The Coach's Show

[SWC75]

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 Big East season, is hosted by Gomez, a local radio personality.
The first hour is eventually, (it can take weeks) podcasted on the SU Athletics website on this page:
http://suathletics.com/podcasts.aspx

You can call into the show locally at 315-424-8599 or nationally at 1-888-746-2873. For Gomez’s portion, use 315-437-7644. Or you can submit questions from this page:
http://www.suathletics.com/sb_output.aspx?form=4

I will be posting my rough transcript of the first hour the night of the broadcast and will do the second hour the following day.

MY QUESTIONS/COMMENTS

First hour:

Coach, as the season began I heard a local radio commentator say “After what’s happened the last few years, anything less than the Final Four is unacceptable for this team.” Then I heard you say that this is not last year’s team, that this team has to get better and last year’s team didn’t. My own feeling is that what happened in other years has nothing to do with this team and I was actually impressed that they were able to win 22 of their first 26 games and be ranked in the top ten with the obvious flaws this team has. How good do you think this team is and how good do you think they can be?

Second hour:

Coach, coming into this season I felt that Brandon Triche and CJ Fair would be the rocks upon which the steam was built. They would be the experienced, consistent players the rest of the team could reply on and provide leadership for their younger teammates. CJ has been all of that but Brandon has had a very up and down season. Is that because it’s just more difficult to be consistently productive when you are a guard and play father from the basket?


COACH BOEHEIM
(I have, in some instances, put together statements from different parts of the broadcast on the same subject)

With Matt Park:
Matt opened by noting that this was their second to the last show of the season: there will be one more next Thursday.

Jim Boeheim was there with his two sons. Matt noted it was a “Guys night out”. Jim said : “Nobody wants us home.”

Matt said that we’d lost “two tough games against ranked teams”. Jim said the Georgetown game was “our worst offensive game of the year. We were fortunate that we played good defense in the first half. In the second half, the more we tried to cover Porter the farther away we were. It was an overwhelmingly disappointing offensive game. Marquette shot poorly. We did commit some fouls but a couple were questionable. That’s basketball. When we lost to them we were down 15-16 free throws. When we beat them it was 23-23. Minus 28 is a lot, especially 2-28 in the second half. …Marquette was up 12 rebounds at one point in the second half. We got four on one late possession. “

John in Syracuse asked why we never hear from Bob Snyder, the former Post Standard columnist, anymore. It’s because he’s a former Post Standard columnist. He’s still around. JB: He knows our program very well.” John also wanted to know why CJ Fair didn’t shoot the ball down the stretch vs. Marquette. JB: zone defenses can do that to you. They did a pretty good job of keeping CJ from getting the ball. We had a couple of costly turnovers. We played well on offense for 33-34 minutes. Then we had 5-6 very bad minutes and part of that was not getting him the ball.

Ed in Camillus noted that Carmelo Anthony had been on the Charley Rose show and was “very impressive”. They even showed clips of the ceremony where his jersey was retired. Jim had heard he was on the show and was excellent but had not yet seen it. He also said that he had encountered James Southerland at a McDonald’s in Fairmount and that James had been very gracious in talking to the fans and posing for pictures. This was the second time Matt had heard about James at the McDonald’s. JB: “He’s a good kid”. The Charley Rose appearance can be found here:
http://www.charlierose.com/

Ed went on to ask about the parity in college basketball this year. He pointed out that Gonzaga was about to be ranked #1, that North Carolina and Kentucky were unranked and that last year’s #1 recruit, Shabazz Muhanmmed, was also on an unranked team. JB: “It’s the most parity we’ve ever seen. When Penn State, (who had been 0-14 in the Big Ten) beat #4 ranked Michigan, it was the fourth time this year that a last place team had beaten a first place team in a conference. TCU beat Kansas. Duquesne beat Temple, (he couldn’t remember the fourth). It’s crazy.”

They talked about Penn State, who almost had beaten Michigan at Michigan and will soon be getting back a key player who was injured early. It’s an example of how there are no really bad teams any more. Grambling is the only major college team without a conference win.

Matt in Syracuse wanted to know why Michael Carter-Williams isn’t putting up the numbers he was earlier in the year. He observed that Michael seems to be dribbling the ball more. “In the games we’ve won, he’s distributed the ball like a point guard whereas in the losses he seems to try to take over the game himself at the end. The teams that beat us were passing the ball 6-7-8 times before they shot and running all over the court” JB: “Early on, teams didn’t know who Michael Carter-Williams was. Then they started playing off him to help on other players. They stopped playing him to shoot. You have to pass 6-7-8 times to get a good shot vs. a zone. You can get a good shot more quickly vs. a man-to-man. We have to pass more now that we are playing zones. Brandon has to have a good game for Michael to get assists. When we struggle with shooting he doesn’t get assists. Michael is having an unbelievable year- better than anyone could have hoped for. One area for improvement is shooting.”

