SAN JOSE, Calif. — Years ago, so many that Jim Boeheim fails to remember the exact one, he met Mike Montgomery at a golf tournament in Santa Clara. It was called the Cable Car Classic, and Boeheim along with fellow Big East coaches Bill Raftery and P.J. Carlesimo would fly out west for two days of relaxation.

“He was a crotchety guy,” said Montgomery, California’s head coach.

But despite that irritability — Montgomery said it in jest — a friendship was formed. And on Saturday a pair of friends will line up opposite each other, Boeheim with Syracuse and Montgomery with California, for a chance to move on to the Sweet 16.

The two continued to cross paths ever since that golf tournament, becoming further acquainted with each other as members of the board of directors for the National Association of Basketball Coaches. Each year they went on the Nike trip for college coaches.

The friendship blossomed.

“Our wives are really good friends,” Boeheim said. “We’ve been friends for that length of time. He’s a great guy and a great basketball coach.”

Montgomery, who has been in coaching since 1974 and first became a head coach in 1977, said he and Boeheim connected simply because they had been around so long. There were similarities in the way they saw the game, the experiences they had and the company they maintained.

Montgomery recalls working at the Michael Jordan Fantasy Camp with Boeheim for a number of years, and the two of them, along with Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski, would go out to dinner.

“I really like Jim,” Montgomery said. “I think he’s really a quality guy. And it’s been fun. It’s been fun to get to know him and watch his success.”

But on Saturday two friends become adversaries, and it is yet to be determined if a summer golf game will follow.

Published on March 23, 2013 at 2:46 pm

Contact Michael: mjcohe02@syr.edu | @Michael_Cohen13