Syracuse, N.Y. -- After another disappointing finish at The Basketball Tournament, Boeheim's Army's commanding general has seen enough.

"No excuses," said Kevin Belbey, the team's founder and GM. "Look, we're not playing for fun.  We have a lot of fun playing, and I hope the fans have fun watching us, but we're playing for money, and we want to win this thing."


What You Need To Know


  • Boeheim's Army lost in the 2020 TBT quarterfinals Saturday, its second straight early exit.

  • General manager and founder Kevin Belbey says this year's team was good enough to win, but losing Tyler Lydon and Chris McCullough was a factor.

  • Belbey says he's not opposed to adding outside players, but prefers to keep the roster all-Orange.

  • Boeheim's Army is expected to host a regional site at OCC in next summer's TBT.

Belbey says he thought this year's team was good enough to win the TBT title, especially if Tyler Lydon and Chris McCullough had been able to keep their commitments. Playing without them spotlighted the issues that have plagued the Army in the past: rebounding and shooting. In this year's Tournament, the SU alums finished in the bottom four teams in both three-point shooting and rebounding, which Belbey plans to address for next year.

"Having a younger 'big' like [Lydon and McCullough], as well as one more guy that can drive, put pressure on the defense, and create more open shots," he said. "I think that's what we're going to try and do, those are the two biggest areas of focus."

The Syracuse alumni base will also continue to be the focus for filling out future rosters, even after the hodgepodge Sideline Cancer knocked out both the Army and 4-time champ Overseas Elite last weekend to advance to the TBT final. Belbey says there are enough former SU players interested in enlisting that he should be able to field a team good enough to win.

"I think that going forward, we're going to continue to be a Syracuse-based alumni team.  That's what we are, we're Boeheim's Army, and we're proud of that. Our options A, B, and C are always going to be Syracuse players."

Belbey is quick to add that it doesn't mean he won't bring on a guy like Colgate alum Will Rayman, whose gritty and unselfish play was 'just what we needed' this year. He also says if he'd been able to get all the SU alums he was chasing this summer, the outcome may have been different. And, assuming the Army gets the regional host site next summer that it was promised in 2020, Belbey says the future is bright.

"We haven't won the prize money yet, but I think we have the third-most wins in Tournament history," said Belbey, who graduated from SU in 2016. "Having the games up in Syracuse, we could use that competitive advantage to help us 'get over the hump'."

The invites for next year's edition of Boeheim's Army are already going out, and team leader Eric Devendorf is expected to be back, the only player who's appeared in all six Tournaments. Belbey jokes that Eric has a 'lifelong invite', even with a few gray hairs starting to show up in his beard.

"Every year, I expect a little bit of decline, and it just doesn't happen," he said. "He's our best player, he's a quasi-assistant coach, he helps recruit players. He's somebody we're really proud to have on our team, and he can continue to play as long as he wants."