I called in my first question. JB, predictably, reacted strongly to what the radio host, (AP), had said. “That’s crazy. If we had last year’s team we would definitely go to the Final Four. We lost 60% of our scoring. That’s a lot to lose. If somebody at the beginning of the year said we would be where we are now I’d have taken it without hesitation. We’ve had the toughest schedule in the league. We play the top two teams twice. We are the only team in the league to do that. We play the #3 and #4 teams on the road. We are the only team in the league to do that. We don’t play any of the bottom five teams twice. We are the only team in the league to do that. We knew the end of the schedule would be the toughest part. We’ve got to get through the tough part of the schedule and finish as well as we can, then play as well as we can in New York. Then we will have played a lot of tough games. Temple is #52 in RPI. Everyone else we’ve lost to is in the top 50. We are the only team not have lost to anyone below the top 60. We have a lot of good wins and quality loses. How good we can we be? We’ve been tested. Last year’s team wasn’t tested. They were too good.”

“Games we’ve lost this year have been games where we’ve shot poorly. We haven’t had too many turnovers or bad rebounding. It’s been a good season to date. We have a chance to beat anybody or lose to anybody. The 1st and 2nd round games will be really tough. Pittsburgh has somewhat underperformed. Georgetown has exceeded what I thought they’d do. Otto Porter will be the national player of the year. I got a note asking ‘Why didn’t you stop Porter?’”

Jim in Central Square declared that the best part of any SU game is the post-game press conference. JB: “A lot of people didn’t like it. Some of it I’m serious. I joke around a bit. But the press has no sense of humor.” The caller made some reference to Billy Donovan, who apparently had a bad press conference after the recent loss to Tennessee. JB: “Players do crazy things sometimes. Jay Wright is a tremendous coach but Villanova lost a 5-6 point lead in the last 13 seconds.” Matt Park had received an E-mail that was “a manifesto”. It advised “brace yourself and expect stupid questions. If you get one, hold up a piece of paper with an “X” on it. Quit after three X’s, like on Family Feud.” JB: “I can’t do that. I answer every question. (Unless it’s asked by Andy Katz.) In my first 8-10 years of coaching I was much tougher on the press but it never surfaced. I don’t take well to questions about why I didn’t play someone. The centers didn’t give up the points- the forwards did. We had pretty good leadership when we were 22-4. I wasn’t really that upset with that question. I talked to him afterwards and he admitted it was a tough question. A very good friend E-mailed me and said that Brandon Triche shouldn’t be playing! He’s had bad games but has been pretty consistent for four years. When you win people don’t want any changes. When you lose they want you to make changes but that’s exactly when you shouldn’t make changes: you have to stay the course.”

(When I later called in my second hour question, I told Coach the Red Grange story: how Michigan Coach Fielding Yost came back home after Grange had scored 6 touchdowns against his team and his wife had asked him “Why didn’t you send in someone to tackle that red-haired boy?” I suggested he gets a lot of Mrs. Yost questions at the news conferences. He got a chuckle out of that.)

A caller asked Jim is he was going to stay up to 1AM to see the Gonzaga-BYU game. He said he probably will. He’d attempted to stay up last night to see the Arizona-UCLA game but fell asleep. The caller suggested that “Everybody was trying to grab the brass ring” in the Big East this year. JB agreed, saying “Georgetown could have lost last night and if they did, 5-6 teams would be in it.” Even the bottom teams, like Providence and St. John’s are good.”

The “Catholic Seven” will now be breaking off from the Big East next year. JB almost chortled at that. “They criticized us for leaving and they bolted as soon as they had the chance. Expediency rules! “ Apparently Louisville and Notre Dame will still be in the big east next year- they will join the ACC the following year. (I still think that since Notre Dame won’t be in the ACC for football, they should join the Catholic 7 and Connecticut should be brought into the ACC.) There’s talk that Creighton, Butler and Xavier will be joining the Catholic 7 to bring it to 10 and Richmond or VCU will be asked to bring it to 12. Apparently Dayton, (a Catholic school) will be left out.

Pat in Syracuse said that we are “three plays away from a one seed or from 2 more losses.” JB immediately knew what games he was talking about: Temple, Villanova, Louisville and Cincinnati. Pat said that Jim had once been quoted as saying “It’s easier to coach when things aren’t going well than when they are.” What did he mean by that? He said it was in a game, not in a season. “You can make adjustments. It’s easier to make them against Man for man. You can call different plays. Against a zone you have to get a shot that’s there. You see some things that will work for you. You can tighten up the defense. You can make subtle changes. Hubie Brown said that they paramount thing is the execution of the players. If the players don’t execute, the coach doesn’t look good.”

