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Jim Boeheim’s radio show is on Thursdays from 7-9PM on ESPN Radio in Syracuse, which is AM1200 or FM 97.7 on the dial. The show originates from Delmonico’s Italian Steakhouse on Erie Boulevard in Syracuse. The first hour, hosted by Matt Park, the Voice of the Orange, is on their general network. The second hour, which begins with the conference season, is hosted by Gomez, a local radio personality.
You can call into the show locally at 315-424-8599 or nationally at 1-888-746-2873. For Gomez’s portion, use 315-424-8599. Or you can submit questions from this page:
http://cuse.com/sb_output.aspx?form=4
Or on Twitter at mattpark1 or “askBoeheim”.
The show can be heard in Syracuse on FM 99.5. It’s sometime simulcast on AM 1200 or FM 97.7. You can also get it on: http://tunein.com/radio/WGVA-1240-s29191/
I will be posting my rough transcript the night of the broadcast focusing on my questions, the team and their last and next games and then a second post the next day on other things that were discussed.
MY QUESTIONS/COMMENTS
First hour:
“Coach, in the last game I saw a play where Tyler Roberson leapt toward the front of basket on a three point attempt from the side and the ball bounced past him toward the other concern. On another play the players seemed to have good position and boxed out well but they waited until the shot missed and then moved toward it. A more aggressive player on the other team got past them to grab the rebound. Dennis Rodman used to watch film to determine where a missed shot is likely to go to. Do your players do that and do you want them moving toward the basket while the shot is in the air or do you want them to hold their positons until they see where the ball goes? “
Second hour:
“Coach, we’ve been great at stopping fast break points but haven’t gotten too many ourselves. One fan suggest it’s because we don’t have a real point guard but another said that on a fast break, you don’t have to get the ball to a point guard- you get it to whoever is in a positon to start the break and everybody besides the center should be able to run the break. It’s also been suggested that the fast break these days is more to set up a three point shot than a lay-up at the basket. What is your philosophy on how to run the break?”
COACH BOEHEIM
(I have, in some instances, put together statements from different parts of the broadcast on the same subject. They are now doing two hour shows. I will do two posts: one on the night of the broadcast on the issues directly relating to the team on the other the next days on other things that were talked about.)
(For tonight’s unexpected presentation I’ll do the whole thing in this one post. There will be no follow-up tomorrow, as with no game there was minimal discussion about this year’s team.)
I had thought the show would be on Tuesday, (as it was when we had a Thursday game two weeks ago), but It was on Wednesday this time, which I found out when I decided to check it at 7:15 and there was Jim Boeheim expounding on Blake Griffin’s suspension. “It’s today’s world. Heck, 20 years ago you had fights all the time. Now everything is team or league suspensions. 40-50 years ago I was on a plane with an NBA player who carried two guns wherever he went, even on a plane. Some changes are good.”
About the New York Knicks- “The changed to a similar coach. I’m not sure the triangle the triangle is the right offense for them. They usually fire you about halfway through your second straight losing season.” Would Tom Thibodeau be right for the Knicks? “I don’t know if he’d be comfortable in the triangle.” About George Karl: “No owner wants the media to determine who his coach will be. That’s a bad team with dysfunctional players. They’ve had 8 coaches in six years.” Would Luke Walton make a good coach? “I just don’t know about Luke Walton. Gomez could have coached that team and lost just a few more games.”
I called in my first question. “In the zone you are in an area, so we tell the players to step back and then step to the ball. John Wooden wanted his players to “bump the guy and go”. Bobby Knight wanted his players to hold the block even if the ball hits the floor…. I know that 2/3 of the time, a ball shot from one corner will bounce to the opposite corner…. Dennis Rodman went after every rebound, figuring “If I’m there every time, I’ll get more.” He knew that if there were 8-10 seconds left on the shot clock there would be a shot going up...There are more offensive rebounds in college than in the pros. We penetrate to the basket to score and defenders go to help. That opens it up to get offensive rebounds. With jump shots you can be blocked out. .”
Jim discussed some great rebounders that were not very tall, such as the 6-8 Rodman, 6-7 Paul Silas, 6-4 ½ Charles Barkley and 6-8 Reggie Evans, who “can’t shoot or pass- all he does is rebound”. He even got a (Jungle) Jim Loscutoff reference in there. “It’s just positon, strength and toughness. There’s more skill guys now than there used to be, more finesse guys. 4’s and 5’ used to all be tough guys.”
