Jim Boeheim nearly made it out of the press conference before having to address the inevitable. Though his team had just been outplayed by Division II Le Moyne, he was on the verge of a career milestone, and someone was bound to ask him about it.

Though, to Boeheim, this was not the time to reminisce. There was much more work to do before the season opener.

‘All right, all right. Let me just say something right now,’ Boeheim said. ‘I’m not concerned about anything except this team and getting this team ready. That’s it. Nothing else.’

On one hand, the next game affords Boeheim the opportunity to accomplish something only seven other coaches in Division I history have done before – win 800 games. On the other, it represents a crucial focal point in the team’s season.

After coming off one of the program’s most embarrassing losses in recent memory, Boeheim has no time to worry about the record books. Instead, he knows he has to mold a group chock full of potential into a game-ready squad.

The Orange will take on Albany tonight in the team’s regular season-opener at 9 p.m. at the Carrier Dome. With a win, Boeheim would be the first coach to win 800 since Jim Calhoun accomplished the feat on Feb. 25 of last season.

‘Right now, it is tough for us as a team,’ center Arinze Onuaku said. ‘We have been working pretty hard and now we feel like we are not even close to where we need to be.’

Despite the fact that Boeheim maintained his insipid demeanor following last Tuesday’s 82-79 loss to Le Moyne, the content of his interview indicated a miniature crisis.

With less than one week until the season opener, the coach wasn’t happy with his point guard situation, he didn’t see the progress he needed from his core bench players, and his starting center was at least another month away from getting back into basketball shape.

‘I think we can get better,’ Boeheim said. ‘But certainly not at this stage of the season.’

In the 45 minutes Boeheim spent with his team following Tuesday’s game, he made this point abundantly clear to his players. Once the locker room was open to the media, the scene was dismal, with most players mulling over their coach’s words.

Andy Rautins, a fifth-year senior, has been through some tough losses, but none quite like this. He knew this week of practice was going to be rough, but at the same time, necessary to ensure a productive season.

‘We are just going to have to go back to the drawing board and work extremely hard,’ Rautins said.

Syracuse’s game Saturday is more than an opportunity to get Boeheim his 800th win. For the Orange, it’s a way to justify its preseason Top 25 ranking in the coaches’ poll. For Brandon Triche, it’s a way to prove his head coach right after Boeheim called him a better point guard than Scoop Jardine in a Sports Illustrated article earlier in the week.

For Rautins, it’s a chance to show he can be the dominant scorer the team needs after going a sparse 5-17 from the field in the team’s two exhibitions.

‘We just have to hold it together,’ Triche said. ‘Everybody has to pick each other up. We have to stay positive when bad things happen. Everybody has to say positive things and do positive things.’

But mostly, for Boeheim, it’s an opportunity to show that for the 800th time, he’s able to put the best players on the court to win the game. Just as much as it is about the players rebounding from a tough loss, it’s equally as much about Boeheim getting them ready to do so.

‘One thing that I felt with this team coming into this year was that they’re very young mentally,’ Boeheim said. ‘They really have got to grow up mentally and physically. I think we’ve got some talented guys, but particularly our young guys, who have not been in tough situations, have got to get better.’

ctorr@syr.edu

Published on November 8, 2009 at 12:00 pm