Scoop Jardine Has Concerns About Syracuse's Mental Toughness

Whenever I see comments from guys like Don McPherson or Derrick Coleman about the current Syracuse Orange teams, I don't mind if they're strong or even slightly negative. Those guys have earned the right and I'd like to think the current players take the motivation of knowing their predecessors are watching and/or disappointed and use it.

Scoop Jardine has been out of a Syracuse uniform for just under a year and while he might not have the seniority of those aforementioned folks, he's ready to start lighting fires under the asses of his former teammates, per the Watertown Daily Times:

Asked his impressions of what he had just witnessed, Jardine shook his head and pointed to his head and his heart. "You’ve got to want it up here (head) and down here (heart) more than the other team,’’ he said. "I’m not sure if this team has that capacity and mentality right now."

..."If you aren’t seeing mental toughness at this point of the season, when so much is on the line, it’s hard to believe you’re suddenly going to find it,’’ he said. "You have to believe in what you’re doing at all times. And if you don’t, you’re in trouble.’’

Cue joke about Scoop commenting on someone else's mental wherewithall during crunchtime.

In the day and age when Preston Shumpert would be considered an old-timer, let alone someone like Pearl Washington or Dave Bing, there's probably a lot of value in having a guy like Scoop send a warning shot like that. I can guarantee that Brandon Triche is aware of it one way or another and, hopefully, it can act as some kind of motivation to do better than Scoop ever did in the NCAAs.

(I really hope Boeheim isn't told about this one, though, in a way, I'd be kinda curious to see what would happen if he was...)