SWC75
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Jim Boeheim’s radio show is on Thursdays from 7-8 or 9PM on ESPN Radio in Syracuse, which is AM1200 or FM 97.7 on the dial. The show originates from Carrabba's Italian Grill in Fayetteville. 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:
Submit a Question! - Syracuse University Athletics
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: TuneIn | Free Internet Radio | NFL, Sports, Podcasts, Music & News
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, Dino Babers says he wants his team to be “consistently good rather than occasionally great”. (Actually, I’ll take both.) Is it possible to be consistently good in a sport where 80 foot shots go in and lay-ups don’t? Can your team achieve consistent goodness?
Second Hour:
Coach, we shot the ball well against Duke and won. We shot the ball poorly against Georgia Tech and lost. But we did do one thing well against Tech: we caused 22 turnovers and scored 28 points off of them. Will we be using defensive pressure more often now to give us an additional way to score when the shots aren’t falling?
COACH BOEHEIM
(I have, in some instances, put together statements from different parts of the broadcast on the same subject. The quotes may not be verbatim –they are from my scribbled notes. I have not knowingly changed the meaning. In recent years they have started out doing one hour shows and then shifted to two hour shows in January. When they do 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.)
On the Duke game: “People notice games like that. Duke is one of the few teams that plays us fast, which helps us. Paschal and Frank played like they did last year….Zion Williamson is the best player in college basketball in quite a while. RJ Barrett is really good, too. It hurt them to lose Jones but his replacement was a better outside shooter and they still had the #1-2 players in next year’s draft.”
Matt said that Tyus Battle “is our most impressive player going downhill” (towards the basket) and “Elijah Hughes had a great run.” JB: “You don’t want to be down 0-12. Tyus got us back in it”. Well his is named “Tie-us”. “We missed lay-ups in the second half and some really bad plays on the fast break but played really well in overtime.” Frank had 16 points, all in the second half. Paschal had those put-backs and made two free throws just before Barrett hit a three pointer…..There’s still improvement to be done.”
Josh in Colorado praised the Duke game as “One our best wins ever.“ He wanted to know what Jim thought about a statement made by Scottie Pippin that Zion Williamson should drop out of school to avoid injury and prepare for the draft. JB: “You can get hurt working out. You will learn more basketball facing adversity, having to come from behind and make big plays than in work outs. Duke works out every day anyway. They will help him get better than he would be just working out. …I don’t like skipping bowl games to work out. There’s plenty of time to do that after the bowl games. On year of college is better than none. Besides this isn’t a bowl game. Duke could win the national championship.”
I called in my question about whether a team can play basketball “consistently”. JB: “These are college kids. We’ve played pretty consistently over the years. You try to be consistent where you can. Don’t turn the ball over, play good defense. People don’t look at the statistics. If you shoot 30% form three, they say that’s bad. But it’s the equivalent on shooting 45% from two and we’re only shooting 42% from two.” Actually coach, we are shooting 42% overall. We are shooting 51% from two point range. That’s the equivalent of shooting 34% from three point range. “People sometimes don’t see statistics. Also, if teams respect the outside shot, it opens things up. Georgia Tech has a good zone. They had to go to man-to-man against Clemson because Reed scored 30 and they lost by 12….we are very capable of making three points shots. We haven’t been great but we are improving.”
Later a caller named Matt asked about our shooting consistency at home and away. JB: “We have shot and played better on the road, although we shot well at home vs. St. Bonaventure. We spend a lot of time together at home, not just on the road. We have veteran guys who have played on the road and at Duke. There’s no real reason why we’d play better on the road. We beat Ohio State and Notre Dame by 10 and could have pulled away from Duke if we’d made our lay-ups.
Stefan in Utica asked if Jim had reminded his team during the first time out that they were not out of it and could come back. JB: “I said that it can’t get worse so let’s see what happens.” (Very inspirational.) “Tyus got us back in it and Elijah really got going.”
