Syracuse Basketball Head Coach Jim Boeheim and his South Carolina counterpart, Frank Martin participated in a conference call with the media today. The conference call was to promote, next week’s Brooklyn Hoops Holiday Invitational. Ironically, this will be Syracuse first appearance at Barclays Center. Coach Jim Boeheim and the Orange men will try to familiarize themselves with the Barclays Center, considering, the ACC tournament will be played there in March.
Coach Jim Boeheim and Coach Frank Martin, spread some of that Brooklyn love for one another, all during the call. I’m sure that love will lead to a competitive battle on November 26th.
Coach Martin On His Relationship With Coach Boeheim: ” I met him officially when there were recruiting Steve Blake, who played for me in high school. We stayed in touch since. Coach Boeheim has helped me get into USA Basketball. What Coach Boeheim does is he helps others and that’s what it’s all about.”
Coach Boeheim On His Relationship With Coach Martin: “I’ve known Frank for a long time. He’s a guy that I respect tremendously for the coaching job he’s done. The passion he has for our game is incredible. I’ve worked with him in USA Basketball, where he just brings that passion every day. I’ve always admired the way he coaches and what he brings to the coaching profession.”
Coach Martin On How This Game Came About: “A gentleman by the name of Chris Spencer runs these kinda of tournaments and this is the same one we were part pf my first year when we played Manhattan College up there. He approached us a little bit over a year ago and said would you be interested in playing Syracuse at the Barclays? And I said ‘ Our program would love the opportunity, to play in New York. Anytime your team plays a Jim Boeheim team, your team gets better.
Coach Boeheim On His Team Playing In Barclays Center: ” I’m really looking forward to playing this game and obviously the tournament at Barclays. I love coming to New York to play. It’s great for us, it’s great for our fans. We’ve been coming to New York City to play just about every year that I’ve coached for 40 years. It’s great. Everybody has told me the Barclays Center is a great venue. We scheduled this tournament game a long time ago and it just so happened to coincide with us playing there this year.”