Rebels in national spotlight

Steve Carp

Wednesday, Dec. 18, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Either coach Jim Boeheim is a chameleon or all those stories about him being stuffy, stodgy and a whiner are greatly exaggerated.

Perhaps 21 seasons at Syracuse have mellowed Boeheim. Or his girlfriend Jill has had a calming influence. Or the fact he brought the Orangemen on an unexpected journey to the NCAA title game last season before falling in the final minutes to Kentucky finally validated his outstanding accomplishments.

But the son of an undertaker is hardly a dour soul these days. He has a young basketball team, struggling to find itself at 5-4 (0-2 in the Big East) heading into today's 4 p.m. nationally televised game against 4-1 UNLV at the Carrier Dome.

Boeheim has always been a patient man. So despite the fleeting fame that came with Syracuse's Final Four run and the struggles in the aftermath that have brought Boeheim's critics back to the surface, he remains strong in his resolve to keep the Orangemen among the nation's elite.

"We play well at times but we're playing about where I thought we would," he said of this year's squad. "We could be 7-2. But when you're playing three freshmen in your top six, you're going to struggle at times."

It's not an excuse. It's fact. When you lose three key components from a 29-9 team, including point guard Lazarus Sims and big man John Wallace, it's going to take time to reload. After all, not everyone is Kentucky.

Add to the mix the ongoing Todd Burgan saga and the Winfred Walton affair, and Boeheim finds himelf dealing with off-court distractions that could rip apart even a veteran team.

Burgan, a 6-foot-7 guard from Detroit, is appealing a university-rendered seven-game suspension following an incident with a Syracuse coed. He will play tonight.

Walton, who was a prized recruit, enrolled at Syracuse but had his status revoked after his SAT score was deemed unacceptable. Walton allegedly had improved nearly 400 points and university officials refused to let the score stand. He since has enrolled at Fresno State.

"There's no question it's a problem," Boeheim said of the distractions. "You can minimize them all you want. But it's something that's there and we've got to deal with."

But the current distractions aren't even close to the ones Boeheim and the program had to deal with at the start of the decade. The NCAA investigated Syracuse and when it was all said and done, the Orangemen received a year of sanctions and two years' probation.

Boeheim, who has been at Syracuse his entire basketball life as a player, assistant coach and head coach, considered moving on in the wake of the NCAA's decision.

"I thought about going to the NBA," he said. "But I saw it (the penalties) as a challenge and we were determined to pull together and stay with it."

While schools like UNLV still are trying to rebuild their programs after having the NCAA bring the hammer down, Syracuse somehow managed to survive with minimal slippage.

Despite getting beaten up in the recruiting wars due to the sanctions, Boeheim has won at least 20 games each year during the '90s and his collective .752 winning percentage ranks fifth among active Division I coaches.

"We had six or seven players for four or five years who played their butts off," he said of how the program was able to maintain its high level during the probationary period. "We hung in and won some close games. But it had a definite effect on us. We're just starting to recover. When we recruited Winfred, it was our first big-time recruit in several years."

But Boeheim still has some pretty good players. Senior center Otis Hill is coming off his best year. Guard Jason Cippola has developed into an excellent player. Burgan, who is trying to stay focused in the wake of his off-the-court problems, is the team's leading scorer at 16.2 points per game.

And the newcomers have done a good job. Jason Hart has gotten over his California homesickness and has played well at the point. Ramel Lloyd and LaSean Howard have made solid contributions off the bench and have exceeded Boeheim's early expectations.

"I thought our veterans would play a little better at this point," he said. "But we've asked them to change and that may have something to do with it. Last year, they were role players. Now, they're go-to guys and I think they're struggling with the transition. But we're not a long ways away. This can still be a good team."

But it won't be as good as last year's. And to compare the two would be unfair.

"Last year's team was special," Boeheim said. "It's a team you'll remember forever. Nobody expected us to do what we did. But we had a point guard who got the right people the ball and we had a big-time, go-to guy in John and it all came together for us."

And it came together for Boeheim, who finally got his due respect.

"I think I've always had the respect of my peers," he said. "And our fans have always been good to me. There are some cynics. But I don't worry about it. I know if I'm doing my job or not."