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A lot of coaches tend to self-censor for various reasons, including riling other camps up and the various scolds that scour Twitter looking for people’s lives to ruin.
Jim Boeheim, whatever you may think of him, has never been one of them and he’s gotten gloriously crankier with age.
When Tyler Ennis left after one season, Boeheim bluntly said he wasn’t ready for the NBA. He was right: after his rookie contract ended, Ennis washed out and is now playing in Turkey or was - he unfortunately suffered an Achilles injury this season and isn’t currently playing.
With that in mind, check out what Boeheim said on his radio show about Jalen Johnson leaving Duke:
“That guy was hurting them so they actually are much better now without him. He was just doing some things and keeping other people from playing that are good. They’ve had two monster wins since he’s opted out and they’re playing good basketball. They’ve got very good talent. You knew they were going to play out of this thing and now they’re playing well. Every game we play is a very difficult game, a great challenge and we look forward to it.”
Keep in mind that he’s great friends with Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski and that Duke visits Syracuse on Monday. Even so, that’s a pretty blunt take.