The college basketball community has been pissed off at TV analyst Jay Williams for the past two weeks because he claimed that Iowa star Caitlin Clark can't be considered truly great until she wins an NCAA championship.
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While there doesn't appear to be anybody who agrees with Williams' take, one legendary coach has asserted that such a ridiculous claim should get Williams punched — and that he'd be willing to do it.
During a Monday appearance on Dan Dakich's "Don't @ Me" show, Syracuse basketball coach Jim Boeheim said, "Some expert says, 'Well, [Clark] hasn't won a championship.' If I ever see that guy, I'll just punch him."
Although Boeheim's tone indicated that he wasn't being serious, threatening physical violence isn't something to be taken lightly.
Boeheim then laid out one condition to his threat.
"Unless he's really big," Boeheim said. "I won't do it if he's really big. But, these people, how do they even get jobs saying stuff like that?"
For what it's worth, Boeheim — who is a four-time Big East coach of the year and a 2003 national champion — stands at 6-foot-3, while Williams is listed at 6-foot-2. Therefore, Williams certainly isn't "really big" compared with Boeheim.
However, the fact that Boeheim is 79 years old, while Williams is 42, makes it hard to believe that Boeheim would hold his own against the former Duke standout if the two were to go toe-to-toe.
After his threat, Boeheim — who said that the new NCAA all-time scoring leader is the only college basketball player he makes a point of watching live — dissected why Williams' take is ridiculous by comparing Clark to two certified NBA greats who never secured an NBA championship.
"You know, there should be certain things you say that disqualifies you from ever being on radio or TV again," Boeheim said. "And to bring that up with Caitlin Clark or Karl Malone or John Stockton or people like that, they make their teams so much better. And without them, the Utah Jazz wouldn't have won too many games without those two guys."
Fair point.
Considering that Williams' staunch stance on Clark's greatness was probably said in hopes of making headlines, the ESPN broadcaster clearly had his wish granted — although the repercussion might be having to deal with Boeheim's hands.
