When asked about Michael Carter-Williams’s alleged shoplifting of the Lord & Taylor inside Destiny USA, Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said the situation was resolved.

“It’s been over. I gave a complete response which wasn’t printed, so I will give that to you,” Boeheim said to a local reporter. “Syracuse police have found nothing to investigate. The mall, the store is happy, is satisfied with the result. Michael is satisfied with the result.”

The head coach then stated he would never act on an anonymous source. On Friday night, The Syracuse Post-Standard reported that Carter-Williams was caught shoplifting from the local Lord & Taylor.

The report cited two anonymous sources “with direct knowledge of the situation.”

“I also wouldn’t take something that’s written in the paper as the truth, all the time. (Zach) Tomaselli maybe comes to mind,” Boeheim said, referring to the renounced third accuser in the Bernie Fine sexual assault allegations.

“So I’m not going to make an action or take an action based on what’s in the paper, ever. I hope, if I do, shoot me,” Boeheim said. “Because I’ll be staying too long.

“It’s interesting, the story of 400 or whatever it is things that happened, that was in the paper. How many of those names were in the paper of those 400? Zero. Zero,” Boeheim said. “There’s three people this time, how many people are in the paper? One.”

Boeheim closed his comments on the matter by acknowledging his team’s collective status as public figures.

Boeheim went on to say that his players learn from mistakes, or “bad plays,” both on and off the court. That’s especially true when they make a “bad play” in public, he said.

Carter-Williams didn’t discuss the situation.

“No, I don’t really have anything to say about what happened yesterday.” Carter-Williams said, when asked if he and Boeheim had a private discussion about the incident.

Boeheim says basketball breakaway overdue

Boeheim also expressed support for the seven basketball-only schools breaking away from the Big East to form a basketball-only league, which was announced Saturday.

“You know, I think it’s overdue. I think that they probably have been thinking about this or should’ve been thinking about this for a while,” Boeheim said. “It’s been obvious for a number of years that the football schools were going to leave.”

Citing the departures of Virginia Tech and Miami, he said football would continue to lead the conference realignment well into the future. Boeheim estimated there are about 30 quality Division-I basketball schools not playing Football Bowl Subdivision football, like Georgetown, Villanova, Seton Hall, Providence, St. John’s, DePaul and Marquette, who all announced their intents to leave the Big East on Wednesday.

“It should be something that should work down the road. I don’t know, I’m sure they don’t either,” he said. “But nobody thought the Big East would work in the first place.”

Boeheim then further supported the case for a basketball-only league, referencing Butler’s upset of No. 1 Indiana on Saturday.

Said Boeheim: “And as long as football’s going to be jockeying around for long into – probably if I live to be 100 they’ll still be jockeying around, and so it’s probably going to be a good thing.”

Coleman watch

DaJuan Coleman’s progress and struggles continue. His 6-foot-9, 288-pound frame is still a poor matchup for just about any opponent – especially this early in the season – often sending him to the foul line. As his post moves develops, he is only fouled more.

And as Coleman completes his game, Syracuse only becomes a more vicious national title contender.

“I think it’s incredible in the aspect that we’re going to be that much of a better team with him producing,” said guard Brandon Triche, Coleman’s former high school teammate. “He gets fouled a lot because of the moves he makes and being much bigger than everybody else.”

But at the stripe, he still struggles, going 1-for-5 against Canisius.

Boeheim said it’s difficult to play Coleman and Rakeem Christmas at the same time against three- and four-guard teams like Canisius, and Coleman is still improving on the defensive end.

“Everybody’s going to foul him. So if he can makes his free throws and use his body to finish, he’ll be fine,” Triche said. “Him being able to produce, especially last weekend, he’s actually coming on pretty fast.”

Published on December 16, 2012 at 1:13 pm

Contact Jacob: jmklinge@syr.edu | @Jacob_Klinger_