NCAA's Interview Sessions: Syracuse Orange

Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim is excited about his 2015 recruiting class.

(Dennis Nett | dnett@syracuse.com)

Bud Poliquin will stop by between 9-10 a.m. today to chat with readers. Leave a comment about Jim Boeheim's thoughts on Orange recruiting and his view of the possible trade of Kevin Love to Cleveland (or on any other subject) and Bud will hop in and engage.

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Syracuse, N.Y. — There may be "no second acts in American lives," if F. Scott Fitzgerald is to be believed. But there can be second parts to Jim Boeheim stories. And here is evidence of that.

I wrote in this space on Wednesday morning of Boeheim's most recent financial coup for the Jim & Juli Boeheim Foundation — a $100,000 donation from Eaton's Crouse-Hinds that is earmarked for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Syracuse.

Today, I clean out the notebook doodlings from the big man's visit on Tuesday to the Crouse-Hinds shop at the corner of Wolf and 7th North streets.

Here goes …

Speaking to a gathering of 300 and more employees, the Orange basketball coach offered a peek behind the curtain.

"It's always difficult when you lose players, sometimes a bit early," said Boeheim, who was certainly referencing the premature defections of would-be sophomore Tyler Ennis and would-be junior Jerami Grant to the NBA. "But that's what happens. We'll be all right.

"I will tell you that next year's recruiting class will be the best that we've ever had here at Syracuse University. That's next year's class — 2015. We've got four guys (who've committed) and we're getting another, but I can't talk about that. It's going to be a great recruiting class, and I think you'll be excited about the future."

The four imports he referenced are, in rating order as determined by the ESPN 100, as follows:

Malachi Richardson (6-foot-6, 190-pound guard) — No. 15 on the ESPN 100.

Moustapha Diagne (6-9, 230-pound forward) — No. 44 on the ESPN 100.

Tyler Lydon (6-8, 185-pound forward) — No. 59 on the ESPN 100.

Franklin Howard (6-6, 180-pound guard) — No. 70 on the ESPN 100.

After his presentation to the Crouse-Hinds folks, Boeheim was asked about the much-discussed trade rumor on the NBA side that would have the Minnesota Timberwolves sending Kevin Love (26 in September) to the Cleveland Cavaliers for the 19-year-old Andrew Wiggins. And he hesitated not at all.

"It's a no-brainer," Boeheim declared. "You've got a proven All-Star (Love) who is in the prime of this career. Meanwhile, the other guy (Wiggins) might be really good some day. I would make the trade. I love Kevin Love."

Having helped to coach Love during the 2012 Olympics in London, Boeheim, an aide on the United States' national team, has gotten to know him well. And he believes if the Cavaliers acquire the 6-10 forward — and, thus, get Love in the lineup with the likes of LeBron James and Kyrie Irving — they'll be very well served.

"Cleveland would be the favorite in the East," Boeheim predicted. "Not the favorite overall, but the favorite in the East. For sure."

That submitted, he was gone … pretty much literally. Between recruiting duties and his commitment to the USA Basketball program, Boeheim reported that he'll be on the road and as far away from Syracuse as Spain for all but 10 days between now and Sept. 15.

That, of course, makes for yet another act for discussion on yet another day.

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(Bud Poliquin's columns/commentaries and other contributions can be found a couple of times a day, usually, Monday through Friday, usually, on syracuse.com. His work also regularly appears on the pages of The Post-Standard newspaper. Additionally, Poliquin can be heard weekday mornings between 10-12 on the "Bud & the Manchild" sports-talk radio show on The Score-1260.)