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Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim looks on during an NIT second-round game against Ole Miss on Saturday, March 18, 2017, at the Carrier Dome.

(Dennis Nett | dnett@syracuse.com)

Syracuse, N.Y. -- Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim's words during a preseason chat with ESPN's Andy Katz created a wave of expectations for a basketball team that included five new faces when the preseason began.

"This is the best team we've had in a long time," Katz reported Boeheim saying in September. A few weeks later, during Boeheim's traditional Media Day press conference with local reporters, Boeheim changed it to "could be."

But it was too late for him to tamp down the expectations on the Orange heading into the season. The words sent expectations soaring, something Boeheim acknowledged on Saturday was a mistake, if only because he has had to deal with explaining the Orange's failure to meet them repeatedly over the course of the year.

The final time came on Saturday, after an 85-80 loss to Mississippi in the second round of the NIT.

"All right, hold up, hold up," Boeheim said, after the words were brought up again. "Before the season started, before practice started, I made a mistake. I tried to be optimistic, which you can not do in this town because people like you, and other people. .... I've already corrected that about 10 times."

In December, unprompted, Boeheim went back and addressed his preseason speculation, acknowledging he'd erred, and throughout the year he's frequently provided explanations for the team's unexpected struggles.

Instead of the fact that most of the players had never played together, or in Syracuse's system, the dose of preseason optimism left fans staring hopefully at a potential NBA Draft pick (Tyler Lydon), a coveted recruit (Tyus Battle), two veteran graduate transfers (Andrew White and John Gillon) and never-before-seen-in-Orange size in the middle of the 2-3 zone (Paschal Chukwu).

Boeheim has noted previously that one of the biggest surprises was thinking that graduate transfers would be able to adjust quickly because they were veterans, rather than expect that they'd already have ingrained habits.

He's also noted that Chukwu's eye injury eliminated any chance he'd develop into a game-changing defensive force, and Dajuan Coleman's knee injuries cost the Orange a second center.

"On paper, looking at what we had coming in, it looked like we had more talent than we've had in a while," Boeheim said. "Not in Syracuse basketball history. In a while. After we started playing, I saw right away that we don't have that kind of team. We had guys learning things, trying to figure things out."

Ultimately, the Orange figured things out too late. They went 8-5 during the non-conference portion of the year and their failure to win crucial games at neutral sites left them with scant chances to pick up road wins, a second mark against their record in the eyes of the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee.

Syracuse eventually found its identity as a team whose offense could carry it to victory but whose defense incapable of winning games when it didn't. Syracuse likely fell a victory short of the NCAA Tournament.

After it all, the head coach understandably declared he won't allow the same thing to happen next year.

"I should have learned 40 years ago, but I got old and I forgot," Boeheim said. "I tried to be a little optimistic and that's all anybody said the whole year. That's why coaches never say anything optimistic ever. I made a mistake. That's it. I could have the Golden State Warriors here next year, and I'd say I don't know how we're going to be."