Former Syracuse men’s basketball coach Jim Boeheim insists Iowa’s Caitlin Clark is the best player in the history of women’s college basketball.
Clark became the all-time NCAA Division I scoring leader on Sunday, passing “Pistol” Pete Maravich’s 54-year-old record for total points. The skilled 3-point shooter now has 3,685 points, more than Maravich’s 3,667 combined points over three seasons at LSU from 1967-1970 and more than the previous women’s NCAA record holder Lynette Woodard.
Boeheim threatened to “punch” anyone who criticizes Clark — with one exception: If they’re bigger.
“Some expert says, ‘Well, she hasn’t won a championship.’ If I ever see that guy, I’ll just punch him,” Boeheim said on Dan Dakich’s online “Don’t @ Me” show. “Unless he’s really big. I won’t do it if he’s really big. But, these people, how do they even get jobs saying stuff like that?”
The New York Post notes Boeheim (who’s 6-foot-3) may have been specifically taking aim at Jay Williams, a former Duke player and current ESPN analyst who’s about an inch shorter than the retired Hall of Fame coach. Williams refused to call Clark “great” because she hasn’t yet won a title.
“I think she is the Stephen Curry of women’s college basketball,” Williams said on ESPN College Gameday last month. “I am unwilling, and maybe it’s more the Kobe mentorship around me, to say that she is great yet. I think she is the most prolific scorer the game has ever seen. I hold great for the levels of immortality or the pantheon to when you win championships. That’s just me.”
Boeheim, 79, might have taken that criticism personally as Syracuse basketball legend Carmelo Anthony has sometimes been criticized for never winning an NBA championship over 19 seasons. Melo led Syracuse University to its only NCAA title as a freshman in 2003, won three gold medals in the Olympics, and ranks in the top 10 on the NBA’s all-time scoring list; he’s…
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