Matt asked Jim to describe what he saw on Elijah’s shot. “I was barely looking at it and looked up just as it went in. There’s long shots and then there’s long shots. Usually those are straight on. We try one each practice from that length. We make 1-2 a year. But that was going the other way, dribbling with people around you. It’s almost impossible- but not quite….I started to walk down, (toward the locker room), and the ball went by me. I turned and saw it go in. he fumbled the ball – it could have bene a 4 point or even a 6 point deficit at halftime. He’s a very strong kid. I’ve seen one of those in 50 yards and it might take another 50 years to see another one.” I guess Jim’s not planning to retire yet. “You could take a 100 of those - and miss 100.”
Liam in Pompey congratulated Jim on “an awesome team win.” He noted Pitt beat Florida State. JB: “Pitt is the surprise team in the league. Louisville struggled last year and now they are in the Top 25. Pitt’s freshmen guards have played extremely well. They are an attacking team- very aggressive. They are a very good team of drivers. They go to the basket really hard. They beat Florida State and State had Duke beaten until the last play….Pitt has two freshmen who could play right away and some good hold-overs so they are not a surprise any longer. Now people can see they are a really good team….Miami is very solid although since guys left early.“ They discussed the remarkable Chris Lykes, a 5-7 161 guard who is averaging 18 points a game- the same as Battle. “He’s a very good player.”
About the coming snow storm threatening the Pitt game: “Like it doesn’t snow here. We used to get a foot and not even think about it. 6-12 inches is nothing here.”
Dave in Boston thanked the coach for all the things he does in the community. He asked what it was like to have to face the media room “debates” after the game. JB: “You don’t want to debate the unarmored…I mean the unarmed….I don’t think anybody likes it but 8it’s part of what we do. 95% of the questions are fine. I stopped getting agitated a long time ago. I don’t mind that much anymore.” Hmmm… “I worry about the players after a tough loss.” Matt said that Jim’s players have an excellent record over the years of maintaining their poise and saying what they were supposed to say after a loss. He also praised Jim for the 30 second recaps he gives at the end of the games, which cover everything that was important. Jim: “I don’t criticize individual players. Each game is a whole collection of plays and the result is on everybody. When we win everybody pitches in like at Duke.” I will say that Jim doesn’t tend to criticize individual player in his 30 second summaries on the radio but he certainly does in the press conferences. Matt noted that Jim has defeated #1 teams on the road three times and is 5-6 all-time against them, which is quite a record.
They looked at questions submitted by the restaurant patrons. One asked about the use of time outs in the Duke game. JB: “It was a fast-paced game. Duke moves quickly against a zone and their pressure creates opportunities. You can’t just decide to play fast – it takes two teams. It takes two to tango.” That’s the problem – too many tangos and not enough jitterbug.
Another question asked which of Jim’s kids was the best three point shooter. “Jimmy thinks he is. But Buddy would win a game of horse. Jamie is more of an inside player but he can shoot.” Matt said that Buddy never misses a shot in practice.
They went over the ACC results: Clemson over Georgia Tech , Louisville beat Boston College. Wake upset NC State, who “didn’t have their point guard. UNC is not playing at the level they can play at. Notre dame was down to 5 guys and got a bad call at the end. Virginia hit 9 of 12 three pointers. They could have made 2 of 12 and still have been ahead. They have veteran guys: 3-4-5 year guys. I’ve had them at #1 for a few weeks. The coaches have them #1 but the media has them #4…Clemson opened at Duke, then us then hosted Virginia, an impossible stretch. They had to beat Georgia tech to have a chance. Virginia didn’t need to make a three to win but they made all of them. They have 3 NBA guys. They’ve got veteran players and some really big guys. They will be tough to beat in our league and make it to the Final Four this year.“
They talked about Marek’s charge. Gomez said that someone had done the math and Zion Williamson’s 285 pound body hitting Dolezaj was like being hit by a jeep at 10 miles an hour. JB: “It wasn’t the hit. It was the landing. He has no padding back there. He’ll be OK for Saturday. “ I called in for my second question and told Jim the anecdote about Mike Scioscia I used in my Upside: “it brings to mind the story of when Mike Scioscia met Bo Jackson. Mike was known as baseball’s “brick wall” catcher against whom no one could score when he blocked the plate. Bo Jackson was, well, Bo Jackson. Late in mike’s career he was with the Angels and blocked the plate when Bo was steaming in from third. They collided but Mike had the ball in his hand rather than his glove. Gary Carter used to say that the ball can be knocked out of your glove but if it’s in your hand, you might die in the collision but they will bury you with a baseball in your hand. It worked for Mike, who was flattened but Bo was out. They helped mike up and as he walked off the field, receiving congratulations, he told his teammates “I won’t want to EVER do that again.” Jim responded that Marek said he wished he could have done it five times to foul him out. But the Coach was dubious he could have survived that.
