WASHINGTON — It took Jim Boeheim 16 years to get over Indiana guard Keith Smart’s game-winning shot in the 1987 national championship. The iconic moment in March Madness, which would become known as “The Shot,” only served as a painful reminder of how close Boeheim and his Syracuse program had come to a national championship.

The head coach was haunted by the loss, thinking about it constantly until his program finally won it all behind freshman sensation Carmelo Anthony more than a decade later.

Now, he said, he never thinks about it anymore.

“When you lose a game like that, you really almost never get over it,” Boeheim said. “I got over it in 2003.”

But with his Syracuse team set to take on Indiana in the Sweet 16, Boeheim relived the old memory at his press conference at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.

He thought about the Orangemen’s valiant effort at the New Orleans Superdome in a 74-73 loss, one in which they outplayed the favored Hoosiers and played almost as well as possible. He thought about the near-miss again, remembering not only Smart’s shot, but also his surge with 12 of the Hoosiers’ final 15 points to close their deficit and lift them to victory. And he thought about the 2003 national championship, the one that erased all the bad memories in 16 years of waiting.

The connections between past and present go beyond the legendary head coach, though.

Senior guard Brandon Triche is the nephew of former Orangemen Howard Triche, who challenged Smart’s shot and forever became a part of history as a result.

Smart caught the ball on the left wing, dribbled baseline and rose up over Triche for the 16-foot jumper from the corner. Triche’s outstretched arm wasn’t enough to affect the shot. The ball dropped through the net with three seconds remaining and Indiana took home the title.

“The Shot” came up twice as Brandon Triche sat at the podium Wednesday, aimed at discovering whether the play haunts his uncle as it did Boeheim for so long.

But the younger Triche said he’s never watched the entire 1987 title game. He’s never even talked about it with his uncle, and even within Syracuse, his uncle’s name was never mentioned because of the shot.

“When his name came up, it was about him being in the community and being a great person,” Triche said, “but never talked about Indiana and what happened.”

But in college basketball lore, Howard Triche is known for Smart’s shot. It’s played time and again in March, a magical moment frozen in time and remembered by fans across the country.

“I’ve seen it all the time,” SU forward James Southerland said. “I know Brandon gets talked about it a lot, but it’s nothing we can control. They lost the game.”

But as Boeheim said, the Orangemen gave the Hoosiers all they could handle. SU led by eight with more than 13 minutes remaining, but later clung to a one-point lead with 30 seconds left.

Star Syracuse forward Derrick Coleman had a chance to move his team closer to victory, but he missed the front end of a one-and-one at the foul line to set the stage for Smart’s heroics. Boeheim mentioned missed free throws for a moment as he reminisced before recalling Smart’s big plays late in the second half.

Boeheim had worried about Smart’s playmaking ability leading up to the game, and his worst fear came true in the final moments. Indiana head coach Bob Knight assured Boeheim the SU coach would win a national championship that night, but it was a long wait.

It’s been nearly 10 years since Boeheim found redemption and cut down the nets in New Orleans, but that moment has stuck with him just as vividly as the crushing failure in 1987 did.

He spoke about the growth of the tournament and how tough it’s become to win it all. But as he learned in 2003, it doesn’t get any better than that.

“There is nothing like winning the national championship,” Boeheim said. “You can talk about it all you like and say you don’t need it or you don’t have to have it, but it’s the biggest thing that can happen to a college coach.”

Published on March 27, 2013 at 8:02 pm

Contact Ryne: rjgery@syr.edu