Ah, Jim Boeheim behind a microphone. Every year you know he will deliver some memorable quotes, rants and laughs and this year was no exception. Here are your top five Boeheim quotes from the 2019-20 season. 
5. “No one on our team has a short leash.” 
This one came very early in the year. Five minutes into the Colgate game the head coach benched starting point guard Jalen Carey. “He did six bad things in five minutes,” Boeheim said when he blitzed Brent Axe on his radio show the following day. Like a lawyer defending his case, Boeheim went on to badger Axeman for roughly the first five minutes of the interview because he apparently claimed Carey had a “short leash” the night before. Of course, days later the team announced Carey’s injury and the rest of it is kinda history now. 
4. “We don’t have a lot to look forward to.”
Another empty trip to the Big Apple in the non-conference led to another blunt assessment of his team from Boeheim. Some brutal offense led to long stand-and-claps and two ugly losses to Oklahoma State and Penn State. After the Nittany Lions out rebounded Syracuse by 60 (I’m exaggerating only a little), Boeheim also said a sentence he probably said 25 other times this past season, “We need to be better inside.” 
3. “The worst kind of journalism.”
When you cover Syracuse for as long as Mike Waters has, occasionally Jim Boeheim is going to say some not so nice things to you. This came after the Duke game when Boeheim started chatting about Quincy Guerrier. He called out the longtime writer for telling Guerrier in the locker room what Boeheim said about him the game prior. What’s that old expression, “don’t shoot the messenger?” 
2. “Frank Howard was a good player.” 
How about another back-and-forth with a reporter. Remember after Bucknell when Boeheim argued about Frank Howard of all people. This is worth a rewatch just simply to snicker at a couple other quotes like, “I understand your question, but you’re wrong,” and watch how Boeheim seamlessly goes from that discussion into his love for the old HBO TV show Entourage. Never change, Jim.  
1. “I could get a kindergartner who could tell you better than they can tell you.”
Louisville was the most vintage Boeheim press conference of the year though. This is the one that made national attention for the 44 year head coach going after Ken Pomeroy and loosely comparing his knowledge to a kindergartner. The only issue is Kenpom had nothing to do with the claims about the zone Boeheim was referring to. If you want to kill 13 minutes during this quarantine, just watch back this full Louisville press conference. It’s a masterclass in how to put on a show at a press conference, something Boeheim will forever be known for.
Check out the rest of our Top 5 series on the 2019-20 season with links to each article right here.