Coach held the line on using defensive pressure. “We started pressing when we were 11 downs and the deficit increased to 18. We got it back down to 11 so the net effect was zero. They got open threes and lay-ups. We practice the press every day. We used it 3-4 times against Clemson and got 2 steals and 6 points. It’s not going to work for a long period against a good team. Very few teams press any more. You don’t get enough steals. You do it when you have no choice. If you’re going to lose anyway by not pressing you might as well try it but if it doesn’t work….”. I quoted Coach Mac: “If you blitz, somebody’s band is going to be playing.” That got a laugh. Jim said that Georgia tech “is one of the top ten defensive teams in the country. You’ve got to make shots.”
Vito called in to say “We’ve got too much talent to lose to an ODU . Some of it is shooting. I just hope you get into the tournament.” Then he said that the Duke game was one of our all-time Top Ten games but he would rank the 1996 NCAA game against Georgia as our all-time best game. JB: “That was a great game. John’s pass to Jason Cupola just missed a Georgia defender and then he dribbled the length of the court to make that three. That’s hard to do. Tournament games are in a special category. We’ve never had a better win than duke after a bad game.”
“We all thought we’d be better but frank got hurt and Paschal struggled. The freshmen can help us a little. Buddy can help us in tight situations. Bourama can help us. I thought it would take 4-5 weeks after frank got back but it’s taken a bit longer.” Vito asked about our use of the “spread” offense. JB said that “We can do that because they played pressure man-to-man. Georgia Tech ran a tight compact zone. Or problem is that we can’t throw the ball inside and score against a compacted defense. It depends on who you are playing. They were two different games with two different styles of play. Virginia is really tight. “ Vito suggested he “stick a guy in the paint”. JB: “Oshae’s good there.” (No he isn’t.) “ He’s just not finished. There’s the lobs to Paschal… A match-up zone is hard to penetrate but it’s also one of the harder defenses to play. “
Gomez asked about Oshae’s missed lay-ups. JB: “He missed them last year, too. He has to get stronger and better. You don’t get a lot of easy shots in college basketball. People try to stop you. It’s not about intensity. They tried to get out on our drivers and he got inside and scored. He did that last year.”
Pat called in and I could hear an audible sigh. “High Ppat.” Pat said “I have two questions you may not have the answer to. JB: “I always have an answer.” Question #1 was whether we should have our players use the glass more so they could finish better. Jim started to answer that but pat went on to his second question. He wanted to know why we’ve gotten off to bad starts in games so often in the last five year or so, “until you call a time out and adjust your zone”. JB: “Every game is different. We got ahead of Georgia Tech. The Notre Dame game was OK. We were up 17-2 on St. Bonaventure. I can recall a lot of games where we started well. We haven’t been as good as we’d like to be the last five years. We’ve bene through tough times in the last five years. We didn’t have scholarships for every guy we wanted. We’ve had bad stretches in every game since we were 25-0. Virginia, Duke and UNC have been dominate teams. We haven’t bene as good on offense as we wanted to be. The one year we had Andrew White and were good on offense we were bad on defense …. Oshae does use the glass. Duke had Bolden who is 6-10 260 and Williamson who is 6-7 or 6-8 and 285 and White is 6-9. Oshae tries to bank everything but he’s just 6-8 205.”