Matt said that we’ve out-rebounded 6 of our last 8 opponents and that Tyler Roberson was averaging 9 rebounds a game and Tyler Lyden 6.5, (not bad off the bench). They talked about the height of Florida State, as tall a team as we are likely to play: 7-3 Boris Bojanovsky, 7-4 Jean Marc Christ Koumadje, 7-1 Michael Ojo, 6-9 Jarquez Smith, 6-8 Phil Cofer and Montay Brandon, etc. etc. They have two high scorers, Malik Beasley (17.3) and Dwyane Bacon (16.2), a freshman who was a McDonald’s All-American last year and Zavier Rathan-Mayes, (11.7) who last year became the first ACC freshman to score 30 points three times in a season, something neither Beasley or Bacon have done this year. Matt said that they “have 7-8 guys who have scored 20 points this year or gotten near to it.” JB said “they’ve got guys who can score 30. They have good balance and experience. They have their entire starting 5 back from last year. Benji Bell came off the bench to hit three threes in their last game. Terence Mann is another good player. Smith is an outstanding shot blocker. They have 10 guys who could start in this league and possibly three first round NBA draft picks.” How the heck are we going to beat this team?
They went over Jack McCallum’s revised NBA Top 50. He removed 11 players form the original top 50, (for which he was a panelist 20 years ago) and added in 11 more. He dropped Tiny Archibald, Robert Parrish, Sam Jones, Earl Monroe, Dave DeBusschere, Billy Cunningham, Wes Unseld, James Worthy, Lenny Wilkins, Nate Thurmond and Pete Maravich. Matt said that Billy Cunningham was a favorite of his. Jim mourned Dave DeBusschere, “not great numbers but a great player”, Worthy, ”hard to leave him out but I guess it’s possible” and Maravich, who he admitted “didn’t have a long run”. Looking at the list, Jim would have put Worthy ahead of Arizin, “Schayes should be in there”, (he is- barely at #48). Dave Bing was #36, “Yup, yup”. Steph Curry at #31, “He’ll be moving up”.
“It’s a good list but a lot of people are going to argue. Michael Jordan was the bets but I’d put Bill Russell at #2 I don’t’ care what the numbers say. He scored enough- the Celtics had lots of scorers. He was a great rebounder and led the league in blocked shots every year. 11 championships is all I need to know….” I’ll take it up with Jack later.
Craig Forth is going to be honored at the upcoming banquet. “He was a great student. He got a ‘B’ once and was upset. He’s a great kid and a role model and he helped us get that national championship.”
South Carolina, the last team to lose this year, was beating Ben Simmons’ LSU team 94-83 to go 21-3. “it takes a lot more than one guy to be successful. Simmons will be #1 in the NBA draft, Brandon Ingram of Duke will be #2, then who knows?” (No Buddy Hield?). “We’re playing South Carolina in the Garden next year.” JB noted that “Texas A&M is now struggling”. They lost tonight to at Alabama, “a very tough place to play”, 62-63, which doesn’t help SU. Meanwhile Virginia “is not only winning games but dominating” with a 16 point win at Louisville, a 14 point win over Boston College, a 14 point win at Pittsburgh and an 18 point victory over Virginia Tech. “They are crushing people.”
Lew, (Lou?) in Oswego wanted to know what the “upside” of the team was- in what areas could we still improve? JB: “The good news is that it’s not one area. Each area has to get a little bit better. I’m not sure how much growth there is to be done at mid-season. We could beat a lot of teams now. I hope we can improve but it won’t be any great leap.”
Gomez took over for the second hour, asking about the 9 day lay-off. “2 days, 4, 6, 8, 10 – you take the time to get ready to play.”
Jim had wanted Peyton Manning to win the Super Bowl and was pleasantly surprised when he did, although “Denver’s defense won the game. It shows how great Tom Brady is- much better than Cam newton. Brady, without a lot of his weapons, drove his team right down the field. Cam is not Tom Brady by any stretch. Suddenly he had guys in his face. “
I know nothing of the techniques of football but Carolina ran up the middle on every first down. You’d think it would have occurred to them that this is not working.“ Gee, coach that sort of thought has occurred to us fans from time to time, as well.
