Jim Boeheim Comments on Syracuse Season After Final Four Loss to UNC

Syracuse Orange head coach Jim Boeheim has taken his team to the NCAA men's basketball tournament 32 times and has a national championship on his resume.

But he holds a special place in his heart for this year's team.

"I told the players, I'm more proud of this team than any team I've ever coached," Boeheim said after Syracuse's 83-66 loss to the North Carolina Tar Heels on Saturday, per Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv.

And after making his second Final Four in four years, despite being suspended for nine games this year after an NCAA investigation, he was quick to brush away any thought of this season being rough on him and his team, per Zagoria:

"

I haven't had a rough season. I had a great season. I don't think it was rough at all. We had our ups and downs on the court, but that happens a lot. I mean, that's not unusual.

As far as what I feel about this year, I'm more satisfied than I've ever been in any year that I've ever coached, with the possible of exception the year we won it all. But other than that year, I'm more proud and more happy, whatever the word is I'm looking for, satisfied, with what this team has done than any year that I've ever coached.

I guess my answer to your question is, I'm happier now at the end of this year than anytime I've ever coached. I'm really not that tired. I had 30 days off. So, shoot, I could probably go another 30.

"

Boeheim is set to retire at the end of the 2017-18 season, but despite that, it's still a question he addresses and is tired of answering.

"Why do you guys always ask me that, really?" Williams asked, per Zagoria. "Make sure you ask [North Carolina coach] Roy [Williams] when he comes in here, too."

The Orange's miraculous run in the NCAA tournament came to a thundering end Saturday night in Houston at the hands of the Tar Heels. Syracuse's 83-66 loss ended its season after the team reached the Final Four as a No. 10 seed.

Syracuse's spot in the NCAA tournament was, arguably, the most questionable selection in the field of 68.

The selection committee's decision to include a team that had lost five of its last six games over the likes of Monmouth and Saint Mary's left Chris Chase of Fox Sports seething at the thought of Syracuse going for the national championship.

But the Orange defied the odds and made the Final Four after defeating the top-seeded Virginia Cavaliers, though on March 27 Chase still felt Syracuse didn't deserve to be in the tournament because the Orange's body of work was still not good enough to deserve inclusion in the tournament.

Boeheim has two years left to cap off a stellar career as Syracuse's head coach. If this season was any indication, the team has a chance to send Boeheim off into the sunset in a major way.

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