Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim has officially retired after 47 seasons, the school announced Wednesday afternoon.

Syracuse installed associate head coach Adrian Autry as the next head coach.

“There is no doubt in my mind that without Jim Boeheim, Syracuse Basketball would not be the powerhouse program it is today,” Syracuse chancellor Kent Syverud said in the release. “Jim has invested and dedicated the majority of his life to building this program, cultivating generations of student-athletes and representing his alma mater with pride and distinction.

“I extend my deep appreciation and gratitude to an alumnus who epitomizes what it means to be ‘Forever Orange.'”

Autry was named assistant coach at Syracuse prior to the 2011-12 season and was promoted to associate head coach in March 2017.

“There have been very few stronger influential forces in my life than Syracuse University and Jim Boeheim. They have both played such important roles and without either of them, I am certain I would not have this incredible opportunity before me,” Autry said. “I have spent much of my time in the game of basketball learning from Jim and am so grateful to him for preparing me to carry on the winning tradition that is Orange Basketball.”

The move comes a couple hours after a bizarre postgame press conference, when Boeheim spoke about his possible retirement after Wednesday’s 77-74 loss to Wake Forest in the second round of the ACC tournament.

“I gave my retirement speech last week and nobody picked up on it,” Boeheim, 78, told reporters.

He added that his retirement decision “is up to the university,” but he demurred when asked if he would like to coach another season.

“You’re talking to the wrong guy,” Boeheim said.

Boeheim was not quoted in the release about his own retirement.

Syracuse finished 17-15 and hasn’t been to the NCAA Tournament the last two seasons.

The Orange haven’t won 20 games in a season since 2018-19.

In his career at Syracuse that includes a national title (2003), five Final Fours and 35 NCAA Tournament appearances, there have been only two other times that Boeheim’s teams missed the NCAA Tournament in consecutive seasons.

Boeheim was 1,116-440 at Syracuse over those 47 seasons.

–Field Level Media

Butler center Manny Bates and guard Eric Hunter Jr. have been ruled out of Wednesday’s Big East first-round game against St. John’s after failing to meet the “academic expectations of the program,” the team announced.

Bates is averaging 11.6 points and a team-best 5.5 rebounds per game this season for the ninth-seeded Bulldogs (14-17).

Hunter has contributed 8.2 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists and a team-high 1.4 steals per contest.

Butler failed to crack 70 points in its final 12 regular-season games and reached 60 only four times in that span, during which it went 3-9. That included a 68-66 home win over St. John’s on Feb. 7.

Eighth-seeded St. John’s will have a home-court advantage, of sorts, on Wednesday in the tournament game at Madison Square Garden. The Red Storm (17-14) played four games at the famed arena this season.

–Field Level Media

Chris Beard is the top candidate to take over as head men’s basketball coach at Ole Miss, and the school is doing its “due diligence” on the former Texas coach, ESPN reported Wednesday.

Multiple reports on Monday said the two sides had discussed the job, which came open when Ole Miss fired Kermit Davis on Feb. 24. Ole Miss is 11-20 entering this week’s Southeastern Conference tournament. No. 13 seed Ole Miss will meet No. 12 South Carolina on Wednesday night.

Beard was fired by Texas on Jan. 5 after an alleged domestic violence incident was reported in December. He was initially suspended indefinitely without pay.

Charges were dropped against Beard on Feb. 15.

Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza said at the time that “our office has determined that the felony offense cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Beard was arrested on Dec. 12, 2022, and charged with assault by strangulation/suffocation — family violence in an alleged incident with his live-in fiancee.

Beard went 112-55 in five seasons as head coach at Texas Tech before being hired away by Texas, his alma mater. He led the 2018-19 Red Raiders to the NCAA Tournament title game, falling to Virginia 85-77 in overtime.

At Texas, Beard went 29-13 in parts of two seasons. The Longhorns were 7-1 this season before Beard was suspended.