Gomez asked about the fuss over Cam Newton’s press conference. JB felt is was silly: “He’s a young kid. He didn’t like to lose. It’s not that he refused to answer their questions. He didn’t give the answers they wanted. Once you’ve admitted the other team played better than you did, there’s nothing left to say. Denver’s defense was just more physical than Carolina’s offense. You can have a game with 3-4 key things to talk about. This wasn’t one of those games.“
They discussed the inadequate press conference set up where the winnde3rs and losers were being interviewed simultaneously in the same room with just a curtain between them so that one of the Broncos could heckle Newton. The NCAA always brings out the winners first, then the losers afterwards. JB: I’ve never seen that. You’d think they’d have a better system.”
JB agrees with getting rid of the “1st round” designation for the four play-in games of the NCAA tournament. “Why did they change it to begin with?” Will Louisville’s absence help SU in the ACC tournament? “There will be 15 teams. We’re going to have to play well no matter who we play. Boston College almost beat North Carolina.”
I called in my question about the use, (or lack of it) of the fast break in modern basketball. “Every team would like to get out and run. The good teams don’t let you do it. You run mostly off of turnovers and clean rebounds. We don’t’ get a lot of them. Early in the seasons we were getting turnovers and we were running but now the teams are too good. Virginia seldom gets offensive rebounds because they get back to stop the fast break.” JB agreed that “you don’t need a good point guard to run the break but it can help, especially if he can really push it.”
Kaitlyn, (no, not that one), in Liverpool asked if the coach had any superstitions. JB: “All coaches have superstitions, rituals. I do all kinds of little things- I won’t say what- even though we know matter.” Gomez noted that he always comes out of the locker room at 2:27.
Lew, (or Lou) from Oswego called again, wanting to know “What will it take to go deep in the tournament this year?” JB: “Watch Kansas State beat Oklahoma. That could happen in the first round. We’re good enough to beat anyone we play and good enough to lose to them.” (Wouldn’t that be “bad enough to lose to them”?) “If you aren’t dominant, it’s all about match-ups. Villanova had a record of 33-2 last year when they lost to a red hot North Carolina State team and people reacted as if that was the whole season. When we lost to Butler is was big upset but they ahd two future NBA starters and a couple of other guys who got a shot. We had Wes Johnson who ahs played a little bit. .”
They talked about the weather report, since Lew/Lou said they were getting buried in Oswego. Gomez said it was going to be 8-10 inches in the Syracuse area. JB thinks they exaggerate all the time. Gomez pointed out that the colors they use on the maps seem to be getting harsher- more reds. He added that an Atlanta paper once reported that we’d gotten 24 inches in Syracuse but that wasn’t even reported in the Syracuse papers. (I doubt that.). Jim bemoaned what wimps we’ve become. “In the old days we could get 6-8 inches and it wouldn’t miss anything.” He wants fannies in the seats tomorrow night!
Bob in Brewerton wanted to know how Jim “puts up with inconsistent refs”. JB: “There’s nothing you can do. We talk with them a little to say we don’t’ like it. Both coaches think their team is getting the worst of it. It’s a hard game to referee. Anybody can do it with instant replay. You hope you don’t get a bad call at the end like we did with Georgia Tech. You don’t want it to decide the game. TI see inconsistent games every time I watch one. You just have to keep playing.” Does he like the use of instant replay to review calls. “I’m not sure it helps. It’s a good thing in football.”
John in Liverpool noted that the LPGA began their season in the Bahamas and that golf course looked gorgeous. JB was sorry he hadn’t gotten a chance to play- he was too busy.” John asked about his newest Olympic assignment. JB: “The third time, in Brazil.” John wanted to know how he teaches NBA players to play defense “when they themselves are not defensible”. JB: “They are also skilled on defense. The NBA is an offensive league. They play 82 games of 48 minutes each. It’s hard to play good defense all the time. But you have to defend to win the Olympics. We’ve won it by playing better defense. These guys play 20 minutes a game in the Olympics so they can play hard on defense all the time.”
Damian Lillard is angry he didn’t make the team. “he’s young. He’s a very good player. Kevin Durrant just made our work-out team the first two times. We try to develop young players. Some of these guys will decide that they’ve done their bit and you want to have guys ready to keep winning.”
