SWC75
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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 conference 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
(Update: the last podcast is a preview of the first Duke game from last year so maybe they have stopped podcasting the show. )
You can call into the show locally at 315-424-8599 or nationally at 1-888-746-2873. For Gomez’s portion, use 315-4424-8599. Or you can submit questions from this page:
http://cuse.com/sb_output.aspx?form=4
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: http://tunein.com/radio/WGVA-1240-s29191/
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, this year, you’ve reminded me of a guy trying to put up a tent in a windstorm. The idea is to get all the tent poles up at once so they can support each other. The team is starting to show signs of doing that. Does it help for them to see what can happen in a game like Saturday’s, when they almost knocked off a top ten team on the road? Do they start to visualize what they could be as a team?”
Second hour:
“Coach, Chinoso Obokoh has now played 38 minutes, the rough equivalent of a full game, although it’s been against lesser opposition. But he’s done well in the box score: 10 points, 10 rebounds. He’s made all his shots from the field and from the line. He’s got 3 steals, 2 blocks and 2 assists. He’s committed one turnover. The big problem is a common one for young centers: 8 fouls. But it sounds as if he could be the back-up center we need. What are you seeing that’s not in the box score that’s holding him back from fulfilling that role? “
COACH BOEHEIM
(I have, in some instances, put together statements from different parts of the broadcast on the same subject)
A caller named Bill got his call in first and wanted to complain about the officiating in the Villanova game. Cooney was pushed down. Gbinije gets called for warding off when Nova did it several times, the ridiculous play where McCullough fouled out. “There should be some accountability, maybe even some fines.” Bill thought it was ridiculous that JB got tossed form the Duke last year. “Bobby Knight got away with more than you did.” JB: “There were some calls…Villanova was holding in a couple of places and they didn’t call it….The fouls were 10-2, then they called 4-5 in a row on them to straighten it up. Trevor got knocked down and then Rakeem got held on the way up to get the ball. On McCullough- I don’t know how that’s a foul on him. On one travel it was almost a clip.” Matt Park suggested a 15 yard penalty and then apologized- wrong sport. JB: “The refs are independent contractors. There’s no recourse. I didn’t even bother to call it in. People just think you’re a complainer. You just have to overcome it.“ Matt noted that in football coaches letters of apology sometimes get sent to the coaches a week later. JB: “Don’t hold your breath.”
I called in my question. Jim didn’t like my tent pole comparison. (He didn’t like how my mind was working, I guess.) “I don’t know about a tent in a windstorm. A couple guys are firmly anchored. There’s still a lot of work to do. We’re not there yet. We’ve all been spoiled by what happened in recent year. Those teams were good immediately. This has not been close to that. It’s not a matter of playing together. We just haven’t played well. We’re getting better. Rak has bene consistent. Mike and Trevor are different players than they were a couple of weeks ago. Tyler is much better and much improved. Kaleb is up and down. Chris has slipped. You get that with freshmen.”
Matt suggested that McCullough was more of a perimeter player when he came here. JB agreed but “He doesn’t have a perimeter game at this level. 6-4 guys can take the ball away from him. In 2-3 years he’ll have a good perimeter game. He needs to get stronger, although he has the strength to finish better than he does. He needs to slow down and take his time. …He’s 210. NBA players at his positon are 250. He can get stronger without a lot of weight game. But he’s struggling with physical play.” Gomez brought up Jerami Grant, who has bulked up to around 225. “He’s still going up against 250 pounders. He’s in an ideal situation. If he was on a good team, he’d be in the D league like Tyler. But he’ll be able to play his way into a starting job. Philly will not be any better for at least 2 years.”
A caller said Jim was ”notorious for taking centers from nothing to everything”. Jim laughed at putting it that way. He acknowledged that he and his staff had had success with the likes of Rony Seikaly, Etan Thomas, Arinze Onuaku, Fab Melo and now Rakeem Christmas. ”Rakeem isn’t coming – he’s there. He could have gotten there last year but the focus was on the guards and forwards. We had more options then.” Regarding losing Rak to foul trouble: “Any normal team that loses their best player is not really going to have a replacement. We’ve got pretty good forwards. But we can’t play a long time without Rak. Even pro teams can’t play well without their best player- look at Oklahoma City and Durant….Big guys take longer. Rakeem has gotten better every year. He didn’t play too much before he came to the states. He was never asked to do a lot. His ‘fire’ has improved and he’d become a key guy for us.”