Joe in Syracuse asked how early the coach finds out who is going to referee the games. JB: “I try not to find out ahead of time. It doesn’t do you any good. You can’t change them.”

 

[SWC75]

With Gomez:

Gomez was amazed that there was only one more show left. Jim said “Sometimes the season seems short and sometimes it seems long. You start on October 15th. Four months is a lot of playing.” (Actually 5+ with November, December, January, February March and , you hope, April).

They again discussed all the upsets- TCU- Kansas, Penn State-Michigan, etc. “Did Penn State play out of their minds or did Michigan lose the game? JB: “A little of both. It’s a crazy game. Villanova beats Louisville and us and loses at home to providence and then to Seton Hall.” Gomez asked if the focus is on the post season at this point or the regular season. JB: “You focus on the regular season and if you lose you still have the NCAA tournament.”

Joe called in and wanted to know Gerry McNamara can “give his cape” to CJ Fair or somebody for a magical run in New York. “We’re going to try to put it on a couple of people.” They could hear a baby cry in the background. Jim asked if Joe was baby sitting. “A 5 year old and a 2 year old.” JB: “You’ve got your hands full.”

They got back into a review of the last two games. “We had a bad half vs. Georgetown. We played pretty well vs. Marquette. We didn’t get some key rebounds and fouled them too much.” Gomez suggested Coach was “being diplomatic”. JB: “There weren’t many fouls called on them. It’s difficult to overcome 2-28, (free throws attempted in the second half). They could have called a couple for us.”

John in Liverpool suggested that this team could be like the ’95(-96) team that went to the title game. “How do you get on that hot streak? Can you anticipate that?” Jims aid no. “Tom Izzo is a great coach who has gotten there several times but he’s gone out, I believe, in the first round the last couple of years.” (Actually, he went to the Sweet 16 last year and lost in the first round as a 10 seed- not an upset- the year before). “Coach K lost to Lehigh last year. Teams come in winning 8 in a row and get beat. Teams come in having lost 2-3 in a row and go to the Final Four. Louisville was 10-8 in the conference last year and went to the Final Four. The ’96 team struggled in the first round to beat Montana and then to beat Drexel .” (Actually we beat Montana State by 33 and Drexel by 11 but we were up by 4 at the half vs. MSU and tied with Drexel.) “It took a miracle to beat Georgia. Last year Ashville should have been a 15 or 14 seed. We were the only team to shoot 50% vs. Wisconsin last year and we shot 55%. The match-ups even out over time. The year we won it Oklahoma was a #1 seed but they weren’t a good shooting team. “

Rob in Liverpool asked what the coach told the players after a tough game in which they lost to someone they were supposed to beat. JB: “You can’t tell them they stink after a loss to Marquette. The team knows you’re upset. Losing to a team you were supposed to beat is something you always fear as a coach. We might have lost to Detroit without Michael Carter-Williams’ free throws. One year we lost to Drexel and Tulsa, (actually Wichita State), and didn’t make the tournament….We’ve never been an underdog. We’ve always been the team people want to beat. Other coaches say ours is the team they get up for. It’s the same with Duke in the ACC. It’s a good thing, a lot better than when people don’t care about you. We are #1 in Big East wins, in regular season titles and have been to the Big East Tournament Finals 14 times, more than anyone else.“

Vito in Liverpool wanted to know if Carmelo had met with the team when he was here. JB: “He was in the locker room after the game and at a reception. The players like him. He was thrilled with the respect he got. He’s a loyal Syracuse guy.” Vito asked how long Coach was sitting on Carmelo’s front step. “Not long. Maybe 5 minutes. It was well worth it. He was off the radar until after he committed and he never waivered.”

Gomez commented on Melo:” “He’s quite shy but poised.” JB: “He’s really matured. He’s come a long way from a tough section of Baltimore.”

Vito also asked about plays where James Southerland was caught up in the paint and the other team got an open shot from the corner. “He was right. The guard is supposed to rotate over. The forward has to help to prevent the lay-up. Porter made us pay. And we had a very bad offensive game against Georgetown.”

Pete wanted to know if this year’s team would beat last year’s team without Melo. JB: “Two veteran guys and Dion give last year’s team a little edge. If Fab were in against Marquette there would have been no fouls. He would have blocked all those shots. “
I called in my question along with the Mrs. Yost anecdote. JB: “I was just not in a good mood. Somebody sent a message that I should have just explained why Coleman didn’t play. It’s not human to always be under control after a crushing game. It’s hard to laugh it off. I actually got worse questions early in my career. They need to learn that it’s business. Nobody ever said the job was easy.”

