The list of stars in the sports media world that hold a degree from Syracuse is long. The Newhouse School of Public Communications is considered one of, if not the best broadcasting school in the country. That means that a large segment of the national sports media openly roots for the Orange, particularly during the NCAA Tournament. That won’t happen this year and no one is as happy about that as Zach Gelb.
CBS Sports Radio’s nighttime host devoted some time on his Friday show to celebrating the fact that Syracuse had been bounced from the ACC Tournament the previous day by Duke. The loss means that not only do the Orange have no prayer of making the NCAA Tournament. They also finish the season with a losing record.
He celebrated the team’s performance against Duke, saying that without its star, Buddy Boeheim, it took a valiant effort to hang with one of the best teams in the country for as long as it did. He listed their stock as up, but the distinction was a bit nefarious.
“The reason why I’m giving Syracuse basketball a ‘stock up’ for losing is now Syracuse is not going on this miraculous run they always go on in March and then we have to hear from all the Newhouse graduates ‘Ooooh, Jim Boeheim! Ooooh Syracuse basketball! Orange! Orange! Orange!’” Gelb said. “Like, you don’t hear from them in November, December, January, February, but then in March, every jackass that gets a degree from Newhouse that works in TV or radio, because ‘All hail Newhouse, the greatest communications school ever!’. You have to then hear them ‘How ‘bout Syracuse? Let’s go Cuse, baby! Dinosaur Barbecue! Let’s go Cuse!’”.
Head coach Jim Boeheim has led some elite teams during the 46 seasons he has spent as head coach at Syracuse, but he only has one national championship. What is more impressive is the years that he takes a team with less than 20 regular season wins into the tournament and makes a deep run to the Final Four. He most recently accomplished that in the 2016 NCAA Tournament.
This year’s Syracuse team came into the ACC Tournament with a 15-16 record. The only hope it had of making it to the NCAA Tournament was to win the conference title. That didn’t happen. Newhouse alums like Bob Costas, Beth Mowins, Adam Schein, Mike Tirico, and Nick Wright may be bummed. Zach Gelb couldn’t be happier though.
“We don’t need to hear that now in March,” Gelb said with joy in his voice. “And we won’t hear it, because Jim Boeheim is going home. Out of the ACC Tournament. Thank you for losing!”