Pat suggested that I might be a source of information on how well the team has started over the last five years. What I have is quarterly breaks for the last three and half seasons, meaning the points scored in each ten minute segment of the game:
In 2015-16 the total points scored in the first 10 minutes of our games were 593-510. We won the quarter 22 times, lost it 12 times and were even 3 times. For the second quarter it was 576-578 (16-19-2), the third 661-618 (19-14-4) and the fourth 730-676 (20-17-0).
In 2016-17 the numbers were: 558-537 (18-18-1); 658-580 (20-17-1); 664-609 (19-15-0), 772-677 (16-16-2)
In 2017-18 the numbers were: 536-483 (22-13-2); 568-585 (19-17-1); 596-550 (20-13-4), 734-698 (20-16-1)
So far in 2018-19: 264-255 (6-10-1); 302-254 (12-5-0); 336-268 (12-5-0); 306-298 (8-9-0)
Totals: 1,951- 1,785 (65-53-7), 2,104-1,997 (67-54-4); 2,237-2,045 (70-47-8); 2,542-2,349 (64-58-3)
We are +166 points in the first 'period', +107 in the second, +192 in the third and +193 in the fourth. There's evidence of bad starts this year but not as a long-term trend. Of course, i'm measuring in 10 minute intervals. We could have a bad first five minutes and have a good first ten minutes.
Gomez said that games like the Duke game “were the reason Tyus came back this year.” Jim: “He made a three pointer for the lead, we lost it and he made a two to get it back. 28 shots is not a lot for him to take. He didn’t take a bad shot. “
Gomez asked how “winning in overtime on the road and silencing the crowd compares to winning in overtime at home and having the crowd go crazy.” Jim likes the “winning” part. “Both are good. We do like to send the crowds at the Dome home happy.”
Program Note: Next weeks’ show will be on Wednesday because the Miami game is on Thursday. (Hopefully I can remember that.)
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:
Submit a Question! - Syracuse University Athletics
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: TuneIn | Free Internet Radio | NFL, Sports, Podcasts, Music & News
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, Dino Babers says he wants his team to be “consistently good rather than occasionally great”. (Actually, I’ll take both.) Is it possible to be consistently good in a sport where 80 foot shots go in and lay-ups don’t? Can your team achieve consistent goodness?
Second Hour:
Coach, we shot the ball well against Duke and won. We shot the ball poorly against Georgia Tech and lost. But we did do one thing well against Tech: we caused 22 turnovers and scored 28 points off of them. Will we be using defensive pressure more often now to give us an additional way to score when the shots aren’t falling?
COACH BOEHEIM
(I have, in some instances, put together statements from different parts of the broadcast on the same subject. The quotes may not be verbatim –they are from my scribbled notes. I have not knowingly changed the meaning. In recent years they have started out doing one hour shows and then shifted to two hour shows in January. When they do 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.)
On the Duke game: “People notice games like that. Duke is one of the few teams that plays us fast, which helps us. Paschal and Frank played like they did last year….Zion Williamson is the best player in college basketball in quite a while. RJ Barrett is really good, too. It hurt them to lose Jones but his replacement was a better outside shooter and they still had the #1-2 players in next year’s draft.”
Matt said that Tyus Battle “is our most impressive player going downhill” (towards the basket) and “Elijah Hughes had a great run.” JB: “You don’t want to be down 0-12. Tyus got us back in it”. Well his is named “Tie-us”. “We missed lay-ups in the second half and some really bad plays on the fast break but played really well in overtime.” Frank had 16 points, all in the second half. Paschal had those put-backs and made two free throws just before Barrett hit a three pointer…..There’s still improvement to be done.”
