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Jim Boeheim and Rick Pitino get into war of words at Big East Media Day

Rick Pitino

Louisville coach Rick Pitino gestures toward the monitor as he disagrees with an official on a call during the first half of their NCAA tournament second-round college basketball game against Davidson in Portland, Ore., Thursday, March 15, 2012. Louisville won 69-62.(AP Photo/Don Ryan)

AP

NEW YORK, N.Y.--Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim and Louisville coach Rick Pitino got into a war of words Wednesday at Big East Media Day in New York City, with each alleging that the other was “full of s**t” in regards their respective views on the Big East’s future members.

The argument centered around whether incoming members Memphis and Temple would be able to fill the void left by Syracuse when the Orange move to the ACC for the start of the 2013-14 season.

Rick Pitino believes they do. Jim Boeheim, not so much.

“Rick’s full of s***t if that’s what he really said,” Boeheim said, as reported by ZagsBlog.com. “If he was in the Big 12 right now like he wanted to be, he’d being saying the Big 12 is the best. That’s the bottom line.”

Pitino fired back in an interview with ZagsBlog.

“I think he’s full of s**t, and so we’re both full of it,” Pitino said. ”I think without question Temple and Memphis…Look, we’re going to miss Syracuse because they bring more than just a team. They bring the fans and Memphis and Temple can’t do that.

“But anybody who looks at where Memphis has been in the last 10-12 years, anybody who looks at the tradition of Temple and knows Franny Dunphy, would know I’m not full of s**t.

“If Temple played Syracuse 10 times right now, one’s gonna win six and the other’s gonna four. Syracuse and Pitt are two great teams.”

Pitino’s Cardinals were selected to finish first in the Big East in the official coaches’ poll released Wednesday, and are among the top five teams nationally.

Boeheim’s Orange are not far behind, picked to finish second by the coaches and among the top 15 in the nation.

The two will get their first shot at one another on Jan. 19, when the Orange travel to Louisville.

Daniel Martin is a writer and editor at JohnnyJungle.com, covering St. John’s. You can find him on Twitter:@DanielJMartin_