Regarding DaJuan Coleman: He’s working out. It’s getting late in the season. You don’t want to waste a year. He still has a redshirt year. You don’t want him for 12-14 games unless he’s really ready. I just don’t see it right now. He not only has to heal up but he has to get in game shape.” I would add that he has to learn how to play at this level, which can only come if he plays a lot. A season and a half with him not being really ready doesn’t seem wise.
This was my cue to ask my second question about Obokoh. JB: “he could be in that role. Rak and Chris might both get in foul trouble. Chino’s defense is OK. His offense is not ready. His footwork is not ready yet. He does rebound the ball in practice against Rak and Chris. He’s strong. It’s possible he’ll be in there in ACC game situations.
Gomez asked the question that so many SU fans seem to have become obsessed with: why don’t we go up and challenge the other team when they are rolling the ball-bounds so they have to take more time to get it in the front-court? “We did come up on them and they scored in 4 seconds. We did it a second time and they got a three pointer in 8 seconds. That’s 5 points we gave up in 12 seconds. When we stayed back they took up 10 seconds and traveled. If you contain them well you can challenge but if they go past you it’s not a good strategy.” So there.
Jim in Pennellville asked about charging fouls and if we should be pulling up for jump shots more. JB: “When we’re starting to drive, w e’ve got to recognize if the defense is there or not. Last eyar they were supposed to give a little benefit to the defensive player. It’s now back to normal. I don’t like it, (taking charges), I prefer to go for the block. But you can stop the drive and you get a foul on them.” I remember when Fab Melo was taking all those charges I questioned whether you want your center flopping like that- if you don’t get the call, who is guarding the basket? He loved charges then- when we were getting the calls.
The “players of the games” were Mike Gbinije at Villanova and Trevor Cooney and Rakeem Christmas against Colgate.
Louisiana Tech was looking good again North Carolina State on TV, leading by 15 at halftime, (they lost by 8). “We played an unbelievable game against them if you take away the 24 points we gave them on lay-ups after we turned the ball over. We beat NC State down there a couple of years ago in a truly explosive offensive game. Dion Waiters had a great game”.
Villanova was having trouble with New Jersey tech- the same outfit that embarrassed Michigan, (they were down 3 at halftime but came back to win big, 92-67). “Villanova is good but I’m not sure how good.”
Long Beach State has a UCLA transfer and a top 20 recruit. Another kid played with CJ Fair in high school. They have a record of 5-8 but they’ve played a killer schedule that has included BYU, Xavier twice, (they won the second), Kansas State, (whom they beat), Washington, Stephen . Austin, (who had the nation’s longest home court winning streak), San Diego State, (they were up by 4 with a minute to play), Texas St. John’s and now Syracuse and Louisville. JB: I don’t think anybody could possibly have a harder schedule.” Actually they are ranked #2 at the moment on KenPom . Texas Southern is #1. But that’s before the Syracuse and Louisville games. “If you play #1 and #2 and then #300 you wind up with an average of over 100. If you play two teams ranked in the 100’s and then #20 you get a higher ranking. But if you want guarantee games, you’re going to play teams ranked in the 300’s. (KenPom has LBS ranked #108: SU is #33) This led to a discussion of “guarantee games where a school will play such an impossible schedule, mostly on the road, to bring in money. “They make $80-100,000 per game. Eight of those and you get $800,000. You can run a program for that. “
A caller asked about the future schedule. JB: “It’s not that hard. The top 12-15 teams (in the country) are good but there’s not that much difference between #15 and #40. If we play as well as we’re capable of we could work our way back there. We’ve given away a couple of games- but we could have lost to Louisiana Tech, too.”
The team will get a couple of days off and practice Christmas night. No Jim hasn’t turned into Scrooge or the Grinch, (even though he looks it on the Media Guide cover). We can’t have just one day of practice before our next game and you run that risk if there’s bad weather. “ Gerry McNamara told Gomez he likes Christmas practices because the players are “peppier”. JB: “We’ll work hard for 2½ days and have a good game. We’ll get as good as we can be to play well in the ACC.”
The first hour is eventually, (it can take weeks) podcasted on the SU Athletics website on this page:
http://suathletics.com/podcasts.aspx
(Update: the last podcast is a preview of the first Duke game from last year so maybe they have stopped podcasting the show. )
You can call into the show locally at 315-424-8599 or nationally at 1-888-746-2873. For Gomez’s portion, use 315-4424-8599. Or you can submit questions from this page:
http://cuse.com/sb_output.aspx?form=4
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: http://tunein.com/radio/WGVA-1240-s29191/
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, this year, you’ve reminded me of a guy trying to put up a tent in a windstorm. The idea is to get all the tent poles up at once so they can support each other. The team is starting to show signs of doing that. Does it help for them to see what can happen in a game like Saturday’s, when they almost knocked off a top ten team on the road? Do they start to visualize what they could be as a team?”