Josh in Colorado praised the Duke game as “One our best wins ever.“ He wanted to know what Jim thought about a statement made by Scottie Pippin that Zion Williamson should drop out of school to avoid injury and prepare for the draft. JB: “You can get hurt working out. You will learn more basketball facing adversity, having to come from behind and make big plays than in work outs. Duke works out every day anyway. They will help him get better than he would be just working out. …I don’t like skipping bowl games to work out. There’s plenty of time to do that after the bowl games. On year of college is better than none. Besides this isn’t a bowl game. Duke could win the national championship.”
I called in my question about whether a team can play basketball “consistently”. JB: “These are college kids. We’ve played pretty consistently over the years. You try to be consistent where you can. Don’t turn the ball over, play good defense. People don’t look at the statistics. If you shoot 30% form three, they say that’s bad. But it’s the equivalent on shooting 45% from two and we’re only shooting 42% from two.” Actually coach, we are shooting 42% overall. We are shooting 51% from two point range. That’s the equivalent of shooting 34% from three point range. “People sometimes don’t see statistics. Also, if teams respect the outside shot, it opens things up. Georgia Tech has a good zone. They had to go to man-to-man against Clemson because Reed scored 30 and they lost by 12….we are very capable of making three points shots. We haven’t been great but we are improving.”
Later a caller named Matt asked about our shooting consistency at home and away. JB: “We have shot and played better on the road, although we shot well at home vs. St. Bonaventure. We spend a lot of time together at home, not just on the road. We have veteran guys who have played on the road and at Duke. There’s no real reason why we’d play better on the road. We beat Ohio State and Notre Dame by 10 and could have pulled away from Duke if we’d made our lay-ups.
Stefan in Utica asked if Jim had reminded his team during the first time out that they were not out of it and could come back. JB: “I said that it can’t get worse so let’s see what happens.” (Very inspirational.) “Tyus got us back in it and Elijah really got going.”
Matt asked Jim to describe what he saw on Elijah’s shot. “I was barely looking at it and looked up just as it went in. There’s long shots and then there’s long shots. Usually those are straight on. We try one each practice from that length. We make 1-2 a year. But that was going the other way, dribbling with people around you. It’s almost impossible- but not quite….I started to walk down, (toward the locker room), and the ball went by me. I turned and saw it go in. he fumbled the ball – it could have bene a 4 point or even a 6 point deficit at halftime. He’s a very strong kid. I’ve seen one of those in 50 yards and it might take another 50 years to see another one.” I guess Jim’s not planning to retire yet. “You could take a 100 of those - and miss 100.”
Liam in Pompey congratulated Jim on “an awesome team win.” He noted Pitt beat Florida State. JB: “Pitt is the surprise team in the league. Louisville struggled last year and now they are in the Top 25. Pitt’s freshmen guards have played extremely well. They are an attacking team- very aggressive. They are a very good team of drivers. They go to the basket really hard. They beat Florida State and State had Duke beaten until the last play….Pitt has two freshmen who could play right away and some good hold-overs so they are not a surprise any longer. Now people can see they are a really good team….Miami is very solid although since guys left early.“ They discussed the remarkable Chris Lykes, a 5-7 161 guard who is averaging 18 points a game- the same as Battle. “He’s a very good player.”
About the coming snow storm threatening the Pitt game: “Like it doesn’t snow here. We used to get a foot and not even think about it. 6-12 inches is nothing here.”
Dave in Boston thanked the coach for all the things he does in the community. He asked what it was like to have to face the media room “debates” after the game. JB: “You don’t want to debate the unarmored…I mean the unarmed….I don’t think anybody likes it but 8it’s part of what we do. 95% of the questions are fine. I stopped getting agitated a long time ago. I don’t mind that much anymore.” Hmmm… “I worry about the players after a tough loss.” Matt said that Jim’s players have an excellent record over the years of maintaining their poise and saying what they were supposed to say after a loss. He also praised Jim for the 30 second recaps he gives at the end of the games, which cover everything that was important. Jim: “I don’t criticize individual players. Each game is a whole collection of plays and the result is on everybody. When we win everybody pitches in like at Duke.” I will say that Jim doesn’t tend to criticize individual player in his 30 second summaries on the radio but he certainly does in the press conferences. Matt noted that Jim has defeated #1 teams on the road three times and is 5-6 all-time against them, which is quite a record.
