Report: Boeheim calls Calipari 'disingenuous'

Don't worry about Jim Boeheim being afraid to speak his mind.

Boeheim, the legendary Syracuse coach who was an assistant to Duke's Mike Krzyzewski on the U.S. National team that just won the gold medal at the FIBA World Cup in Spain, hit back hard Wednesday in refuting a column this week by Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski, who criticized Krzyzewski's involvement with USA Basketball as a means to pump up his Duke recruiting. Boeheim also claimed that Kentucky's John Calipari had criticized Krzyzewski's arrangement, too, and was "a little bit disingenuous" for doing so.

"The thing that Wojnarowski wrote was completely off-base," Boeheim said during extensive comments reported by Syracuse.com.

Boeheim took exception to Wojnarowski writing that Krzyzewski had used a widely distributed photo of him hugging injured Paul George in his hospital bed as a way to promote his character when actually, Boeheim said, George's family took and released the picture.

For local fans of college basketball, Boeheim's comments about Calipari are perhaps the most interesting.

Boeheim asserted that the involvement or him, Krzyzewski, Florida coach Billy Donovan or any other college coach with the national program is only a "slight help" to their recruiting.

Boeheim said Calipari has taken issue with Krzyzewski's access to recruits while working with the U.S. team and that Calipari had complained both to Boeheim and USA Basketball about it. Boeheim also noted, according to Syracuse.com, that Calipari had signed top recruit Karl Towns after coaching him on the Dominican National Team.

"It's a concern he has raised before," Boeheim said. "That particular case he has mentioned. He's said he thinks its an advantage. He got the No. 1 recruit in the country. It's a little bit disingenuous of him. I like John. We get along fine. He feels Mike is getting an advantage. You could make that argument. But Duke isn't getting any better players than they ever have."

Boeheim said the involvement with USA Basketball "doesn't hurt" recruiting, but he's signed none of the top players he's been involved with in the national program. He also said it's "a joke" that Wojnarowski seemed to insinuate that Duke landed five-star Class of 2014 players Jahlil Okafor and Justise Winslow in part because Krzyzewski was able to meet with them during a U.S. U-19 training camp last year.

"I don't think there's a kid here (at Syracuse) who would say, 'I'm here because he's an assistant OIympic coach,'" Boeheim said. "They might say,'I'm here because he has won 900 games at Syracuse' or 'they've been to the Final Four' or 'we've had four point guards drafted in the first round.' "

Boeheim also said Calipari had agreed to coach the U.S. team at next year's Pan-American Games, but there's been no confirmation of that from Calipari or Team USA.