What goes unnoticed after Syracuse barely beat Louisiana Tech of Conference USA ,71 – 69, was how PO’d head coach Jim Boeheim was at his basketball team.
The head man was spitting fire Sunday following the lackadaisical victory. No chairs were thrown, don’t worry, but Boeheim was clearly furious at his team’s effort. The head man admitted he thought his 2014-2015 Orange would be a lot better at this point in the season. That is not the case in his mind.
The Fizz pulls the five best lines from Boeheim’s press conference to get a feel for just how much he genuinely likes this team.
‚ÄúKaleb can’t keep making these unforced turnovers. He did some good things today but he’s still got to cut down on his mistakes.‚Äù
 
At least Kaleb wasn’t harshly scolded this week by his head coach. Boeheim made it a point following SU’s 69-57 loss to St John’s last Saturday Joseph is not a three-point shooter and needs to learn how to play defense. Kaleb nearly had the double-double you don’t want: 9 points and 8 turnovers. Some were just atrocious. He tossed a lob half-heartedly to Chris McCullough in transition that was picked off. Sometimes his decision-making resembles a 13 year-old travel basketball player. But to his credit, Joseph did show some good. Boeheim #2:
‚ÄúYou learn in about 9th grade to catch the ball with 2 hands. If you can’t do that now, you’ll never learn it.‚Äù
 
Boeheim is holding the entire roster accountable, certainly. Tyler Roberson and BJ Johnson are trying to catch the ball like Giants WR Odell Beckham, Jr. I’ve noticed Boeheim several times yell “two hands!” to Rak. Okay, these guys have bad habits. But if they’re never going to learn, coach, what do you do? Give up on them? Perhaps this line was more for motivation. Boeheim #3:
“If we as a coaching staff are worried about the basics how can we move on to more complex stuff?”
 
I guess forget that whole ‚Äúmotivation‚Äù idea. Boeheim is truly disappointed and concerned with this, no question. You can‚Äôt expect the staff to focus deeply on scouting reports and X’s and O’s if the basics aren‚Äôt there. Boeheim #4
‚ÄúThis team is not a good basketball team and I’ve never said that in 39 years here. They could be a good team but they’re not yet.‚Äù
So this one really stuck out. Through all of his years as head coach, it’s never been THIS bad? Wowza. Again, the Per’Fesser expected his team to be a lot better to this point. He’s wrong. One example of JB thinking this team isn’t any good was when he kept mentioning how McCullough was playing like he’s a 6’4” guard. Big no-no. Boeheim #5.
‚ÄúThis team isn’t going to beat anybody who’s any good if they don’t play better. That goes for every single ACC game.‚Äù
 
With Villanova ahead this Saturday at the Wells Fargo Center, Syracuse has to turn things around awfully quickly. At least that’s what Boeheim thinks. He added to this quote by stating any ACC team might not be great, but they’re “good enough” to beat the Orange.
Close games will be a recipe throughout the rest of the season. Whether it’s a good recipe or a bad one, we’ll find out, just like we’ll find out down the road if Jim Boeheim starts to like his team again.
Right now, he absolutely does not.
Posted:  Brendan Glasheen
