On Monday, just hours after the United States took home the gold in the FIBA World Cup, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports dropped a bombshell of a column crushing USA Basketball and, in the process, lighting up Mike Krzyzewski, the head coach of the USA’s Senior National Team as well as the Duke Blue Devils.
He made some pretty startling accusations in that column, from saying that Coach K is the only one that truly benefits from pro players participating in international tournaments, using it to his advantage on the recruiting trail, while also saying, among other things, that Coach K planted a camera in Paul George’s hospital room in order to capture this memorable photo.
Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim, who is also involved with USA Basketball and is an assistant on Coach K’s staff, took exception.
“The thing that Wojnarowski wrote was completely off-base,” Boeheim told the Syracuse Post-Standard, specifically calling out Woj for misrepresenting the fact that Paul George’s parents were the one that took that picture.
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But he also downplayed the effect that his association with USA Basketball has on his ability to recruit.
“It doesn’t hurt,” Boeheim said. “I think it’s a slight help. It might help Duke a little. I’m on the committee. I’ve talked with 25 top players. We haven’t gotten one of the top players. I’ve talked with them for six years. Billy Donovan won two goal medals. He coached high school kids. He didn’t get any of those kids. It could happen. You could get in there.”
Boeheim also told the paper that the only coach he knows of that has been vocally against Coach K sitting atop USA Basketball’s coaching tree is Kentucky head coach John Calipari.