The knock on Jim Boeheim has always been that he puts together great regular seasons but his Syracuse Orange don't follow through in the post-season. Perhaps that's the irony behind his latest masterpiece as the 2015-2016 Orange had a fairly mediocre regular season but have morphed into a Final Four squad in the 2016 NCAA Tournament.
With Sunday's victory over the Virginia Cavaliers, Jim Boeheim has now led five different Syracuse squads to the Final Four (though he was on the bench for a sixth as an assistant). 1987, 1996, 2003, 2013, and now 2016. He broke his streak of one Final Four per decade, but we'll allow it this time. Plus, that puts him into rare company in terms of coaches with at least Final Fours.
Boeheim now joins Lute Olson (Iowa, Arizona), Guy Lewis (Houston), and Bob Knight (Indiana) with five Final Fours to their name. It also puts him one behind Kentucky legend Adolph Rupp and Louisville legend Denny Crum. He's still got a ways to go to catch Rick Pitino (7), Tim Izzo (7), Roy Williams (7), Dean Smith (11), Mike Krzyzewski (12) and John Wooden (12).
You might not like Boeheim's style or the way he runs his program, but you can't argue with the results. Especially right now.