–Field Level Media

Wyoming men’s basketball coach Jeff Linder will miss Wednesday’s Mountain West Conference tournament opener against New Mexico to tend to his ailing father in Colorado.

The school said assistant coach Sundance Wicks will serve as interim coach at the tournament in Las Vegas.

Linder, 45, has a 48-41 record and one NCAA Tournament appearance in three seasons as Wyoming’s head coach.

The Cowboys (9-21) are the No. 11 seed, while the Lobos (21-10) are seeded sixth.

Wyoming is led by senior guard Hunter Maldonado, who averages 14.8 points per game to go with 4.1 assists. This season, he became the first player in NCAA Division I history to tally at least 2,000 points, 800 rebounds and 600 assists, according to Wyoming athletics.

–Field Level Media

TCU center Eddie Lampkin Jr. didn’t travel to Kansas City with his team for the Big 12 Conference tournament as he addresses personal matters, Frogs Today reported Wednesday.

The Horned Frogs, the sixth seed in the tournament, will meet third-seeded Kansas State on Thursday night.

The 6-foot-11 Lampkin played in just 24 games (19 starts) this season due to injuries and other missed games for personal reasons. He’s averaging 6.3 points and 5.9 rebounds over 21.8 minutes per game.

He has career averages of 5.7 points and 5.3 rebounds over 67 games with the Horned Frogs. He appeared in 10 games in the 2020-21 season but wound up taking a redshirt season. He played in 33 games (32 starts) in 2021-22.

It is expected Xavier Cork and JaKobe Coles will see more minutes in Lampkin’s absence.

–Field Level Media

Arkansas and Auburn likely have already earned at-large berths in the NCAA Tournament as they enter Thursday night’s matchup in the Southeastern Conference tourney in Nashville, Tenn., but building momentum will be a priority.

Seeded No. 10 in the 14-team SEC field, the Razorbacks (19-12, 8-10 SEC) enter the postseason riding a three-game losing streak. Auburn (20-11, 10-8) avoided a similar fate, ending a two-game skid with a 79-70 win over Tennessee in their regular-season finale.

Coach Bruce Pearl acknowledged that beating the then-12th ranked Volunteers was an “important win” but wasn’t sure how that will impact his Tigers.

“A good offensive performance doesn’t necessarily translate to the next game because everybody is so different,” he said after the Tigers shot 49.1 percent from the field and 8 of 22 from 3-point range, and committed just six turnovers.

Late-season woes have instilled a sense of urgency for the Razorbacks, who are 2-5 since winning the first matchup with Kentucky, 88-73, in Lexington on Feb. 7. They lost the rematch, 88-79, to the Wildcats in Fayetteville last weekend.

“You look at our record over the last seven games, and we’ve got to play better basketball, that’s for sure,” Arkansas coach Eric Musselman said.

Musselman is still confident his team will get a spot in the 68-team NCAA field, citing early nonconference wins over opponents like current Top 25 teams Creighton and San Diego State. Arkansas compiled an 11-1 record over the first two months of the season.

“We feel like through the regular-season basketball we’ve proven that we’re an NCAA Tournament team,” he said.

The Tigers and Hogs have met only once this season, with Auburn posting a 72-59 win at home. The Razorbacks were without injured freshman guard Nick Smith Jr. in that game, however. Smith has averaged 21.8 points a game over his last four outings.

Auburn expects to have backup center Dylan Cardwell back after missing the finale against Tennessee with an ankle injury. Cardwell often gets key minutes with leading scorer Johni Broome (14.0 ppg, 8.4 rpg) often contending with foul issues.

–Field Level Media

Daivien Williamson drained a 3-pointer with 0.5 seconds left as Wake Forest topped Syracuse 77-74 on Wednesday in the second round of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament in Greensboro, N.C.

It marked Jim Boeheim’s final game as Orange coach, as the school announced shortly after the loss that the longtime coach would not return. Boeheim was in charge at Syracuse for 47 seasons.

