the buddy question from citrus tv

[Forloveoforange]

Yes, it was a loaded question, that's for sure. Not an innocent question, at all.

 

[jgeorge322]

I think you are all missing the boat on the response. JB clearly knew it was a student reporter. He probably thought it was the DO. I imagine he is not happy with the DO story about the reason for Frank’s suspension. He probably took his frustration out on the CitrusTV kid as a result.

 

[FRANKIEFAN]

Sad thing is JB managed Buddy perfectly all year until last night. Protected him at times see Jalen coming into the VT game we were always going to lose before Buddy but he played the right amount even early when he wasn’t hitting shots.

Last night was a joke playing him 39 minutes and not going to Jalen who could play some D when Baylor was getting open looks from 3 and knocking them down.

The rest of the team stepped it up but we were basically playing 4on 5.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

"Buddy did his best to fill in for Frank. He's not used to playing that many minutes so he got tired down the stretch unfortunately."

Or you can get mad and call the reporter names. Same thing.

JB has been pissed on by local and student media for ever. The first NCAA was a local hatchet job. He was sticking up for his kid. I am okay with that.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

Some of the student reporters are just trying to get a rise out of JB. They can be s. JB knows the ones who are doing their jobs compared to the ones with an agenda.

Probably some smug ass kid who was allegedly an athlete and had someone take his Stats.

 

[Day2]

Or the coach who knows more basketball than anyone could describe what Baylor did to shut down Buddy and why he continued to play him so many minutes while struggling.

Then the reporter should have phrased it that way. The question itself was not an example of good journalism.

 

[A Clockwork Orange]

Just as an aside to this conversation -- I've interviewed Coach Boeheim one on one and in a news conference several times. He doesn't like them (duh).

The first time I interviewed him I was a high school junior and contacted his office about 75 times in a 24 hour period (called him from a 'journalism' phone in my high school). His secretary finally became so exasperated she put me through to him. I have no idea if he knew I had bugged her to the point of insanity, but what I came away from in the interview that followed is that he treats every journalist, every reporter, the same way.

He treats them all as adults, and with a certain amount of disdain. I stumbled through my questions, he answered well enough and then I asked him what his thoughts were about a potential Final Four run that year (this was 1994-1995). I could hear his eye roll through the phone and he said: "I let you people talk about that kind of stuff, I just worry about us getting better game to game."

I interviewed him many times after that and got some really great answers and some really brusque answers. Point is, he's human. He looks at the press corps as adults and sometimes he uses them as a bludgeon. Sometimes he's in an okay mood and treats them better. He does the SAME EXACT THING with his players. He sometimes defends them to the hilt, and sometimes publicly lashes out at them. He treats them like adults and expects an adult performance from them. He expects them to not be thin-skinned, and to be willing to battle with him from time to time.

Sure he has made mistakes in pressers and with players. The point is that he's human and sometimes ly, working on a large stage where lots of people get to nitpick from the dark corners of the Internet. So he feels it's his right to answer a stupid question (and that WAS a stupid question) with a smartass answer.

If anyone would like to know why it's a stupid question, I'd be more than willing to extrapolate at some point.

 

[OttoMets]

Just as an aside to this conversation -- I've interviewed Coach Boeheim one on one and in a news conference several times. He doesn't like them (duh).

The first time I interviewed him I was a high school junior and contacted his office about 75 times in a 24 hour period (called him from a 'journalism' phone in my high school). His secretary finally became so exasperated she put me through to him. I have no idea if he knew I had bugged her to the point of insanity, but what I came away from in the interview that followed is that he treats every journalist, every reporter, the same way.

He treats them all as adults, and with a certain amount of disdain. I stumbled through my questions, he answered well enough and then I asked him what his thoughts were about a potential Final Four run that year (this was 1994-1995). I could hear his eye roll through the phone and he said: "I let you people talk about that kind of stuff, I just worry about us getting better game to game."

I interviewed him many times after that and got some really great answers and some really brusque answers. Point is, he's human. He looks at the press corps as adults and sometimes he uses them as a bludgeon. Sometimes he's in an okay mood and treats them better. He does the SAME EXACT THING with his players. He sometimes defends them to the hilt, and sometimes publicly lashes out at them. He treats them like adults and expects an adult performance from them. He expects them to not be thin-skinned, and to be willing to battle with him from time to time.

