Filed Under » Jim Boeheim

Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim left a walk-on paralyzed today after snapping his neck during Syracuse's practice in preparation for the Final Four. Senior Jeff Tolleson is in intensive care at St. Joseph's Hospital in Atlanta and is not expected to ever be able to walk again.

"The guys are shocked right now," said the veteran coach. "Which is great, because in 24 hours or so they will move past that and be ready to play harder than ever in honor of Jeff."

Boeheim blew his whistle to stop practice this morning, gathered his team around him and then asked Tolleson to stand in front of him. The coach then grabbed the walk-on's head and quickly and sharply turned it, dropping the 6-2 guard to the floor.

"Rick Pitino has a huge advantage in the Final Four with his one kid breaking his leg," said Boeheim. "One of my jobs as a coach is to not cede motivational ground to a potential opponent. So I came up with this. In an hour or so of poking around on the Internet, I came across a way to snap someone's neck – but do it in a way that paralyzes them, not kills them. I thought killing a walk-on might be too traumatic for my good players to overcome."

Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim and Kentucky head coach John Calipari both angrily disputed claims today in an NCAA ad running during the NCAA Tournament claiming that most "student-athletes" … "go pro in something other than sports."

"That is an outright lie, at least when it comes to my program," said Calipari at press conference. "I don't want the heads of my potential recruits being filled with lies. I fully intend on making them professional basketball players. In fact, if they do go pro in something other than sports, I feel like I've been a failure. That is my promise to them. And you can quote me on that. In fact, please do."

Boeheim echoed Calipari's comments in a separate press conference.

"To be honest, there's nothing I like about that ad," said the longtime Syracuse coach. "Why are we telling kids to pursue something other than their dreams? Do you think I have any players on this team who want to be chemists? No. At least I better not. I want them focusing on basketball, not … whatever the hell they do in chemistry. Chemicals or something. I don't know."