Louie McCroskey’s stat line against Texas Christian read like a college student’s bank account: 0-0-0-2. Unfortunately for McCroskey, the two was his playing time against the Horned Frogs.

After beginning his junior season in the starting lineup, McCroskey’s watched a majority of the last three games from the bench. In his place, Eric Devendorf thrived Saturday night with 19 points while McCroskey didn’t take his sweats off until halfway through the second half.

McCroskey appeared for only 1:34, a season-low, and after the game vented his frustrations.

‘I’m the hardest worker on this team and always have been,’ McCroskey said. ‘I have no explanation (for why I played two minutes). It happens; it’s life. I’m just ready to get on here for however long I have until I graduate. I’m just gonna get my free education, that’s basically it.’

McCroskey said Boeheim offered him no explanation for why he was used so sparingly. After coming out of the game at 10:13 of the second half, McCroskey walked to his seat on the bench, putting on his warmup shirt. He never got back in the game.

‘I’m gonna be a man about it,’ McCroskey said. ‘(Boeheim) doesn’t have to say anything. He can do whatever he wants. It’s the players career he hurts but he can do whatever he wants and I gotta be able to live with it.’

When asked if he foresees himself earning more minutes and rejoining the starting lineup or at least the main playing rotation, McCroskey expressed some hope.

‘There’s always the opportunity there,’ he said. ‘It’s a question of whether or not I want to deal with all I have to deal with. I’m a very persevering person. Nothing was given to me here easy. I wasn’t highly recruited here. I didn’t even meet Coach Boeheim until I got here. I didn’t have a visit.

‘I just gotta focus on getting better. My time will come. If not here, it will definitely come somewhere else. I know I’m a talented player, I know I play hard all the time. Just because (Boeheim) doesn’t see that, someone else will.’

McCroskey did not specifically say he wants to transfer or leave the team. He said he’s talked with some friends and family outside of the program, but right now he plans to stick things out at SU.

‘I’m not a quitter,’ McCroskey said. ‘I don’t care how it’s looking today but I’m a faithful person. No one man can hold my destiny. It’s up to me to destroy or fulfill my destiny. I feel like as long as I got that in mind, I’ll be alright.’

At the same time, McCroskey was happy for his teammates and classmate Demetris Nichols, who had a game-high 24 points.

‘I didn’t get many minutes but we still got a win so that’s the most important thing,’ McCroskey said. ‘I feel glad for (Nichols). I’m not gonna hate on him, he’s blessed, he deserves it. I’m very happy for him because I know how much time he put in too.’

Still, McCroskey wasn’t happy with his playing situation.

‘I’d rather (Boeheim) not put me in if he’s gonna put me in for a minute and pull me out,’ McCroskey said. ‘Especially here, I feel like people don’t understand me. People don’t realize how hard I work. People say you can’t do this, you can’t do that but I bust my ass every day. Nothing was ever given to me; that’s the most frustrating part.

‘It’s a long season, anything can happen. I didn’t play much freshman year and then last year I wound up starting and no one thought about that. I’m just gonna keep working and keep pursuing and worry about how it’s gonna be at the end of the year because that’s all people are going to remember – what happens at the end of the year.’

Published on December 4, 2005 at 12:00 pm