Jay Mariotti bashing and a defense of Jim Boeheim

Jay Mariotti is a punching bag for those in the blogosphere.

I guess its my turn to weigh in.

You see, Mariotti was sent to cover the Sweet 16 games in Salt Lake City last night, and he apparently spent most of the game, well, not watching. This shouldn't come as a surprise to you. Mariotti has a bit of a reputation for doing these things.

It also should come as no surprise to you that his column actually turned out pretty decent because, like him or not, the man can write.

I'm not going to bash Mariotti for not watching the game from his courtside seat. Any of you can figure out it is a disgrace to the sports writing world when he does this. If you are not a big enough fan of sports to appreciate the fact that you get paid to sit in the best seat in the house to watch what amounted to two fantastic games, than I cannot comprehend why you are in the profession. (Ok, that was a little bit of a bashing, but I'm just jealous. I wish I was at that game last night.)

I'm also not going to bash Mariotti for jabbing Syracuse in the ribs when they didn't know Ronald Nored's exact 3PT%, because I think it goes without saying that it is more important that the Syracuse players simply know that Nored is not a very good three point shooter than the fact that he hits 19%, not 15%, of his threes.

No, I'm going to let those things slide off my back, and instead focus on this line at the end of the article:

You sensed a changing of the guard, too, between the two coaches. Boeheim thought this might be his second national title team, but now, at 65, with Johnson and Rautins leaving and 34 seasons and 1,122 games in his pocket, it might be time to consider retirement and an ESPN studio seat.

Hold on a second.

Did Mariotti just say that he thinks Boeheim needs to hang 'em up?

Because that would be crazy if he did, right?

Because Jim Boeheim didn't lead a team that no one had in the top 25 to a Big East regular season title, by two games nonetheless, right? He didn't take a team that lost Jonny Flynn, Eric Devendorf, and Paul Harris and make them a #1 seed in the tournament, did he? Because this #1 seed was loaded with McDonald's all-americans, and didn't have any kids that Boeheim turned from high-major after thoughts into quality players in the Big East, correct?

Oh, I get it.

What Mariotti was saying is that Boeheim should leave before his reputation is tarnished since Syracuse is losing Andy Rautins, Arinze Onuaku, and in all-likelihood Wes Johnson. He doesn't return his back court of Scoop Jardine and Brandon Triche, a good post player in Rick Jackson, and one of the guys that will be all over 2011 breakout star lists in Kris Joseph.

He also isn't bringing in a recruiting class that is headlined by a class of 2010 star in 7'0" Fab Melo and top 50 recruit Dion Waters.

In all honesty, I don't know what Mariotti was getting at, but he wasn't the only one talking about Boeheim today.

Honestly, its ridiculous that anyone is questioning the resume of Boeheim. He's been to the tournament 16 times in the last 21 years. Here are the results:

2010 (1-seed): lost in Sweet 16 to Butler
2009 (3-seed): lost in Sweet 16 to Oklahoma
2006 (5-seed): lost in first round to Texas A&M
2005 (4-seed): lost in first round to Vermont
2004 (5-seed): lost in Sweet 16 to Alabama
2003 (3-seed): won the national title
2001 (5-seed): lost in second round to Kansas
2000 (4-seed): lost in Sweet 16 to Michigan State
1999 (8-seed): lost in first round to Oklahoma State
1998 (5-seed): lost in Sweet 16 to Duke
1996 (4-seed): lost in Championship to Kentucky
1995 (7-seed): lost in second round to Arkansas
1994 (4-seed): lost in Sweet 16 to Missouri
1992 (6-seed): lost in second round to UMass
1991 (2-seed): lost in first round to Richmond
1990 (2-seed): lost in Sweet 16 to Minnesota

While there have been a couple of times when he teams failed to live up to expectations -- 1991 and 2005, specifically -- he also took a #4 seed to the title game and won a championship with a #3 seed.

And while he loses three of his top four scorers if Johnson bounces to the league, he also brings in a talented recruiting class, has a star waiting in the wings with Kris Joseph, and a couple of talented youngsters keeping the bench warm -- Mookie Jones, James Southerland, DaShonte Riley -- while they bide their time waiting to get minutes.

Unless Boeheim decides that it is time for him to retire, he won't be going anywhere.

And any and all speculation to the contrary isn't worth your time.