They looked at questions submitted by the restaurant patrons. One asked about the use of time outs in the Duke game. JB: “It was a fast-paced game. Duke moves quickly against a zone and their pressure creates opportunities. You can’t just decide to play fast – it takes two teams. It takes two to tango.” That’s the problem – too many tangos and not enough jitterbug.
Another question asked which of Jim’s kids was the best three point shooter. “Jimmy thinks he is. But Buddy would win a game of horse. Jamie is more of an inside player but he can shoot.” Matt said that Buddy never misses a shot in practice.
They went over the ACC results: Clemson over Georgia Tech , Louisville beat Boston College. Wake upset NC State, who “didn’t have their point guard. UNC is not playing at the level they can play at. Notre dame was down to 5 guys and got a bad call at the end. Virginia hit 9 of 12 three pointers. They could have made 2 of 12 and still have been ahead. They have veteran guys: 3-4-5 year guys. I’ve had them at #1 for a few weeks. The coaches have them #1 but the media has them #4…Clemson opened at Duke, then us then hosted Virginia, an impossible stretch. They had to beat Georgia tech to have a chance. Virginia didn’t need to make a three to win but they made all of them. They have 3 NBA guys. They’ve got veteran players and some really big guys. They will be tough to beat in our league and make it to the Final Four this year.“
They talked about Marek’s charge. Gomez said that someone had done the math and Zion Williamson’s 285 pound body hitting Dolezaj was like being hit by a jeep at 10 miles an hour. JB: “It wasn’t the hit. It was the landing. He has no padding back there. He’ll be OK for Saturday. “ I called in for my second question and told Jim the anecdote about Mike Scioscia I used in my Upside: “it brings to mind the story of when Mike Scioscia met Bo Jackson. Mike was known as baseball’s “brick wall” catcher against whom no one could score when he blocked the plate. Bo Jackson was, well, Bo Jackson. Late in mike’s career he was with the Angels and blocked the plate when Bo was steaming in from third. They collided but Mike had the ball in his hand rather than his glove. Gary Carter used to say that the ball can be knocked out of your glove but if it’s in your hand, you might die in the collision but they will bury you with a baseball in your hand. It worked for Mike, who was flattened but Bo was out. They helped mike up and as he walked off the field, receiving congratulations, he told his teammates “I won’t want to EVER do that again.” Jim responded that Marek said he wished he could have done it five times to foul him out. But the Coach was dubious he could have survived that.
Coach held the line on using defensive pressure. “We started pressing when we were 11 downs and the deficit increased to 18. We got it back down to 11 so the net effect was zero. They got open threes and lay-ups. We practice the press every day. We used it 3-4 times against Clemson and got 2 steals and 6 points. It’s not going to work for a long period against a good team. Very few teams press any more. You don’t get enough steals. You do it when you have no choice. If you’re going to lose anyway by not pressing you might as well try it but if it doesn’t work….”. I quoted Coach Mac: “If you blitz, somebody’s band is going to be playing.” That got a laugh. Jim said that Georgia tech “is one of the top ten defensive teams in the country. You’ve got to make shots.”
Vito called in to say “We’ve got too much talent to lose to an ODU . Some of it is shooting. I just hope you get into the tournament.” Then he said that the Duke game was one of our all-time Top Ten games but he would rank the 1996 NCAA game against Georgia as our all-time best game. JB: “That was a great game. John’s pass to Jason Cupola just missed a Georgia defender and then he dribbled the length of the court to make that three. That’s hard to do. Tournament games are in a special category. We’ve never had a better win than duke after a bad game.”
