Jim Boeheim Talks About Carmelo Anthony's Impact At Syracuse And Beyond

Just a few months after legendary Syracuse Orange basketball coach Jim Boeheim announced his retirement, one of the biggest names to come out of his program did the same: Carmelo Anthony.

Anthony announced his plan to officially retire Monday after spending 19 seasons in the NBA.

On Tuesday, Boeheim joined OutKick's Dan Daich on Don't @ Me with Dan Dakich and spoke a little about one of his greatest players.

Anthony played just one season at Syracuse before setting his sights on the NBA, but he made a major impact. He led the team to a National Championship win over the Kansas Jayhawks to cap off the 2002-03 season.

"There's no way we win a national championship without him," Boeheim said. "I mean, we had a good team, everybody contributed but he was the guy. He was the focus. Troy Weaver and I when we saw him, we thought he was a guy that could win a national championship. We probably didn't see that would have been in one year, in the first year, but we saw that we had some good pieces but he was the difference-maker.

"He was the first freshman in this new era that took his team to the Final Four and won."

Boeheim Praised Anthony For Giving Back

Boeheim said that while Anthony was an undeniably great player, he also had a penchant for giving back to the communities he played in.

"He's given back to every place he's been; Denver, Syracuse, New York, Baltimore," Boeheim said. He added that Anthony also chipped in to build Syracuse University's practice facility.

So he's meant a lot to us and to me, you know, you coach 47 years you don't have to win a National Championship but it's much better if you do. You feel much better about everything," Boeheim said.

"He helped us get that for sure."

Follow on Twitter: @Matt_Reigle