The ninth-seeded Demon Deacons avenged a loss to the eighth-seeded Orange in the regular-season finale last Saturday and advanced to face top-seeded Miami in the quarterfinals on Thursday.

Syracuse’s Joe Girard III missed a tough jumper with seven seconds left and Wake Forest pushed the ball up the court. Tyree Appleby kicked the ball to the right wing to Williamson, whose shot hit nothing but net.

Williamson’s fourth 3-pointer gave him 17 points, tied for team-high honors with Bobi Klintman. Cameron Hildreth and Appleby each chipped in 15 points, Appleby dished out 12 assists and Klintman grabbed a team-high 11 boards.

Benny Williams and Judah Mintz paced the Orange with 18 points apiece. Williams also grabbed 11 rebounds and contributed five steals.

Syracuse center Jesse Edwards, who torched Wake Forest for 27 points and 20 rebounds on Saturday, was limited to 12 points and 10 rebounds in this one.

Syracuse led 22-10 midway through the first half before Wake Forest rallied to draw even at 29-29. Mintz scored two buckets in the final two minutes of the half to help the Orange lead 35-33 at intermission.

Edwards’ three-point play early in the second half gave Syracuse a 41-37 lead, but Wake Forest then uncorked a 19-2 run to open up a 13-point advantage. Williamson made two 3-pointers and Appleby added one of his own during the surge.

With about 10 1/2 minutes remaining, the Orange began their comeback.

Mintz hit a 3-pointer to start the run, and Syracuse trailed 58-57 after Girard swished a long-range shot with eight minutes to play.

The Orange eventually forged a 60-60 tie, but 3-pointers by Klintman and Hildreth kept the Demon Deacons in front over the next several minutes.

Williams’ 3-pointer from the top of the key gave Syracuse a 74-72 lead with 59.5 seconds left. But Hildreth responded with a spinning jumper from the paint to create a tie with 36.2 seconds to go, setting up the exciting finish.

–Field Level Media

Penn State has pushed Illinois through every emotion in dealing the Fighting Illini a pair of deflating losses in the regular season.

Illinois (20-11) gets a third crack at the Nittany Lions (19-12) on Thursday in the Big Ten tournament in Chicago.

To advance to the quarterfinals and a matchup with No. 2 seed Northwestern on Friday night, Illinois needs to solve the challenge of Penn State guard Jalen Pickett.

Pickett posted 20 points, seven rebounds and six assists in the Nittany Lions’ 74-59 win in Champaign on Dec. 10, the game that led to fiery Illinois coach Brad Underwood’s viral postgame press conference remembered for his mouth noises and flammable statements about inept player leadership and general day-to-day effort in practice.

For an encore, Pickett had 24 points by halftime and finished with a career-best 41 points with eight assists to help Penn State bury Illinois 93-81 on Feb. 14.

“You’ve got to make his life hard,” Underwood said. “He’s big and strong and loves to just bang and bang and bang, and that gives him a rhythm.”

Illinois is the No. 7 seed after winning the Big Ten regular season title in 2022. The Illini failed to win consecutive games since beating Wisconsin and Nebraska on Feb. 20 and 23, squandering a chance to climb the standings after being locked in a tie for second place in the final week of the season.

Penn State is the No. 10 seed and has won five of six since Pickett’s Valentine’s Day massacre of Illinois in Happy Valley and is focused on crashing the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2011.

“I feel like we’re playing our best basketball right now, which is what you want to do,” Penn State coach Micah Shrewsberry said. “You don’t want to be limping into the Big Ten tournament. Our guys feel good about themselves. They feel good about how they’re playing.”

Looking ahead, Illinois split with Northwestern this season, each winning at home. Penn State downed the Wildcats at Evanston in the only meeting between the teams this season on March 1, claiming a 68-65 victory in overtime on a Camren Wynter 3-pointer with 0.7 seconds left.

–Field Level Media