800th win puts Jim Boeheim in elite company

He has been around Jim Boeheim long enough that some of these numbers can start to run together. "I was there in 1989," Mike Hopkins said. "Now it seems like I've gone through four or five of these moments." There is accomplishment in every coaching milestone, from a coach's first victory to all the nice, round numbers that might follow. In college basketball, though, 800 is one stands apart from the rest. Hopkins played for Boeheim in 1993, when he earned his 400th victory, over the Miami Hurricanes. Hopkins was an assistant in 2005, when Boeheim got to 700 by beating Providence. And now, Hopkins sits on the Syracuse bench as the man who will replace Boeheim whenever the coach decides it is time for the all that addition to stop. Jim Boeheim cemented his legacy by winning the national title in 2003. "As a young coach aspiring to be a head coach, it's kind of—I'm not going to use the word intimidating—it's unreal,"...