Syracuse handed Florida State a gut punch Wednesday afternoon when they knocked the Seminoles out of the ACC Tournament with a 96-57 victory.
But the story of the game was the literal gut-punch Syracuse senior Buddy Boeheim hit Florida State’s Wyatt Wilkes with. Following the game, Syracuse head coach and Buddy’s dad, Jim Boeheim, attempted to categorize the cheap shot as no big deal with an odd “nothing to see here” approach. Except, we all saw it.
In response to a question from Mike Waters of Syracuse.com, Boeheim claimed Buddy was pushed twice before he swung around and inadvertently hit Wilkes. And everyone might have been willing to believe Boeheim if his son’s punch didn’t go viral on social media after being caught on camera.
Thankfully, one reporter attempted to press the iconic college basketball coach about the punch that landed his son a controversial one-game suspension from the ACC.
Here’s everybody’s favorite Jim Boeheim talking about his son Buddy’s punch to the stomach at the press conference directly after the game… https://t.co/8moRuPJFfo pic.twitter.com/WvNTQ3QoCx
— The Fan Morning Show (@FanMorningShow) March 10, 2022
“Coach, I’m watching it right here,” the reporter said during the postgame press conference. “It’s on ESPN and it’s being shared all over social media. He punched him in his stomach. It wasn’t inadvertent.”
Syracuse's Buddy Boeheim appears to take a dirty shot at #FSU's Wyatt Wilkes, who left the game in pain. Nothing called and no review. pic.twitter.com/UBxBsT7Mbd
— Carter Karels (@CarterKarels) March 9, 2022
After the reporter dared to question Boeheim’s claim that the cheap shot was inadvertent, the coach grew more defiant and contentious.
“Whatever you say, whatever you say,” Boeheim responded to seemingly brush the reporter off. “Well, good. You say it. I just gave you my version of what I saw, OK? Can we disagree? I don’t have to agree with you, right?”
There are plenty of things that Boeheim doesn’t have to agree with the reporter on, but in this case, the video doesn’t lie. Buddy hit Wilkes with a cheap shot. And Jim Boeheim arrogantly acting like calling it a “punch” was a grand conspiracy of misinformation makes the 77-year-old coach seem absurd.
