JB
Matt and the coach talked about the Providence game. Matt said it was “a Big East road game- you’re not spotted anything. Syracuse was better than Providence but it was a tough game. Coach said that “last year Louisville was supposed to be a better team than providence and lost by 31, so you can’t really say that. You can have an off night and be in big trouble. Providence had some injuries early in the year. So did Villanova and now they’ve won 7 in a row. You have to play the team (as they are) now. Whenever you don’t shoot well you will have problems.
Matt noted that Bryce Cotton shot well. JB: “We started poorly on him but after that we found him and he didn’t have a good look.”
I called in my comment, (Matt Park had taken the time to respond when I E-mailed it in with one word: “Amen”). JB: “That’s a great point. I go to every game and don’t understand why we can’t get 45,000 for every one of 5-6 games. The weather is good. The parking is pretty good, (I’m sure it is for him). It’s not a marketing thing. Schools like Michigan and Wisconsin are state schools and people come from all over the state. They don’t come from all over New York State. We are a private school. We aren’t a state school, even though we talk about it. In basketball, we’ve built up a fan base over the years by winning a loot and playing an exciting style. We used to have 2-3 fans at places like Providence and Florida. We must have had 4-5,000 at South Florida.”
It’s different with the NFL than it is with the NBA. College football coaches think a loot about the NFL but most college basketball coaches don’t think much about the NBA. In the NFL the money is huge. The spectrum of the NFL if different than that of the NBA.” Later he said of Nathanial Hackett following Marrone to the NFL, “There’s huge prestige in the NFL. Doug and he are comfortable with each other. It’s good fit. I hate to lose him for our sake.” He was asked if “contracts were an afterthought”. JB: “You have to remember this: everyone with a contract can be fired.” Regarding Brian Kelly interviewing with the Eagles: “Most college coaches that are really good will got to the NFL”.
Andrew called in and noted that we won the Providence game “with a heavy supply of windex“. JB: “it’s a good thing we can rebound this year.” Andrew suggested that if you have 3-4 chances to make a basket, you have a better chance of making on. JB: “You should make 1-4 from around the basket.” Andrew wanted to know if James Southerland could add an extra dimension to his game by posting up shorter players. JB: “Not really. Post-up guys are very rare in college basketball these days and are even becoming rare in the NBA. It’s a perimeter-oriented game. We’re not a great post-up team. We’re a pretty good perimeter team and have guys who can make plays. James had 3 assists and no turnovers but it was his worst shooting game for the quality of shots he got. Maybe they were too easy and he started thinking about them.”
He added “Trevor Cooney had a couple of good shots and missed both of them. He also made a couple of defensive mistakes that we can’t have.” Later a caller named Vito said he “expected to see the myth Cooney had become” when he played this year. “He looks scared.” Jim said that Trevor wasn’t scared but “when you’re not getting minutes you are under extra pressure. We’re trying to get him to not think that way. He’s a good player. He just needs to relax a little bit.”
Matt brought up a comment made years ago by Billy Packer that Gerry McNamara wasn’t a “pure shooter” because “pure shooters” don’t miss left or right,. They miss long or short. JB: “He’s right about some things, but not that. Gerry missed short or long.”
A caller named Len asked the “How come you don’t play the freshmen more?” question. He specified the Rutgers game as a game where they could have played a lot. JB: “We did play those guys in that one. Winning games on the road gets you into the post season tournaments. South Florida and Providence are two of the weaker teams in the league and you can’t afford a loss to them. Do you work them in practice or play them longer if it jeopardizes the game? When you are down 8-10 it’s not the optimal time to put freshmen in the game. I’m not willing to take that risk and jeopardize games, even if they are good players. We went with the veterans even last year when we had Michael Carter-Williams. We know what they can do.
Ed called in a question from last year. He wanted to know about the charges Fab Melo takes and whether that takes a special talent. JB: “He had a natural talent. He could see the plays coming and get in front of guys. He must have taken 28-29 charges. Some games we won by 2-3 points and he drew 2-3 charges. It’s a big, game-changing play. We work on it every day. But you’ve got to see it coming. In high school big guys stand around and catch balls and try not foul anybody. Guys don’t like to step in front of people. There used to be a lot more charges called. Since the semi-circle not as many players take charges as used to. CJ actually had one but Baye didn’t see it and committed a foul.”
“Villanova started slow but they are now organized and have guys in there who are playing well. You’re either playing someone who is playing well or someone who isn’t. Everybody can play in this league. Even the teams at the bottom are tough. It’s the nature of college basketball a little bit but especially in the Big East.”