Gomez asked if Jim was watching any of the political debates or results. Jim certainly has some political opinions. “Watching the process play out- it’s kind of crazy. You have to muddle through it. Socialism doesn’t work. It’s never worked anywhere in the world. Of course the 99% wants everything for free. If I have an 80% tax rate I’m not going to do what I do. I’ll go coach a high school team and enjoy it. I might think about giving that much to charity but not to the federal government. We need to help the producers… Republicans are going to try to block Trump. …if you build a wall they are going to find a way around it. And what would we do without the Mexican workers. Who is going to do the work? We need ideas that are relevant, things that make sense. We need a competent politician who has done stuff. We need them to work together in Congress which they won’t do. It’s not even a goal. We can’t elect far right or far left politicians. We need moderates. He likes John Kasich or Hillary because they “have done stuff and have some seasoning”.
NC State is suing Keuka College over their nickname, “The Wolfpack”, which they have copyrighted. Nevada is also the Wolfpack but they got around it by hyphenating it: “Wolf-Pack”. JB: “Why would NC State care about Keuka college? It’s crazy. Would Syracuse sue if some Division 3 team was the “Orange”? It’s a waste of resources. It’s lawyers doing stuff they should never have bene allowed to do. They charge $500 bucks just to talk about it. If they have to make a couple of phone calls, it becomes $1500 bucks.
Jim Harbaugh is taking his Michigan football team to Florida to play a scrimmage at spring break. JB: “Is that legal? It shouldn’t be. They could hold it in the Bahamas or somewhere else. It’s just common sense. They shouldn’t need a rule about it.”
Back to basketball: Bob In Florida wanted to know about the incoming recruiting class: how will we replace Michael Gbinije and Trevor Cooney”. “We’ve got a 6-6 guard, Tyus Battle. We plan to move Malachi to the 2 guard spot. We’ve got Frank Howard and Kaleb Joseph, so we’ve got guards. We are happy with them. We’ve got guys who can shoot, plus a 7-2 guy.
Jim was asked about Paschal Chukwu. “We are very happy with Paschal. We need him to eat more.” (I could coach him in that.) He’s a defense first player. He could be dominant. We’re not strong in the middle. He played 10 minutes a game for Providence. He got 3-4 points and rebounds a game and a blocked shot. If you extrapolate that, it’s pretty good. But they didn’t need him.” Who wouldn’t need a 7-2 shot blocker? He averaged 9.9 minutes, 2.6 points, 2.4 rebounds and 0.7 blocks. Per 40 minutes that’s 10.7 points, 9.9 rebounds and 2.7 blocks. I’ll take that. “We can move Tyler Lydon back to forward.” Gomez asked what the coach thought of Tyler’s moustache. JB: “I don’t get involved with moustaches. I just care how they play.”
You can call into the show locally at 315-424-8599 or nationally at 1-888-746-2873. For Gomez’s portion, use 315-424-8599. Or you can submit questions from this page:
http://cuse.com/sb_output.aspx?form=4
Or on Twitter at mattpark1 or “askBoeheim”.
The show can be heard in Syracuse on FM 99.5. It’s sometime simulcast on AM 1200 or FM 97.7. You can also get it on: http://tunein.com/radio/WGVA-1240-s29191/
I will be posting my rough transcript the night of the broadcast focusing on my questions, the team and their last and next games and then a second post the next day on other things that were discussed.
MY QUESTIONS/COMMENTS
First hour:
“Coach, in the last game I saw a play where Tyler Roberson leapt toward the front of basket on a three point attempt from the side and the ball bounced past him toward the other concern. On another play the players seemed to have good position and boxed out well but they waited until the shot missed and then moved toward it. A more aggressive player on the other team got past them to grab the rebound. Dennis Rodman used to watch film to determine where a missed shot is likely to go to. Do your players do that and do you want them moving toward the basket while the shot is in the air or do you want them to hold their positons until they see where the ball goes? “
Second hour:
“Coach, we’ve been great at stopping fast break points but haven’t gotten too many ourselves. One fan suggest it’s because we don’t have a real point guard but another said that on a fast break, you don’t have to get the ball to a point guard- you get it to whoever is in a positon to start the break and everybody besides the center should be able to run the break. It’s also been suggested that the fast break these days is more to set up a three point shot than a lay-up at the basket. What is your philosophy on how to run the break?”
COACH BOEHEIM
(I have, in some instances, put together statements from different parts of the broadcast on the same subject. They are now doing two hour shows. I will do two posts: one on the night of the broadcast on the issues directly relating to the team on the other the next days on other things that were talked about.)
(For tonight’s unexpected presentation I’ll do the whole thing in this one post. There will be no follow-up tomorrow, as with no game there was minimal discussion about this year’s team.)
