The Syracuse men's basketball team suffered a shocking 66-58 loss at Connecticut [8] on Wednesday night in the teams' final Big East regular season meeting.
But the fireworks weren't limited to the on-court effort.
Orange coach Jim Boeheim reportedly sparred with ESPN college basketball reporter Andy Katz [9] in the post-game press conference, calling Katz an "idiot" and "disloyal" while refusing to answer questions from the journalist.
The ESPN reporter was reportedly asking a question about the significance of the Syracuse-UConn rivalry, and what is has meant for both programs. But Boeheim took exception to the one posing the question.
The Post-Standard reported Thursday that Boeheim's tiff stemmed from Katz's attempted on-camera interview in the midst of the Bernie Fine investigation [10]. Katz tried to interview Boeheim at the Preseason NIT Tipoff, and Boeheim consented — reportedly under the condition that Fine not be discussed. But Katz continued asking about the allegations, and Boeheim (and several of his staff) were disgusted by the prodding, according to the newspaper's Bud Poliquin.
Andy Katz responded to the Syracuse coach's story here [11].
No reason was given to Boeheim's dismissal of Katz, but rumors began circulating late Wednesday regarding Katz's reporting during the James Southerland academic investigation [12]. Katz also wrote an article about the culture of Syracuse basketball [13] during the recent Bernie Fine investigation that may have ruffled Boeheim at the time.
Katz reportedly later told to the press contingent [14] that he is "not getting paid by Syracuse U."
Full audio of the exchange from the press conference can be found courtesy of WAER Sports [15].
Photo: courtesy Wikimedia Commons/ Phil5329 [16] at en.wikipedia [17]