My possible explanation that a guard has a harder time being consistent than a forward because he’s farther from the basket was “a good thought. I’m not sure if I have an exact answer. It is a higher percentage around the basket. Trey Burke has had a couple of awful games. Connecticut has good guards but they score 8 points vs. Villanova, none in the first half. Brandon has had great games, pretty good games and a few clunkers. He’s had good numbers and has been consistent throughout his career. He’ll have a great tournament and that’s when we will need him.”

They talked about NCAA seeds. “One loss in our league and you can fall from 1st or 2nd to 7th, (?) Michigan went down to a 2 or 3 seed in one game. UNC did not have a good middle of the year but they are coming on. Kentucky had a big win over Missouri. They’ll get in. They still aren’t a bad team.”

Gomez noted that Ryan Evans of Wisconsin has taken to shooting jumps shots for foul shots. “It’s a mental thing. It’s not a bad move. Hal Greer used to do that and he shot 80%. “ (Wilt Chamberlain once took a running start and dunked his free throws until some stuffed shirt decided it should be illegal).

Dan in Phoenix asked about coaches being on the court while the game is in play. JB: “They are supposed to be in the box and not have both feet on the court. Buzz Williams was out there for about 38 minutes. A bigger thing is that they don’t call 3 seconds.” Gomez pointed out that Bobby Knight says they don’t’ call traveling enough. JB: “They are getting better than that. But the big thing is three seconds. And they better call more fouls or the game will get too physical.”

Jerry Colangelo isn’t having much luck talking Coach K out of retirement to coach USA Basketball again. JB: “I don’t think he will.” Gomez?: “If his mind could be changed could your mind be changed?” JB: “I’m not sure.” (I wonder if JB would be a candidate for head coach?)

Someone had heard that Jim had had dinner with Rick Pitino before the first Louisville game. “Who paid?” Jim didn’t have dinner with Rick before the Louisville game. “I did eat with PJ Carlesimo but I virtually never have dinner before a game with opposing coaches. Rick’s son was at the restaurant with Fred McGriff, who was a great baseball player. That’s where it started, probably.”
They got into discussing the Baseball Hall of Fame and whether DHs should get in. “If they have someone in that category they have to respect it. Who are you going to put in? Virtually everybody used performance enhancing drugs. It’s an awful crisis. The game needs leadership. Somebody needs to come up with a plan.” Then he went off on Pete Rose. “He should be in the Hall of Fame as a player for what he did in baseball. He can be suspended from having a job now and still be in the Hall. Pete played the game hard and the right way and he was a winner. He has issues but a lot of guys in the Hall of Fame have issues.”

John in Liverpool said that his rec league team is 2-0 when Gene Waldron officiates. He noted that Wisconsin had not gotten to the line in their entire game vs. Michigan, “to the purist, a travesty of the game. How much does that sort of thing weigh on you going into the post season?” JB: “You don’t think about it. You just try and get ready for the game and hope it’s a balanced game. We’ve had some really well officiated games in the tournament and some that weren’t. “

Gomez noted that Dion Waiters had had a great game against the Bulls. “Dion is having a really good year. He’s been consistent all year. He’s got a chance to be a really good NBA player for a long run.” Gomez noted rumors that LeBron might be headed back to the Cavs where he could play with Dion and Kyrie Irving. JB didn’t think so. “Miami needs a good big guys. If they get gone, they will have a chance at titles for 4-5 years. I just don’t see anybody beating them this year.”

 

[AirForceOrange]

As always...great job SWC...thank you!!

 

[JrodCuse]

Wilt used to dunk from the free throw line for free throw shots?! I googled it and came up with a bunch of "yes he did" and a bunch of "no he didn't".

 

[OrangeTown]

Your dedication and accuracy are always a joy to behold, Steve. And no, I'm not going to stop complimenting you or thanking you anytime soon.

 

[UnderHisOwnPower]

Give the title to Miami right now! It is amazing to see that 2 vs 28 FTs stat again. That is preposterous.

 

[OttoMets]

So zone defenses are good at preventing C.J. Fair from getting the ball, but not at preventing Otto Porter from getting the ball.

Wacky.

 

[kuethstheman]

Wilt used to dunk from the free throw line for free throw shots?! I googled it and came up with a bunch of "yes he did" and a bunch of "no he didn't".

A friend's dad who said he saw it told me he dunked once, it was waved off by the refs even though there wasn't a rule against it, and never did it again.

 

[stuckinbig11]

Thanks once again. Regarding the press conference, I would never want a coach that was in a good mood after a loss. If it ever happens with JB, that will be the signal that he is retiring (and I am not expecting it to happen).