“Georgetown has had trouble scoring. They are a good team but when they aren’t scoring they are in trouble. When you score in the 40’s it’s hard to win. Pitt was playing well. They to down 14 to Rutgers early and came back and almost won it but Rutgers made some tough shots to win it.”
Pat called in, noting that “offenses are struggling across the country. SU fans just pay attention to our team and don’t see what’s going on all around.” He asked the coach what the cause was- perhaps too many players leaving early? JB: It’s cyclical Georgetown lost 2-3 scorers. They are still good and can change during the course of the season. St. John‘s can score. Louisville can score. You aren’t going to have great teams. I see plenty of good teams. Equality will make for an interesting tournament. There’s nobody scary good like Kentucky last year.” Then he added “They were no different than we were.”
They talked about teams around the country. Gonzaga at 15-1 and St. Mary’s at 12-3 were playing. “Gonzaga has one of the bets teams they’ve had in years. Boise State is pretty good- they beat Creighton. Wyoming is unbelievable- they haven’t had just easy games.” They talked about key injuries. Ryan Clark of Duke was lost to a foot injury. Jack Taylor, the guy who scored 139 points is out for the season with a wrist injury. Leigh lost their star player.
A fan wanted to know what Jim’s favorite memories of the Dunkin Donuts Center are. “It’s a great atmosphere. We’ve played well there, (Matt said it was 23-6). I don’t know if anybody has a road record like that anywhere. I’ll miss a couple of Italian restaurants in Providence.” Matt suggested he won’t miss a guy who always sat behind the SU bench and spent the game berating Boeheim. (Igor- is that you?).
Matt asked “what kind of a run the crack about Clemson might have”? JB: “People can’t take humor. You can’t make fun of people. They take it too seriously. It’s crazy. There are plenty of good restaurants in the south, although I’m not sure about Italian.” Jim remembered one good place they went to when we played down there in the NIT. After a while Matt came up with it: Chop House 47.
JB: “But they wont’ print that, (that he said there was good place down there.) Later Jim identified his favorite place in providence as Siena’s. He said he’s been going there for 34 years. “Every city has a good place to go to get your mind off the game. Some times when we get in late, we just eat at the hotel.”
They talked about the baseball Hall of Fame. Matt referred to the New York Times sports page that “listed” the new inductees on an otherwise blank page. JB: “I just cannot conceive of having a vote and not voting for anyone. I’d definitely vote for Biggio, who had 3000 hits, and Jack Morris. Unless you truly don’t think that they aren’t Hall of Famers. You have to put the best guys in. if somebody thinks it’s tainted, fine. Eventually it will happen. Pete Rose should be in the Hall of Fame. He should be banned, fine but you get in the Hall for what you did as a player. Mike Piazza was marginal but you can’t prove anything. The Commissioner and the Head of the Hall of fame should get together with the senior writers and establish some criteria.
The previously mentioned Vito asked about the status of building a football practice facility like the Melo Center. JB: “Money’s always tight but they just spent a lot of money on the locker rooms and the weight room. An indoor practice facility would help recruiting but they’ve already got the Manley Dome with an 80 yard practice facility.”
They have started the second, local shows with Gomez, a local radio personality. He noted that Jim was eating a very large ice cream sundae. JB: “You gotta have two people to eat it.” He asked how many donuts Jim had seen in the Dunkin Donut Center. “Not a one.”
Gomez brought up the subject of the “wind” Matt Park said he felt in the place. Jim said he never noticed it. There is an ice hockey rink under the floor. “At one time when the ice was closer to the surface you could tell a little bit.” Matt said it’s been years since he’s seen a player slip in that situation.
There was discussion of the game Michael Carter Williams had and how well players respond to playing in their home town. “Guys have struggled in that situation but he had 5 steals and 6-7 rebounds.” North Carolina was famous for giving it’s players “home” games during the dean Smith era. “He promised every player. They’d go anywhere, even to California. We played a game in Scranton for Gerry. We won’t be going to Baye’s home town.”
I decided to call in a second question, (noted above). I noted that “points are points but assists are opinions”. But JB felt that the total wasn’t off the mark, considering the amount of shots we missed. I told I thought he probably had six assists on passes to Christmas alone. “He got 2-3 on those plays, one to CJ one back to James.” I suggested that the assister needs the assistance of the shooter to put the ball in the basket.
A caller asked the difference between attacking the providence zone vs. the SU zone. “They give you the outside shots. We try to contest them. You have to rebound vs. the zone. We did a good job on the offensive glass.”
Another asked, “Early in the season, what’s the best teaching opportunity: a close game or a blow-out? “You can learn from both. You’re always learning. You try to learn in practice every day.”
