BOSTON — A No. 3 NCAA Tournament seed and a Big East West Division championship with three freshmen and a pair of sophomores are sure to have Syracuse men’s basketball coach Jim Boeheim swimming in compliments. But there’s a far simpler way to gauge Boeheim’s success this season.

Just look at his relationship — straight out of a sitcom — with freshman Billy Edelin. The type where a father and son, or perhaps an old married couple, bicker and banter back and forth but eventually realize they can’t prosper without one another.

It’s the type of relationship that can morph a point guard that hadn’t played competitive basketball in more than a year and a half into the team MVP for the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament.

It’s the type that forces Boeheim — whose affection, at least in public, tends to consist of a smile, a few kind words and a quick pat on the backside — to quickly wrap his arm around the shoulders of a frustrated young player.

“It’s a good relationship,” SU assistant coach Mike Hopkins said. “Coaches get frustrated when players make plays that are uncharacteristic of them. Coach likes to challenge guys.”

Two months ago, when Edelin was breaking back into the lineup, Boeheim avoided challenging Edelin. Instead, his arm routinely fell across the point guard’s shoulders.

As players shuffled off to study tables or to run drills with Hopkins and fellow assistant Troy Weaver, Boeheim huddled with Edelin. Without a ball or videotape, Boeheim explained the nuances of SU’s offense to Edelin.

“That’s just part of the coach-point guard relationship,” Edelin said. “Coach Boeheim always does that with his point guards. They’ve got to be the leaders out there.”

When Edelin returned to the lineup, Boeheim was reserved — both in dishing out playing time and criticism. He warned of the problems of putting too much pressure on Edelin, who attempted only one shot in three of his first five games. Boeheim spent the first few weeks of Edelin’s return building the point guard’s confidence, brick by brick.

But don’t think Boeheim’s gone soft.

“You might think I’m a bad person if I tell you some of the stuff he tells me,” Edelin said.

“Oh yeah,” freshman Carmelo Anthony said. “Everybody knows he’s hard on Billy.”

Edelin often takes the brunt of Boeheim’s angry outbursts, certainly more so than fellow freshmen Gerry McNamara and Anthony. And Edelin occasionally fires back, admitting he prefers playing man-to-man defense rather than Boeheim’s pet 2-3 zone.

“He knows anything on the basketball court can’t be worse than what I went through,” Edelin said. “He knows I can take it. Some guys will fold up and just want to leave.”

Despite Boeheim’s constant corrections during the past five games, Edelin’s become a pseudo-starter. He’s taking 20 minutes of playing time from teammates, but nobody complains. He’s first off the bench and the first one Boeheim looks to when he needs a spark.

He’s also the reason Syracuse escaped Boston with two wins and a peg on which Boeheim should rest this season’s coaching efforts.

It seems hard to imagine Edelin looking better than he did this weekend. But, of course, it’s easy for Boeheim.

“I get on Billy sometimes. There are still some things I think he could do better,” Boeheim said. “He might think I pick on him a little bit.”

Picks on him and then picks him up. That’s why the relationship works.

Chris Carlson is a staff writer at The Daily Orange. E-mail him at chcarlso@syr.edu.

Published on March 23, 2003 at 12:00 pm