Syracuse NCAA Hearing: Jim Boeheim Can't Talk About It, So Don't Ask About It

Jim Boeheim is a stubborn man. Syracuse Orange men's basketball fans know this very well.

Boeheim can be a very grumpy man too. College sports' national media members knows this very well.

So, Wednesday, at the ACC Men's Basketball Media Day held in Charlotte, N.C., when the topic of Syracuse University's upcoming NCAA hearing was addressed, was there any shock the 69-year-old curmudgeon wasn't going to cooperate with anyone's questions involving the topic?

Not really, but it did rub some folks the wrong way. People like Yahoo Sports' Pat Forde, who wrote a recap of what happened during Wednesday's media day whe Boeheim had an exchange between Forde, CBS' Gary Parrish and ESPN's Dana O'Neil.

As he sat down at a table, the NCAA's career active leader in sarcasm said, "Fire away. I'm betting I will be getting up in 15 seconds."

Then I asked the first question: What was he expecting from the Committee on Infractions hearing Thursday?

The answer was literally a hiss. Not sure how to spell it, but it was pretty much: "Sssssssssss," followed by "You know..."

Me: "We have to ask."

Boeheim: "And I answered."

Me: "Are you attending [the hearing]?"

Boeheim: "I'm waiting for a question I want to answer."

Gary Parrish of CBS Sports: "Let me ask this ..."

Boeheim: "Is this a different way to ask the same question?"

Parrish: "Probably but I'm going to be as creative as I can."

Boeheim: "You can't get creative, as creative as I'm sure you are."

Parrish: "Has it grown frustrating?"

Boeheim: "You tried. You tried. Congratulations."

Dana O'Neill of ESPN: "Not to belabor the point, just to clarify: Is it that you can't answer or you won't?"

Boeheim: "No, it's against the rules. You're the writers that write about these things all the time, I'm sure you know that. It's against the rules to talk about an ongoing investigation, period. Period. The only thing, you always get me to say something, and I know that's why you here."

Because of this exchange, Forde and Parrish expressed they believed Boeheim did not handle himself as well as North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Roy Williams, who had to respond to questions surrounding his programs own academic scandal. (Though, he didn't say much of anything.)

Boeheim's tone was basically the same when he was asked about possibly retiring when the Orange made their Final Four run in 2013. The same aggravation was shown when Boeheim refused to and couldn't talk about the ongoing Bernie Fine situation.

"I can't,'' he told the media Wednesday. "When it's over, I'll be happy to explain things. You'll want to hear when it's over, what it's all about. But I can't talk about it right now. When it's over, we'll discuss.

Whether Boeheim could really say anything or not, the biggest point he was trying to make to reporters was: Whatever I say, it is going to come back and bite me in the butt. So, no, I am not going to give you anything and your going to know that I don't want to give you anything (via Syracuse.com).

"Whenever these things are written about, there's so much misinformation because nobody can talk,'' Boeheim said. "So people take some piece there and it becomes something wholly different. To me, it's just better, when it's done, you look at what happened and you talk about it.

"And everybody's opinion - everybody's going to have a different opinion. But it's better to have, 'these are all the things, and this is what we did and this is what people said.' Then you decide. You write it, you talk about it and you decide.''

"They'll have their case and we'll have our case,'' he said. "We'll have documentation, too, for everything. And people will make their judgments. Any time you're involved in any type of a case with a judge and jury, they're going to have their side and this group's going to have their side and somebody's going to make a decision based on all that.

"And everybody's open to make their interpretation of what happened and what didn't happen. Sometimes people will think, 'Well, that wasn't fair,' and some will think, 'Well, that was fair.' And you move on. That's just the way it is.''

Syracuse faces the NCAA music Thursday and Friday. Follow this StoryStream or all the latest updates.