Someone asked if it had been determined which former Big East colleagues we will play in the future. It hasn’t but they are working on it. They also don’t know yet when Duke or North will first come to the Dome. “We don’t know if we will play them twice or once next year. Most years we’ll play each one once. Some years we might play both twice. We don’t know who will be in the league. Louisville and Notre Dame might make a deal to get out of the Big East next year.”
It was again suggested that the court be moved to the 50 yard line for a Duke or UNC game. “That’s been looked into. You’d only have about 41,000 seats, not 50,000 and each of them would be lousy. I wouldn’t trade that for an extra 6000 seats over what we have now.”
They discussed the complicated financial situation. “Nobody knows about the exit fees for the Catholic schools or the NCAA money, which gets paid out over four years. There’s about $80 million in NCAA money. Where does that go. Where do the exit fees go? All I know is that the lawyers will get a lot of it.”
The Catholic 7 is “formulating a plan“ for their new conference. Will there be 10-12 teams? Who gets the name ‘The Big East’? It takes a lot of work and effort to get a conference going.” Gomez asked who would be on the short list for a commissioner. Jim suggested Dan Gavitt, who is now with the NCAA or maybe Mike Tranghese would come back to get it going.
Bernie wanted a run-down on the players on Villanova and who to look out for in the Big East. JB: “Villanova started slowly but are a good team that’s started to play well. Louisville and Notre Dame are off to great starts. The league is very, very good, as tough as it’s ever been. Providence is down at the bottom and we saw how tough they are.” Bernie said it was good to see Howard Triche emerging as a good player. Jim pointed out Howard was Brandon’s uncle. Bernie said he was showing his age. JB: “We are both getting old.”
Gomez had read that Georgetown was the most overrated team in the country and Kentucky was the most under-rated. JB thinks that “Georgetown is good when they shoot the ball- they almost beat Indiana. Kentucky is very talented. They probably will have three NBA draft choices. The SEC is not strong and Kentucky will do well there.”
They talked about the Colorado-Arizona game which had a play similar to the one at the end of regulation in the 6OT game where Eric Devendorf’s apparent game winning shot was disallowed after they looked at the monitor. “In Devo’s case, it was clear the ball was on his finger-tips. I watched the replay last night ten times and I couldn’t tell. The original call was that it was good and that should have been upheld.”
Gomez asked about the injury to Robert Griffin III. JB: “That’s a tough call. You don’t know if the doctor can tell he hurt it. Unless a doctor had said no I’d have played him. Remember when Jay Cutler refused to go in when he was hurt? I didn’t see the game but they said he was limping and if he was limping they shouldn’t have been calling running plays. For many years players played with concussions. The precautionary stance is good. The NFL is an injury league. If you run your quarterback in that league you’ll get hurt. They have 300 pound linemen and 250 pound linebackers and they just have to catch them once. That’s why you take Andrew Luck over RGIII. It’s a tough league for running quarterbacks.
Gomez talked about Carmelo Anthony’s incident with Kevin Garnett. JB: “Carmelo’s playing hard. He’s got better players to play with this year and he wants a championship. Garnett is a famous trash talker. Carmelo will learn from it.”
Gomez noted that Miami is trying to get Greg Oden. JB: “He’s a great talent but I don’t know if he’s coming back. He’s making $40-50 million not playing but wants a chance. It’s not a good league for bad legs.” It seems the Sacramento Kings might want to move to Seattle. “It’s a great basketball town.” Meanwhile the Lakers continue their disappointing season. “They aren’t good on defense and aren’t good enough on offense to outscore people. Kobe’s having a great year but Howard isn’t the same. He needs to do more. There was a lot of thought that they might not fit together. It has not worked at all.”
Ron called and wanted to know what happened with the five second call near the end of the game. He noted that the practice has been to not acknowledge time out requests after four seconds. JB: “The problems is that CJ asked for the time out at three seconds. He turns and said it but he turned back as if to inbound the ball. He didn’t make it emphatic enough. We’d just talked about making sure- if there’s nobody open, call a time out.” Gomez said CJ played a great game other than the time-out. Coach said “He called the time out!”
Gomez asked if the coach had tuned into the Alabama-Notre Dame game. JB: “It didn’t last long. You could tell from the first drive it wasn’t going to go well for Notre Dame.” Gomez suggested that it was as if an NFL team were playing a college team. JB: “Yup.”
Gomez asked for a final comment on the Villanova game. “They got solidified in who they were playing and their young players started playing well. That happens with a young team.”
I hope it happens to us.
