NEW YORK — Jim Boeheim shook his head, a smile already starting to form. The Syracuse head coach had already addressed his program’s final year in the Big East multiple times just minutes into the conference’s annual media day.

Boeheim couldn’t escape the topic in a room filled with the Orange’s conference rivals on Wednesday. And though it would be the last time he would begin the season as a coach in a conference his program helped build from day one more than 30 years ago, his mind wasn’t on history.

“We’ve got to be concerned about this league this year and these teams,” Boeheim said.

Boeheim, his 14 coaching colleagues and their players gathered for Big East media day on Wednesday at the New York Athletic Club. The day was spent reflecting on the past as the conference loses two longtime members in Syracuse and Pittsburgh to the Atlantic Coast Conference after this season, but looks forward to adding five new members for 2013-14. Boeheim sees the changes as part of college athletics today, but opposing coaches admitted it will be tough to see a marquee program like Syracuse go.

Commissioner Mike Aresco, who replaced interim commissioner Joe Bailey, started the event, saying the conference has a bright future with its television partners and the league’s plan to remain a factor in college football. His message came a year after conference realignment left the Big East’s future uncertain, and a year after all the change overshadowed Big East media day.

After expressing his excitement to be leading the league, he turned his focus to the start of this season.

“Today, it’s about basketball,” Aresco said. “We look forward to this season and as you know, we’re going to have a different alignment next year.

“Our new schools are going to come in and help sustain a high level of basketball success that the Big East conference has always enjoyed.”

Boeheim and fellow coaches said the league is simply evolving as it has throughout its proud history. With Top-25 programs in Memphis and Temple set to join the new-look Big East along with Southern Methodist, Central Florida and Houston, the conference will create a new tradition.

The coaches expect the conference to remain relevant in the college-basketball landscape, but it will also be far from the brand built around basketball when it was first created in 1979.

That history and tradition remained strong throughout the last 30 years and remained a draw for current players.

“It’s been fun,” SU guard Brandon Triche said. “It’s been a challenge that every game, every conference — this is one of the reasons I chose Syracuse, because it was going to be a battle.”

Triche spoke of SU’s rivalries with Georgetown and Villanova as memorable moments during the first three years of his career. Triche said he will always remember those games at the Carrier Dome in front of more than 30,000 fans.

And during his run, the Orange came out on top in its share of battles in addition to winning two Big East titles. The recent success for Syracuse builds on years of winning in the conference with Boeheim at the helm.

The Orange was a founding member of the conference, and it’s been there throughout all the expansions. The program has been a constant and standard setter that opposing coaches like Georgetown’s John Thompson III admire. Thompson said Wednesday the Big East will certainly take a hit when Syracuse does make the jump to the ACC.

But he also said the programs coming in will help shape the conference’s identity. While the Big East may not be the clear-cut top conference in the country anymore, Thompson said it will always be in the discussion.

And Boeheim agreed.

“The Big East as it’s predicted many, many, many times over many, many, many, many years,” Boeheim said, “the league is still very good and very strong, and will continue to be.”

Boeheim’s focus, though, is steadfastly set on this season. Syracuse has one final chance to make a run through the Big East, one final chance to take on its longtime rivals and one final chance to take the stage at the conference tournament in Madison Square Garden.

And he and his players are looking to make the most of it.

Said Triche: “We look forward to having one more year in the Big East and going out with a bang.”

Published on October 18, 2012 at 2:30 am

Contact Ryne: rjgery@syr.edu