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Coach Boeheim Quotes
Nike Elite at Syracuse (exhibition)
Nov. 5, 2002
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.
On the overall effort of the team:
"First time out didn’t go as smoothly offensively as we would have liked. On defense, hopefully we learned something. We left them open and let them shoot. When we challenge the shooters, we do a better job. It was a good overall effort for the first time out, but we still have a lot of work to do."
On youth of team:
"There is nothing you can do about it. You have to just do the best you can. Young guys are going to do some good things, and they will struggle with some things. But they are not making bad turnovers and they are working pretty hard. We are not in game shape because mentally you have to get there. I think we still have a lot to do that with a veteran team you don't have to do; a veteran team knows what to do. There's nothing you can do to speed up the process. It's going to take time. They have a lot of hard lessons to learn and things to fight their way through, but we have enough talent to overcome some of those things we have to fight our way through.”
Excitement surrounding the upcoming season:
"You should be excited about the team. We have very good players. They are the best young players we’ve had since Billy (Owens) and Derrick (Coleman) were here and that’s been 12-14 years.
“It's good to be excited. But that doesn’t win games. It takes time. It's not going to happen overnight. We have to be patient with these guys and when we play, it will be worth watching it will be exciting. The more excitement we get, the better I like it."
