Syracuse's Boeheim on Rakeem Christmas: 'Without him we wouldn't have won 10 games'

To say that Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim admires his star forward Rakeem Christmas would be an understatement.

The Hall of Fame coach dedicated a portion of airtime during his weekly radio show to praise the senior.

"Without Rakeem we wouldn't win 10 games. That's pretty much for sure. Gerry might have been a little bit of an exaggeration, but Rakeem Christmas, no," Boeheim stated, according to Chris Carlson of syracuse.com. 

"Without him we wouldn't have won 10 games. He's been such a force for us all year, right from the beginning," Boeheim added.

The rant referenced assistant coach Gerry McNamara, who played with the Orange from 2002-2006. 

Boeheim went on a similar rant in 2006 about McNamara, when the former guard was deemed the "most overrated player" by Big East assistant coaches.

Boeheim also claimed Christmas should be mentioned in the same breath as Duke center Jahlil Okafor and Wisconsin forward Frank Kaminsky, who he thinks will be the two popular choices for the Oscar Robertson Player of the Year Award. 

The three players' averages this season are as follows:

Christmas: 18.1 points, 9.3 rebounds, 2.5 blocks

Okafor: 18.4 points, 9.4 rebounds, 1.4 blocks

Kaminsky: 17.7 points, 8.3 rebounds, 1.6 blocks