Best quotes from Jim Boeheim's blunt assessment of his team
When I spoke with Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim last Wednesday afternoon, he was optimistic the Orange would utilize the full week of practice they had between games to correct some of the flaws that emerged during their previous two losses.
Four days later, Boeheim clearly didn't see the progress he anticipated.
A 71-69 victory over Louisiana Tech on Sunday at least snapped Syracuse's two-game losing streak, but the 17 turnovers and sporadic defensive breakdowns from the Orange left Boeheim in a foul mood. Below is a look at the six best quotes from Boeheim's dour, frustration-filled postgame news conference after Syracuse improved to 6-3 this season.
6. "Catching the ball with two hands, I don't know, I think they teach you that in sixth grade. I'm not sure. Some place. I hope. Before now. Some place. When we're worried as a coaching staff about that, how can we even think about what we're going to run this play or whether we're going to trap? We have to get better at the fundamental things, then maybe we can get to the next step things. It's not that this team can't make really good plays. They can make really good plays better than some of the teams we've had. They're just not anywhere near as good."
Boeheim's anger level: Incredulous
Analysis: This was in response to Tyler Roberson and B.J. Johnson both making late turnovers when they attempted to catch passes one handed. Those mistakes reflect one of Syracuse's main issues so far this season — an inability to take care of the ball. The Orange are averaging 14 turnovers per game so far.
5. "We spent more time this week on scouting report than we have because obviously we had a whole week. We knew what their strengths were. We identified [Raheem Appleby] as being the one guy we don't want to shoot. We identified two lob pass plays that they run. We worked on that for three days. The guy that we didn't want to shoot had 15 points at halftime. The lob play worked three times in a row that we worked on for three days."
Boeheim's anger level: Frustrated
Analysis: It's easy to understand Boeheim's frustration if these were the two things Syracuse wanted to take away against Louisiana Tech. The Conference USA favorites got a couple of lob dunks from Michale Kyser early in the game and a trio of first-half threes from Raheem Appleby.
4. "He's just not really a point guard yet. He's trying to learn how to play point. It's going to take him a long time."
Boeheim's anger level: Resigned
Analysis: Boeheim wasn't prepared to lose Tyler Ennis to the NBA after one season, and now Syracuse is paying the price. Kaleb Joseph has shown potential as a scoring guard but his court vision and decision making with the ball is still a work in progress. He is averaging 3.8 turnovers per game and committed eight against Louisiana Tech's ball pressure on Sunday.
3. "[Michael Gbinije] is being asked to play small forward or point. He's really more of a two but I'm not sure he's even that really to be honest with you."
Boeheim's anger level: Passive aggressive
Analysis: While Gbinije has been underwhelming so far this season, Boeheim might be wise to be careful how he lashes out at the former Duke transfer. This was by far the harshest assessment Boeheim offered about any of his individual players, which could motivate Gbinije or it could cause him to pull away. Gbinije is an important player for Syracuse because of his ability to play multiple positions. He can relieve freshman Kaleb Joseph at point guard yet he is big enough to defend either wing spot. Gbinije started Sunday but logged only 14 minutes, contributing two points and two assists.
2. "We're learning, I hope. I don't see it, but I hope we will learn. There's not that much time left. Nothing is going to happen magically. But I know that I cannot coach catching the basketball at this stage. If we have to do that and go get the ball, if we have to do those things, we can't possibly win."
"This team is not anywhere near a good basketball team. Anywhere near. I've never said that since I've been here — 39 years. Not that they couldn't be. But they're not."
Boeheim's anger level: Realistic
Analysis: Here's the scary part for Syracuse fans: Boeheim is right. Oh sure, Syracuse will get some wins in the ACC even if it doesn't improve dramatically, but it has a long way to go to even finish in the upper half of the league, let alone contend with Duke, Virginia and Louisville for the conference title. Joseph has to take better care of the ball. Michael Gbinije and Trevor Cooney have to ease the ball handling responsibilities on Joseph and knock down outside shots from the perimeter. Chris McCullough has to use his size and athleticism to impose his will in the paint and Tyler Roberson has to learn to be as effective crashing the glass and making hustle plays from the small forward spot as he is as an undersized power forward.
1. "This isn't like the last six years. We're going to struggle to win a game, any game that we play. This team is not going to beat anybody that's any good if they don't play better. That means all 18 games in the ACC. I don't care if somebody thinks, 'Oh, they're not that good.' They're good enough. Trust me. We have to play a lot better, we have to get better and we have to figure that out and we'll see if we can. I don't know. I wouldn't want to be overly confident about that right now because we're not talking about the difficult things we'd like to try to do. We're trying to get the basic essentials down and that's not good at this stage."
Boeheim's anger level: Fatalistic
Analysis: Syracuse is behind where Boeheim hoped it would be in mid-December, and he's frustrated. Pity the Orange at practice leading up to Saturday's game against Villanova because if Sunday's news conference is any indication, it's going to be a long week.
- - - - - - -
Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
