NEW YORK — Scoop Jardine knows that whenever anyone hears the word “Syracuse” these days, the first thing that jumps to mind is the Bernie Fine sexual molestation case — not the basketball team.
“We just want to focus on basketball,” Jardine told SNY.tv after the No. 5 Orange downed Virginia Tech, 69-58, to advance to Friday’s championship game against Stanford in the Preseason NIT at Madison Square Garden.
“A lot’s been taken from our team. Nobody has been talking about Syracuse being Top 5 in the country; it’s been all about what’s going on with the scandal. But for us, we just got to go out and continue to play basketball and continue to have fun, knowing this is our season and we can make the best of it.”
Fine, who is on administrative leave while charges of sexual abuse against him are under investigation, was once again not on the bench.
Yet the specter of his case hangs over the team.
Jardine said the situation will serve to motivate the Orange, who outscored Virginia Tech 41-29 in the second half.
“It’s motivation for us because when you see it on ESPN, it’s not about us and that we’re playing well or that we got 10 guys, it’s all about the scandal,” said Jardine, who managed just 2 points, 4 assists and 0 turnovers on a night when Dion Waiters was explosive off the bench with 11 points and 3 steals.
Kris Joseph had 20 points and 10 rebounds and Brandon Triche added 18 points for the Orange (5-0)
“It’s like a disrespect to our season,” Jardine added. “We don’t have nothing to do with it, we don’t know what’s going on and it’s all they talk about.
“So we’re just going to try to be there for Coach Fine and still continue to play Syracuse basketball.”
Added Waiters: “It’s a family. Bernie always going to be in our thoughts, but at the end of the day we gotta go out here. If he was here now, he would want us to win for him. So that’s all we can continue to do is go out here and play hard and just get the win.”
Jardine is in his senior season at Syracuse and doesn’t like to see the Orange lumped in with Penn State in the headlines.
“This is our season,” he said. “This is my last season and who wants to hear that or keep answering questions about that when we should be talking about the game with Virginia Tech?
“So it [stinks] but it comes with the sport. We just gotta continue to play basketball and trying to keep getting wins so they can talk about us one day.”