I had thought the show would be on Tuesday, (as it was when we had a Thursday game two weeks ago), but It was on Wednesday this time, which I found out when I decided to check it at 7:15 and there was Jim Boeheim expounding on Blake Griffin’s suspension. “It’s today’s world. Heck, 20 years ago you had fights all the time. Now everything is team or league suspensions. 40-50 years ago I was on a plane with an NBA player who carried two guns wherever he went, even on a plane. Some changes are good.”
About the New York Knicks- “The changed to a similar coach. I’m not sure the triangle the triangle is the right offense for them. They usually fire you about halfway through your second straight losing season.” Would Tom Thibodeau be right for the Knicks? “I don’t know if he’d be comfortable in the triangle.” About George Karl: “No owner wants the media to determine who his coach will be. That’s a bad team with dysfunctional players. They’ve had 8 coaches in six years.” Would Luke Walton make a good coach? “I just don’t know about Luke Walton. Gomez could have coached that team and lost just a few more games.”
I called in my first question. “In the zone you are in an area, so we tell the players to step back and then step to the ball. John Wooden wanted his players to “bump the guy and go”. Bobby Knight wanted his players to hold the block even if the ball hits the floor…. I know that 2/3 of the time, a ball shot from one corner will bounce to the opposite corner…. Dennis Rodman went after every rebound, figuring “If I’m there every time, I’ll get more.” He knew that if there were 8-10 seconds left on the shot clock there would be a shot going up...There are more offensive rebounds in college than in the pros. We penetrate to the basket to score and defenders go to help. That opens it up to get offensive rebounds. With jump shots you can be blocked out. .”
Jim discussed some great rebounders that were not very tall, such as the 6-8 Rodman, 6-7 Paul Silas, 6-4 ½ Charles Barkley and 6-8 Reggie Evans, who “can’t shoot or pass- all he does is rebound”. He even got a (Jungle) Jim Loscutoff reference in there. “It’s just positon, strength and toughness. There’s more skill guys now than there used to be, more finesse guys. 4’s and 5’ used to all be tough guys.”
Matt said that we’ve out-rebounded 6 of our last 8 opponents and that Tyler Roberson was averaging 9 rebounds a game and Tyler Lyden 6.5, (not bad off the bench). They talked about the height of Florida State, as tall a team as we are likely to play: 7-3 Boris Bojanovsky, 7-4 Jean Marc Christ Koumadje, 7-1 Michael Ojo, 6-9 Jarquez Smith, 6-8 Phil Cofer and Montay Brandon, etc. etc. They have two high scorers, Malik Beasley (17.3) and Dwyane Bacon (16.2), a freshman who was a McDonald’s All-American last year and Zavier Rathan-Mayes, (11.7) who last year became the first ACC freshman to score 30 points three times in a season, something neither Beasley or Bacon have done this year. Matt said that they “have 7-8 guys who have scored 20 points this year or gotten near to it.” JB said “they’ve got guys who can score 30. They have good balance and experience. They have their entire starting 5 back from last year. Benji Bell came off the bench to hit three threes in their last game. Terence Mann is another good player. Smith is an outstanding shot blocker. They have 10 guys who could start in this league and possibly three first round NBA draft picks.” How the heck are we going to beat this team?
They went over Jack McCallum’s revised NBA Top 50. He removed 11 players form the original top 50, (for which he was a panelist 20 years ago) and added in 11 more. He dropped Tiny Archibald, Robert Parrish, Sam Jones, Earl Monroe, Dave DeBusschere, Billy Cunningham, Wes Unseld, James Worthy, Lenny Wilkins, Nate Thurmond and Pete Maravich. Matt said that Billy Cunningham was a favorite of his. Jim mourned Dave DeBusschere, “not great numbers but a great player”, Worthy, ”hard to leave him out but I guess it’s possible” and Maravich, who he admitted “didn’t have a long run”. Looking at the list, Jim would have put Worthy ahead of Arizin, “Schayes should be in there”, (he is- barely at #48). Dave Bing was #36, “Yup, yup”. Steph Curry at #31, “He’ll be moving up”.
“It’s a good list but a lot of people are going to argue. Michael Jordan was the bets but I’d put Bill Russell at #2 I don’t’ care what the numbers say. He scored enough- the Celtics had lots of scorers. He was a great rebounder and led the league in blocked shots every year. 11 championships is all I need to know….” I’ll take it up with Jack later.