Sure he has made mistakes in pressers and with players. The point is that he's human and sometimes ly, working on a large stage where lots of people get to nitpick from the dark corners of the Internet. So he feels it's his right to answer a stupid question (and that WAS a stupid question) with a smartass answer.

If anyone would like to know why it's a stupid question, I'd be more than willing to extrapolate at some point.

Nice post, good insights.

 

[Madbiker]

I think JB wanted to say ... if I had Frank then Buddy wouldn't have to be out there for 39 minutes with no field goals. But because that idiot skrewed us by failing his drug test, I had no choice but to put keep him out there hoping he'd make some shots.

 

[Chip]

Next 3 years should be a fun ride.

 

[HoustonCuse]

As many of you know I think JB is really poor in many press settings.

In this case, he may be telegraphing a lot, but I guess I can see where his ire is coming from. I don't necessarily agree with it, but I can see the source.

Basically - he knows Buddy had a poor game. He assumes the question is a kind of sharp shooting thing where we can finally hear about how the coach's son was a big reason we lost (here is where he was probably projecting). But in JB's mind, he's saying look the kid is a freshman and he just had to play 40 solid minutes at high altitude because our senior leader blew it and got himself suspended and now you're taking the opportunity to take me to task over my son's performance?

 

[supp]

They could’ve asked him why he struggled, or what did Baylor do to stop Buddy, or something specific, if they actually wanted to get a basketball discussion going.

I've got no dog in this fight but people ask him legit basketball questions and he sh!ts on them too.

 

[realorange]

If it wasn't his son, his response would be:

"He played terribly, and has struggled much of the season, aside from a few good games. But, I don't have anybody else to play, so that's why he's played so much. I just don't have any better options."

He has not played that card all season.

People like to remember his comments about Roberson a few years ago and have carried them forward.

 

[richmondcuse03]

I do this for a living (coaching people to answer questions better and lots of other crisis PR type stuff). Jim is bad at it, plain and simple. He's too emotional. He ends up giving people the answer he shouldn't. But he is who he is. And he isn't changing now.

Having been a DO reporter who asked Boeheim questions in press conferences (and gotten the, "what are you stupid?" response), I tend to side more on the case of the reporters here. I always thought my questions were perfectly reasonable and open ended. And yes, sometimes people ask a loaded question because he does things exactly like this. For example - the 10 games exchange.

I take it all with a grain of salt -- the only thing that annoys me is that he treats the local press worse than the national. He thinks that the Syracuse press should be on his side and protect him. But that's not how it works - I know he wishes it was but not reality. It wasn't Mike Waters' job to protect him and make sure he followed the rules in the early 90s. Mike, as many of you know, is a class act. But he's not a homer and would never be accused of being one. But he's certainly fair and I think he's done an incredible job over the years given everything that has happened. I give Donna a lot of credit, too.

It's not his finest trait -- but I also trust what Joyce and many other people who actually know him say about him in terms of his character. And I don't doubt it's very hard to coach your son -- he said as much earlier this year.

 

[UelSU]

JB's post game press conferences are worthless. He can say and do what he wants, and maybe he's earned that right, but it's not the norm. Other bigtime coaches give very insightful answers. Imagine Dino acting that way.

 

[HoustonCuse]

JB's post game press conferences are worthless. He can say and do what he wants, and maybe he's earned that right, but it's not the norm. Other bigtime coaches give very insightful answers. Imagine Dino acting that way.

I agree that he is awful in post game press conferences, but it is false to say all other bigtime coaches are that much better. Many, if not most, will give snarky or arrogant responses. They will critique questions, they will read-in intent, etc. It is so common you can find compilation videos of it on YouTube. One of the greatest coaches of our era, Bill Belichick is the #1 offender and is way worse than JB.

 

[Sudano]

It's a stupid question. He played bad and everyone with two eyes knows that. So to ask what do you think of a player that played bad is dumb in my opinion. He also only asking the question because he knows it's his kid and he is trying to get a rise out of him when he is pissed about being eliminated.

