Jim Boeheim wanted to get something off his chest. After last night’s 75-54 win over Binghamton, the Syracuse men’s basketball head coach did just that.

To start his post-game press conference, Boeheim ranted about reaction to SU Director of Athletics Jake Crouthamel’s decision to keep SU football head coach Paul Pasuqualoni, calling for more fan support and for fans and the media to respect Crouthamel.

‘I’ve been here for 25 years, and I really have noticed that Jake Crouthamel kind of knows what he’s doing about football,’ Boeheim said. ‘But all of sudden this week, all the members of the media know more about football than he does.’

Boeheim continued, calling out fans for dumping their football seasons tickets.

‘I love that thing in the paper, the fan giving up his tickets,’ Boeheim said. ‘Is he giving up his road tickets? If he had football tickets this year at home, if I’m not mistaken we beat a couple pretty good teams pretty good here, Boston College and Notre Dame. I thought maybe he was confused, he was giving up his road tickets. We averaged, what, 450 yards of total offense at home?

‘Are they giving up their tickets at Notre Dame today? Are they giving up their tickets because they went 5-7? I don’t think so.

I go to every game. I’ll go to every game next year because it was exciting football. I’m a fan of Syracuse football. I’ll be at the games next year. Everybody that gives up their season tickets, they’re blaming Jake, who’s probably one of the best athletic directors in the country in the last 25 years. Probably as knowledgeable as anybody about football in the East.’

Boeheim also fervently defended and supported Crouthamel.

‘It’s interesting that Jake hired Dick MacPherson, who did an unbelievable job turning this football program around,’ Boeheim said. ‘He hired Paul Pasqualoni, who’s done a tremendous job here and has had a couple down years. So that’s like 22 pretty good years. So the media goes, we need a new football coach.’

Still, he wasn’t done. He applauded the comfort SU provides in its coaching stability.

‘I’m proud I’m at Syracuse and not at Nebraska,’ Boeheim said, referring to an NU football program that fired head coach Frank Solich after a 9-3 season. ‘Because if I have to win the national championship to coach here, then I wouldn’t want to coach here.

‘Jake Crouthamel is the guy that made the Big East in the beginning. He made it. He put the league to together with Dave Gavitt. Pretty damn good. And now he’s saying this is what we should do, and all you are going to say he doesn’t know what he’s doing? He’s done a pretty damn good job here for 25 years. I think we should all get on board and see what happens. Let’s support the team. I will.’

Lovin’ LouieAfter sitting out SU’s first three games because of an academic issue, Louie McCroskey made his SU debut Saturday night. He entered the game with 3:14 left in the first half and scored five points in 13 minutes.

‘It felt really good,’ McCroskey said. ‘It’s different from practice. I think I did well. I’m not way behind. I feel I can join fine.’

McCroskey played smoothly, draining the second 3-pointer he attempted.

‘I knew it was going in,’ McCroskey said. ‘As a shooter, you know when it’s going in.’

He’ll need to have that feeling a lot this year. McCroskey could be the answer SU’s looking for to open up its sometimes-stagnant offense. When Hakim Warrick is double-teamed in the paint, he can kick it out to McCroskey, a much more reliable shooter than Josh Pace or Billy Edelin to go along with Gerry McNamara.

‘We need someone else to make shots from the perimeter if we’re going to be a successful team,’ Boeheim said. ‘He makes an open shot if it’s there.’

Considering Saturday was McCroskey’s first game, the freshman point guard fit in well. He committed no turnovers and showed zero intimidation.

‘He’s a New York City kid,’ Boeheim said. ‘He’s not afraid. For being off as long as he is, he did some very positive things.’

‘He did the best out of all of us for the first game,’ fellow freshman Terrence Roberts said. ‘For the first game, he did very well.’

Gorman sighting

At the 3:14 mark of the first half, Matt Gorman found himself in an unfamiliar spot – on the floor, not the bench.

Gorman received his first minutes of the season Saturday and made the most of them. In 13 minutes, Gorman scored a career-high eight points and pulled down four rebounds. He displayed a smooth post game and a soft touch, making 4 of 7 shots.

‘It felt good to get in there,’ Gorman said. ‘I just went out there playing my hardest.’

Does Gorman’s performance mean more playing time?

‘Hopefully,’ the sophomore power forward said. ‘You can’t say you don’t want playing time. Everyone wants more playing time.’

Looks like Gorman might not be getting his extra time, though. With a logjam at power forward, it might not matter how well Gorman plays.

‘The problem is the (power forward) position,’ Boeheim said. ‘It’s not Matt Gorman’s fault that he’s not playing. It’s that Hakim is a power forward. It’s unfortunate, but it’s obvious that he’s our best player. And now Terrence (Roberts) comes in and gets 12 points. So we’ve got three guys at power forward who are pretty darned good.’

Published on December 13, 2003 at 12:00 pm