Three minutes into his postgame press conference on Tuesday, Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim switched topics to his team’s graduation rate.

He stayed on it for four and a half minutes.

“I’d like to address one thing. I think there’s something in terms of people’s opinions,” Boeheim said calmly.

The NCAA released its annual graduation rates of Division I member institutions on Oct. 24. It revealed the men’s basketball program graduated 45 percent of its players from 2003-04 to 2006-07, while Syracuse as a whole graduated 87 percent of all athletes in that span.

“We had six guys stay out of the 12, five graduated. The other six, a couple for the NBA, a couple who weren’t playing enough and transferred, one guy was hurt and just didn’t play anymore,” Boeheim said. “So if somebody can tell me how we’re supposed to graduate a guy who leaves, I would love for somebody to come tell me that, and explain how we can do that.”

Boeheim said this isn’t a new issue. There’s been an “obsession” surrounding it during the last 20 years, he said.

“There’s an obsession that if somebody comes here they should graduate,” Boeheim said. “It’s an obsession. Some kids obviously want to play more so they leave.

“When they made the decision, prior to leaving, some kids when they make that decision they just leave, so they become ineligible because they’re not going to finish the course work and not count toward graduation.

“There’s not much you can do in those cases.”

Published on November 6, 2013 at 3:17 am

Contact Stephen: sebail01@syr.edu | @Stephen_Bailey1