COACH BOEHEIM
(I may have re-arranged the order of some of the comments based on the subject.)
Matt congratulated the Coach on his 900th win. Jim was ambivalent, first saying “it’s not important”, then say that it is and that “a lot of people have worked hard for the number. I couldn’t be prouder. I would have been happy to win 500 games. I’m glad it’s behind us.” Later Matt noted that Coach will soon be passing Bobby Knight. “I’m not going to think about that or talk about it “ He did say he was quite close to Coach K and so were their families after sharing the Olympic summers together.
Matt said that Dave Bing was doing double duty there, honoring JB and watching Detroit play. “The Mayor of Detroit has no chance. They are 12 billion dollars in debt. It’s like you start a game and you are 65 points behind.”
I called in my congratulations and my question. I added that I’d figured out that when Jim reached a certain number of wins, he will have coached exactly half the wins Syracuse has ever had. I’ll let the reader figure out what number of wins that will take.
Hi comment on the end of games and the end of this one: “Use the clock. The clock is your friend. If you can use up 35 seconds and get a good shot, after 3-4 times there’ll be 2 ½ minutes left.“ (Isn’t that when you’d start to do this?) “We took a couple of shots early in the shot clock. Trevor Cooney and Michael Carter Williams with 5-6 minutes to go. Brandon and Michael turned it over. Brandon and CJ Fair had bad fouls. We didn’t get along rebound and ran out too soon. We did work it well once. James got a wide open shot that could have given us a 6 point lead at the end. But he missed. And we didn’t stop them at the end. We hadn’t been in a close game.”
Matt suggested that a 317-186 record in close games is pretty good. “That’s almost two thirds.” (63%, actually.) Coach: 50-50 would be pretty good. 60-40 would be very good. We’ve had an extraordinary run. I’ve heard we are 22-4 in our last few overtimes.” Matt: “You are 19-2 in overtime at the Dome”. JB: “We’ve played pretty good defense.”
Jim in Central Square noticed how closely Ray McCallum had guarded Michael Carter-Williams and suggested “it was great he was physically challenged, although he had a hard time getting us into our offense. “ JB said it wasn’t all MCW’s fault we had a hard time running the offense because too many players were standing around. He did say that Michael “left his feet 3-4 times” and each time the result was a turnover. Also, “we didn’t shoot the ball well”. He said that both Detroit and Canisius were good teams and noted that Canisius had beaten Temple, our next opponent.
“Temple is a very athletic, solid team….a tremendous team full of 6-7 athletic guys. They just didn’t make shots against Duke or Canisius. They beat Villanova by 16 points at Villanova.” (It was 76-61.) Matt said that their star, Kalif Wyatt, was 6-4 and the rest of their line-up went 6-4, 6-2, 6-6 and 6-9. He also noted that Coach Boeheim had never Coached against Fran Dunphy before. He was the long-time coach at Pennsylvania. Matt when brought up the last time we’d faced Temple: the Consolation Game of the 2002 post-season NIT, which we lost 54-65 in our practice uniforms. JB signed. “They didn’t bring the right uniforms. Typical.” (I don’t know if “they was Temple or the staff at SU.) Matt noted that JB had said he’s write in memoirs, (as opposed to a full autobiography) one day and stories like that might find their way into the book.
A fan wanted to know if Michael tends to pass up good shots just to get more assists. “He generally makes good decisions. If guys make shots they play better on the other end and we are better as a team. He’s looking for the open shooter or the guy who is close to the basket and has an easy shot. His decision making has been great.
Jim was asked if, privately he looks at games and thinks they should be blow-outs, even if he never publicly says so. He said he realizes some games are “games we should win by a lot but it’s about game preparation and what we need to do to be successful.”
The same fan congratulated the Coach on using the public forum of a press conference to address the guns issue, even though the press conference was about a basketball game. JB: “If you aren’t going to use it now, then when? Second amendment people don’t want you to use your First Amendment rights. Should you only use Freedom of Speech at home? I can say whatever I want at a press conference. I hate it when right wing people say ‘They want to take the guns out of our houses.’ It’s about assault weapons. I’m not in favor of having hand guns around. They are more of a threat to the people in the house than any burglar who might come in. But if assault rifles were illegal that woman wouldn’t have had one.” Matt made a comment about “Back to normalcy” and JB interrupted him, saying “But we can’t just let this slip away. We’ve got to keep the pressure on.”
Doug in Brockport asked if JB had reached the point where he was “willing to give credence to the notion that James Southerland has all-around abilities as a player.” Coach responded with surprise. “Am I? He could rebound better but he’s playing the second most minutes on the team so obviously we like to have him out there He’s a great weapon.” (Actually James has played the fourth most minutes on the team: MCW 320, BT 305, CJ 285 and JS 254).
Josh wanted to know if recruiting has become easier for players who are willing to play zone defense with the team’s success. JB didn’t address that issue directly, just saying that “Recruiting is a complicated process. It’s always tough to get a good player with all the competition from schools like Louisville and North Carolina, Duke, etc. Our player’s great success helps. Our coaches work year around. That’s what it takes.”
Joe wanted Jim’s assessment of who the top teams in the country were. “In our league, Louisville. Pitt is really good. I like Notre Dame, Cincinnati and Georgetown. In the Big Ten, Michigan, Ohio State and Indiana. Minnesota has been a surprise. I like Creighton, Gonzaga and also Wichita State has a very good team. Missouri is very good. Kentucky will be good by the end of the year. I’m impressed by the overall quality of the teams, although I don’t think there are any great ones.”
A fan wanted to know if he could get his 11 year old into Jim’s basketball camp. “It’s for kids 10-17 years old so your kid could fit in with one of the younger groups. . It’s three weeks of non-stop basketball. I’m there nearly every day. The players are there. High school coaches do much of the work.”
Vito wanted JB’s assessment of whether Greg Oden should have been drafted ahead of Kevin Durrant. “I love Kevin Durrant. I saw Greg Oden in the Final Four and he was spectacular. You don’t get a 7 footer who is a center that often. I’m not sure I wouldn’t have made that pick. All the experts said it was a good pick. Nobody knew his legs were so bad. I also don’t think he was motivated enough. It was like when they chose Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan. It was not as bad a choice as it looks today.”
Matt came up with some football questions. Who does the coach like in the Notre Dame-Alabama march-up? “I don’t think Notre Dame can handle Alabama’s speed. They have pride in their undefeated season but it’s hard not to think Alabama will be ready for them.” He predicted the Pinstripe Bowl “will be 55-48. Nobody will be able to stop anybody. It will be a great game.”
They talked about Ryan Nassib’s rising draft status. “It will be interesting to see how he does. We‘ve been watching him for a couple years now and he‘s turned out to be a very good quarterback.” They discussed whether the could help the Jets. Matt said he turned into that game just in time to see the last play. JB: “I don’t know if I’d like to listen to or see a Jets game. That last snap wasn’t that low.” Matt asked if he ever wondered if he could trade his problems for that of another coach. “I wouldn’t want to trade my problems for that of another coach. Everybody has problems.”
Jim asked about :15, so he’ll be able to watch some of it. Matt suggested that they ought to have a viewing party at the Dome and then the fans could watch the basketball game, which begins at 7PM. JB told him to put in the suggestion.