Craig Forth is going to be honored at the upcoming banquet. “He was a great student. He got a ‘B’ once and was upset. He’s a great kid and a role model and he helped us get that national championship.”
South Carolina, the last team to lose this year, was beating Ben Simmons’ LSU team 94-83 to go 21-3. “it takes a lot more than one guy to be successful. Simmons will be #1 in the NBA draft, Brandon Ingram of Duke will be #2, then who knows?” (No Buddy Hield?). “We’re playing South Carolina in the Garden next year.” JB noted that “Texas A&M is now struggling”. They lost tonight to at Alabama, “a very tough place to play”, 62-63, which doesn’t help SU. Meanwhile Virginia “is not only winning games but dominating” with a 16 point win at Louisville, a 14 point win over Boston College, a 14 point win at Pittsburgh and an 18 point victory over Virginia Tech. “They are crushing people.”
Lew, (Lou?) in Oswego wanted to know what the “upside” of the team was- in what areas could we still improve? JB: “The good news is that it’s not one area. Each area has to get a little bit better. I’m not sure how much growth there is to be done at mid-season. We could beat a lot of teams now. I hope we can improve but it won’t be any great leap.”
Gomez took over for the second hour, asking about the 9 day lay-off. “2 days, 4, 6, 8, 10 – you take the time to get ready to play.”
Jim had wanted Peyton Manning to win the Super Bowl and was pleasantly surprised when he did, although “Denver’s defense won the game. It shows how great Tom Brady is- much better than Cam newton. Brady, without a lot of his weapons, drove his team right down the field. Cam is not Tom Brady by any stretch. Suddenly he had guys in his face. “
I know nothing of the techniques of football but Carolina ran up the middle on every first down. You’d think it would have occurred to them that this is not working.“ Gee, coach that sort of thought has occurred to us fans from time to time, as well.
Gomez asked about the fuss over Cam Newton’s press conference. JB felt is was silly: “He’s a young kid. He didn’t like to lose. It’s not that he refused to answer their questions. He didn’t give the answers they wanted. Once you’ve admitted the other team played better than you did, there’s nothing left to say. Denver’s defense was just more physical than Carolina’s offense. You can have a game with 3-4 key things to talk about. This wasn’t one of those games.“
They discussed the inadequate press conference set up where the winnde3rs and losers were being interviewed simultaneously in the same room with just a curtain between them so that one of the Broncos could heckle Newton. The NCAA always brings out the winners first, then the losers afterwards. JB: I’ve never seen that. You’d think they’d have a better system.”
JB agrees with getting rid of the “1st round” designation for the four play-in games of the NCAA tournament. “Why did they change it to begin with?” Will Louisville’s absence help SU in the ACC tournament? “There will be 15 teams. We’re going to have to play well no matter who we play. Boston College almost beat North Carolina.”
I called in my question about the use, (or lack of it) of the fast break in modern basketball. “Every team would like to get out and run. The good teams don’t let you do it. You run mostly off of turnovers and clean rebounds. We don’t’ get a lot of them. Early in the seasons we were getting turnovers and we were running but now the teams are too good. Virginia seldom gets offensive rebounds because they get back to stop the fast break.” JB agreed that “you don’t need a good point guard to run the break but it can help, especially if he can really push it.”
Kaitlyn, (no, not that one), in Liverpool asked if the coach had any superstitions. JB: “All coaches have superstitions, rituals. I do all kinds of little things- I won’t say what- even though we know matter.” Gomez noted that he always comes out of the locker room at 2:27.
Lew, (or Lou) from Oswego called again, wanting to know “What will it take to go deep in the tournament this year?” JB: “Watch Kansas State beat Oklahoma. That could happen in the first round. We’re good enough to beat anyone we play and good enough to lose to them.” (Wouldn’t that be “bad enough to lose to them”?) “If you aren’t dominant, it’s all about match-ups. Villanova had a record of 33-2 last year when they lost to a red hot North Carolina State team and people reacted as if that was the whole season. When we lost to Butler is was big upset but they ahd two future NBA starters and a couple of other guys who got a shot. We had Wes Johnson who ahs played a little bit. .”
They talked about the weather report, since Lew/Lou said they were getting buried in Oswego. Gomez said it was going to be 8-10 inches in the Syracuse area. JB thinks they exaggerate all the time. Gomez pointed out that the colors they use on the maps seem to be getting harsher- more reds. He added that an Atlanta paper once reported that we’d gotten 24 inches in Syracuse but that wasn’t even reported in the Syracuse papers. (I doubt that.). Jim bemoaned what wimps we’ve become. “In the old days we could get 6-8 inches and it wouldn’t miss anything.” He wants fannies in the seats tomorrow night!
