Another Title Would Make Jim Boeheim Elite

Think about one title in any sport.  You are in a group.  Special yes, but not rare in terms of the pure winner's category in sports.  Let's face it.  We remember Gretzky, Jordan, Woods, Montana, Lombardi, Brady, Magic, Bird, Mantle, Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Jeter, Bryant, Wooden, Auerbach and Russell.  Great players and legends?  Yes.  But we remember them more because they won.  And won.  And won again.  

And so Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim, the man who has been at that position for nearly four decades, enters his fourth Final Four with 900+ wins, a Hall of Fame spot, plenty of Big East Tournament and regular season titles and Olympic gold.  Ah, but one title.  He is not Wooden (10) or Coach K (4) or Rupp (4) or Knight (3).  He has one.  Derrick Coleman free throws, an Arinze Onuaku injury, Fab Melo academics, a few underachieving teams and getting out-coached and upset (happens to them all) kept him from another title.  Another title that makes James Arthur Boeheim ELITE.

Boeheim is great.  Don't mistake that.  But there is average.  And good.  And great.  And elite.  That is a fact.  This is sports.  This is the time for Jim Boeheim to get to a rare category.  The elite category.  The category we remember more than the other because you win and win again.  Standing in the way first is Michigan in Atlanta.

By:  Mike Lindsley, host of 1-4 and Yankee pre/post-game on 104.5 The Team ESPN Radio.  Follow him on Twitter @MikeLSports.