coaches get a shot at a second NCAA title.
Boeheim doesn't have to look past tonight's second game - Michigan State vs. Georgia Tech - for an example. Michigan State's Jud Heathcote guided the Magic Johnson-led Spartans to the 1979 title. He hasn't been in a regional final since.
"I don't think you get over those things," Boeheim said. "It's there. You learn to live on. Some things happen in this game that are tough. The longer you coach, it seems things fade and they don't seem as tough.
"It isn't death, and like the joke says, `No, it's worse.' It's not. But a game like that one, the reason you have so much trouble trying to forget it, is I thought we played better than Indiana.
"We'd played well, and we were in good position to win. It wasn't one of those games where you say to yourself, `We didn't play well,' and we lose by eight or 10 points, and you say, `Well, they're better than us.'
"This is the toughest kind to get over. We didn't lose the game. We didn't give it to them. We played better, but they won, and that makes it a little tougher always. There's a game in high school [as a player] that we lost and I still think about."
Boeheim remembered the final minutes of the NCAA title loss and how, when Syracuse forward Howard Triche stepped to the line to shoot free throws, Boeheim had his rebounders in place on the side of the lane.
Triche made the first of a bonus chance, then missed the second. When Coleman went to the line and missed the shot that could have clinched the game, Boeheim had his other four players back on defense.
Indiana got the easy rebound, Smart drove down the floor and fired.
"Maybe if we don't have everybody back, maybe Smart doesn't have time at the end to get it down [and shoot]," Boeheim said.
"If Smart misses the shot, then everybody is second-guessing Bobby Knight because he didn't call timeout [after Coleman's miss]."
Most coaches have remarkable recall of more than their career-marking games. Boeheim, 45, is no exception. He doesn't need to see his NCAA title travails to remember.
"I never watch the tape of it," he said. "I don't. I won't. I never want to see it.
"I think I watched it once, just to make sure it [Smart's shot] still went in. It did.
"The only time I've seen it is when it's on highlights on TV, as part of something else. It's not fun to watch."
Coleman, who had 19 rebounds in what added to and has been added to in a string of nail-biting NCAA finals, didn't want to talk about that loss Thursday.
"That was three years ago," he said. "This is a different time."
But it has a coach with a memory he can't forget. Two wins can send the Orangemen to a Rocky Mountain high at the Final Four next weekend at Denver.
If that doesn't happen, the Superdome will remain Boeheim's personal cavern.
by CNB