Bob in Brewerton wanted to know how Jim “puts up with inconsistent refs”. JB: “There’s nothing you can do. We talk with them a little to say we don’t’ like it. Both coaches think their team is getting the worst of it. It’s a hard game to referee. Anybody can do it with instant replay. You hope you don’t get a bad call at the end like we did with Georgia Tech. You don’t want it to decide the game. TI see inconsistent games every time I watch one. You just have to keep playing.” Does he like the use of instant replay to review calls. “I’m not sure it helps. It’s a good thing in football.”
John in Liverpool noted that the LPGA began their season in the Bahamas and that golf course looked gorgeous. JB was sorry he hadn’t gotten a chance to play- he was too busy.” John asked about his newest Olympic assignment. JB: “The third time, in Brazil.” John wanted to know how he teaches NBA players to play defense “when they themselves are not defensible”. JB: “They are also skilled on defense. The NBA is an offensive league. They play 82 games of 48 minutes each. It’s hard to play good defense all the time. But you have to defend to win the Olympics. We’ve won it by playing better defense. These guys play 20 minutes a game in the Olympics so they can play hard on defense all the time.”
Damian Lillard is angry he didn’t make the team. “he’s young. He’s a very good player. Kevin Durrant just made our work-out team the first two times. We try to develop young players. Some of these guys will decide that they’ve done their bit and you want to have guys ready to keep winning.”
Gomez asked if Jim was watching any of the political debates or results. Jim certainly has some political opinions. “Watching the process play out- it’s kind of crazy. You have to muddle through it. Socialism doesn’t work. It’s never worked anywhere in the world. Of course the 99% wants everything for free. If I have an 80% tax rate I’m not going to do what I do. I’ll go coach a high school team and enjoy it. I might think about giving that much to charity but not to the federal government. We need to help the producers… Republicans are going to try to block Trump. …if you build a wall they are going to find a way around it. And what would we do without the Mexican workers. Who is going to do the work? We need ideas that are relevant, things that make sense. We need a competent politician who has done stuff. We need them to work together in Congress which they won’t do. It’s not even a goal. We can’t elect far right or far left politicians. We need moderates. He likes John Kasich or Hillary because they “have done stuff and have some seasoning”.
NC State is suing Keuka College over their nickname, “The Wolfpack”, which they have copyrighted. Nevada is also the Wolfpack but they got around it by hyphenating it: “Wolf-Pack”. JB: “Why would NC State care about Keuka college? It’s crazy. Would Syracuse sue if some Division 3 team was the “Orange”? It’s a waste of resources. It’s lawyers doing stuff they should never have bene allowed to do. They charge $500 bucks just to talk about it. If they have to make a couple of phone calls, it becomes $1500 bucks.
Jim Harbaugh is taking his Michigan football team to Florida to play a scrimmage at spring break. JB: “Is that legal? It shouldn’t be. They could hold it in the Bahamas or somewhere else. It’s just common sense. They shouldn’t need a rule about it.”
Back to basketball: Bob In Florida wanted to know about the incoming recruiting class: how will we replace Michael Gbinije and Trevor Cooney”. “We’ve got a 6-6 guard, Tyus Battle. We plan to move Malachi to the 2 guard spot. We’ve got Frank Howard and Kaleb Joseph, so we’ve got guards. We are happy with them. We’ve got guys who can shoot, plus a 7-2 guy.
Jim was asked about Paschal Chukwu. “We are very happy with Paschal. We need him to eat more.” (I could coach him in that.) He’s a defense first player. He could be dominant. We’re not strong in the middle. He played 10 minutes a game for Providence. He got 3-4 points and rebounds a game and a blocked shot. If you extrapolate that, it’s pretty good. But they didn’t need him.” Who wouldn’t need a 7-2 shot blocker? He averaged 9.9 minutes, 2.6 points, 2.4 rebounds and 0.7 blocks. Per 40 minutes that’s 10.7 points, 9.9 rebounds and 2.7 blocks. I’ll take that. “We can move Tyler Lydon back to forward.” Gomez asked what the coach thought of Tyler’s moustache. JB: “I don’t get involved with moustaches. I just care how they play.”