“We all thought we’d be better but frank got hurt and Paschal struggled. The freshmen can help us a little. Buddy can help us in tight situations. Bourama can help us. I thought it would take 4-5 weeks after frank got back but it’s taken a bit longer.” Vito asked about our use of the “spread” offense. JB said that “We can do that because they played pressure man-to-man. Georgia Tech ran a tight compact zone. Or problem is that we can’t throw the ball inside and score against a compacted defense. It depends on who you are playing. They were two different games with two different styles of play. Virginia is really tight. “ Vito suggested he “stick a guy in the paint”. JB: “Oshae’s good there.” (No he isn’t.) “ He’s just not finished. There’s the lobs to Paschal… A match-up zone is hard to penetrate but it’s also one of the harder defenses to play. “
Gomez asked about Oshae’s missed lay-ups. JB: “He missed them last year, too. He has to get stronger and better. You don’t get a lot of easy shots in college basketball. People try to stop you. It’s not about intensity. They tried to get out on our drivers and he got inside and scored. He did that last year.”
Pat called in and I could hear an audible sigh. “High Ppat.” Pat said “I have two questions you may not have the answer to. JB: “I always have an answer.” Question #1 was whether we should have our players use the glass more so they could finish better. Jim started to answer that but pat went on to his second question. He wanted to know why we’ve gotten off to bad starts in games so often in the last five year or so, “until you call a time out and adjust your zone”. JB: “Every game is different. We got ahead of Georgia Tech. The Notre Dame game was OK. We were up 17-2 on St. Bonaventure. I can recall a lot of games where we started well. We haven’t been as good as we’d like to be the last five years. We’ve bene through tough times in the last five years. We didn’t have scholarships for every guy we wanted. We’ve had bad stretches in every game since we were 25-0. Virginia, Duke and UNC have been dominate teams. We haven’t bene as good on offense as we wanted to be. The one year we had Andrew White and were good on offense we were bad on defense …. Oshae does use the glass. Duke had Bolden who is 6-10 260 and Williamson who is 6-7 or 6-8 and 285 and White is 6-9. Oshae tries to bank everything but he’s just 6-8 205.”
Pat suggested that I might be a source of information on how well the team has started over the last five years. What I have is quarterly breaks for the last three and half seasons, meaning the points scored in each ten minute segment of the game:
In 2015-16 the total points scored in the first 10 minutes of our games were 593-510. We won the quarter 22 times, lost it 12 times and were even 3 times. For the second quarter it was 576-578 (16-19-2), the third 661-618 (19-14-4) and the fourth 730-676 (20-17-0).
In 2016-17 the numbers were: 558-537 (18-18-1); 658-580 (20-17-1); 664-609 (19-15-0), 772-677 (16-16-2)
In 2017-18 the numbers were: 536-483 (22-13-2); 568-585 (19-17-1); 596-550 (20-13-4), 734-698 (20-16-1)
So far in 2018-19: 264-255 (6-10-1); 302-254 (12-5-0); 336-268 (12-5-0); 306-298 (8-9-0)
Totals: 1,951- 1,785 (65-53-7), 2,104-1,997 (67-54-4); 2,237-2,045 (70-47-8); 2,542-2,349 (64-58-3)
We are +166 points in the first 'period', +107 in the second, +192 in the third and +193 in the fourth. There's evidence of bad starts this year but not as a long-term trend. Of course, i'm measuring in 10 minute intervals. We could have a bad first five minutes and have a good first ten minutes.
Gomez said that games like the Duke game “were the reason Tyus came back this year.” Jim: “He made a three pointer for the lead, we lost it and he made a two to get it back. 28 shots is not a lot for him to take. He didn’t take a bad shot. “
Gomez asked how “winning in overtime on the road and silencing the crowd compares to winning in overtime at home and having the crowd go crazy.” Jim likes the “winning” part. “Both are good. We do like to send the crowds at the Dome home happy.”
Program Note: Next weeks’ show will be on Wednesday because the Miami game is on Thursday. (Hopefully I can remember that.)
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