He's a player on the team and shouldn't be coddled to not ask a question about him.
That's what newspapers need to write articles. What he thought of his team's play including individual players. They need quotes about the outcome of the game. Why did they lose.
Boeheim has been a dick for awhile now. He's thin skinned and crotchety. He's like an old man yelling at kids to get off his lawn. Wildrack needs to talk to him. Lighten up Jim its just a game and newspapers need to do a job that contradicts your needs as a angry old man.

 

[Halfmooncuse]

Terrible look but this is who he is

This is been a rough year for JB. Let’s face it this team is one of his worst teams. He gets involved in an accident where a person has been killed. He’s very open to criticism about his son playing. He 74 years old has a beautiful wife a lovely family. Is this really the way he wants to be in his final years?
If you think that this team is going to be any better in the next or the foreseeable future you really have been drinking the Kool-Aid this is the downtime for Syracuse basketball and why would you want to ride that horse right now

 

[sufandu]

I agree that he is awful in post game press conferences, but it is false to say all other bigtime coaches are that much better. Many, if not most, will give snarky or arrogant responses. They will critique questions, they will read-in intent, etc. It is so common you can find compilation videos of it on YouTube. One of the greatest coaches of our era, Bill Belichick is the #1 offender and is way worse than JB.

He didn't say "all." You added that.

 

[dasher]

Jb has been a jerk to the media since the day he got a job. And then he goes off like a baby when they hit back. It was a fair question. The Citrus tv guy was a student. Just like Buddy.

 

[Briancuse]

If your going to coach your son at a big time program this goes along with the territory.

 

[Sherman20]

It's a stupid question. He played bad and everyone with two eyes knows that. So to ask what do you think of a player that played bad is dumb in my opinion. He also only asking the question because he knows it's his kid and he is trying to get a rise out of him when he is pissed about being eliminated.

I don’t agree the reporter is trying to get a rise out of him. He’s simply asking him to assess the performance of one of the 7 guys on the team who played in this game. JB is a 73 year old man. At this stage in life he should be mature enough to answer game-related questions posed to him without acting like a dyspeptic crank. He agreed to coach his son (a good and likable player who no one is taking shots at) for four years and should be prepared to answer any and all questions about him without treating reporters like trash. He acts like a big baby sometimes when it comes to questions from the media and it’s been that way forever. Love JB, but it’s one of the things about him that annoys me the most. Hop is infinitely better at that part of the job. Anyway, it’s not breaking news around here after 43 years that the man is extremely thin skinned. But I’ll cut him a little slack considering what he’s been through the past few months.

 

[Sherman20]

I do this for a living (coaching people to answer questions better and lots of other crisis PR type stuff). Jim is bad at it, plain and simple. He's too emotional. He ends up giving people the answer he shouldn't. But he is who he is. And he isn't changing now.

Having been a DO reporter who asked Boeheim questions in press conferences (and gotten the, "what are you stupid?" response), I tend to side more on the case of the reporters here. I always thought my questions were perfectly reasonable and open ended. And yes, sometimes people ask a loaded question because he does things exactly like this. For example - the 10 games exchange.

I take it all with a grain of salt -- the only thing that annoys me is that he treats the local press worse than the national. He thinks that the Syracuse press should be on his side and protect him. But that's not how it works - I know he wishes it was but not reality. It wasn't Mike Waters' job to protect him and make sure he followed the rules in the early 90s. Mike, as many of you know, is a class act. But he's not a homer and would never be accused of being one. But he's certainly fair and I think he's done an incredible job over the years given everything that has happened. I give Donna a lot of credit, too.

It's not his finest trait -- but I also trust what Joyce and many other people who actually know him say about him in terms of his character. And I don't doubt it's very hard to coach your son -- he said as much earlier this year.

Great post.

 

[hungrychuck]

Really surprising answer since JB has always been such a class act.

Ahem.

This guy has been a jerk to the press since his first day on the job, and enabled by some of the less mature on this site.

Flat out schoolyard bully who gets his way when abusing student journalists, but winds up groveling when hit back in the face by the national press in cases like his disastrous Bernie Fine press conference.

His answer should have been: "Buddy hit as many shots as a dead man."

 

[Madbiker]

Dealing with the media has always been JB's weak point. He gets little credit for his accomplishments from the media because he's so surly and needlessly confrontational with them. Just contrast his pressers with Hop after Washington's games in the Pac 12 tourney and 1st round NCAAT. Totally different vibe.