Second hour:
“Coach, Chinoso Obokoh has now played 38 minutes, the rough equivalent of a full game, although it’s been against lesser opposition. But he’s done well in the box score: 10 points, 10 rebounds. He’s made all his shots from the field and from the line. He’s got 3 steals, 2 blocks and 2 assists. He’s committed one turnover. The big problem is a common one for young centers: 8 fouls. But it sounds as if he could be the back-up center we need. What are you seeing that’s not in the box score that’s holding him back from fulfilling that role? “
COACH BOEHEIM
(I have, in some instances, put together statements from different parts of the broadcast on the same subject)
A caller named Bill got his call in first and wanted to complain about the officiating in the Villanova game. Cooney was pushed down. Gbinije gets called for warding off when Nova did it several times, the ridiculous play where McCullough fouled out. “There should be some accountability, maybe even some fines.” Bill thought it was ridiculous that JB got tossed form the Duke last year. “Bobby Knight got away with more than you did.” JB: “There were some calls…Villanova was holding in a couple of places and they didn’t call it….The fouls were 10-2, then they called 4-5 in a row on them to straighten it up. Trevor got knocked down and then Rakeem got held on the way up to get the ball. On McCullough- I don’t know how that’s a foul on him. On one travel it was almost a clip.” Matt Park suggested a 15 yard penalty and then apologized- wrong sport. JB: “The refs are independent contractors. There’s no recourse. I didn’t even bother to call it in. People just think you’re a complainer. You just have to overcome it.“ Matt noted that in football coaches letters of apology sometimes get sent to the coaches a week later. JB: “Don’t hold your breath.”
I called in my question. Jim didn’t like my tent pole comparison. (He didn’t like how my mind was working, I guess.) “I don’t know about a tent in a windstorm. A couple guys are firmly anchored. There’s still a lot of work to do. We’re not there yet. We’ve all been spoiled by what happened in recent year. Those teams were good immediately. This has not been close to that. It’s not a matter of playing together. We just haven’t played well. We’re getting better. Rak has bene consistent. Mike and Trevor are different players than they were a couple of weeks ago. Tyler is much better and much improved. Kaleb is up and down. Chris has slipped. You get that with freshmen.”
Matt suggested that McCullough was more of a perimeter player when he came here. JB agreed but “He doesn’t have a perimeter game at this level. 6-4 guys can take the ball away from him. In 2-3 years he’ll have a good perimeter game. He needs to get stronger, although he has the strength to finish better than he does. He needs to slow down and take his time. …He’s 210. NBA players at his positon are 250. He can get stronger without a lot of weight game. But he’s struggling with physical play.” Gomez brought up Jerami Grant, who has bulked up to around 225. “He’s still going up against 250 pounders. He’s in an ideal situation. If he was on a good team, he’d be in the D league like Tyler. But he’ll be able to play his way into a starting job. Philly will not be any better for at least 2 years.”
A caller said Jim was ”notorious for taking centers from nothing to everything”. Jim laughed at putting it that way. He acknowledged that he and his staff had had success with the likes of Rony Seikaly, Etan Thomas, Arinze Onuaku, Fab Melo and now Rakeem Christmas. ”Rakeem isn’t coming – he’s there. He could have gotten there last year but the focus was on the guards and forwards. We had more options then.” Regarding losing Rak to foul trouble: “Any normal team that loses their best player is not really going to have a replacement. We’ve got pretty good forwards. But we can’t play a long time without Rak. Even pro teams can’t play well without their best player- look at Oklahoma City and Durant….Big guys take longer. Rakeem has gotten better every year. He didn’t play too much before he came to the states. He was never asked to do a lot. His ‘fire’ has improved and he’d become a key guy for us.”
Regarding DaJuan Coleman: He’s working out. It’s getting late in the season. You don’t want to waste a year. He still has a redshirt year. You don’t want him for 12-14 games unless he’s really ready. I just don’t see it right now. He not only has to heal up but he has to get in game shape.” I would add that he has to learn how to play at this level, which can only come if he plays a lot. A season and a half with him not being really ready doesn’t seem wise.
This was my cue to ask my second question about Obokoh. JB: “he could be in that role. Rak and Chris might both get in foul trouble. Chino’s defense is OK. His offense is not ready. His footwork is not ready yet. He does rebound the ball in practice against Rak and Chris. He’s strong. It’s possible he’ll be in there in ACC game situations.
Gomez asked the question that so many SU fans seem to have become obsessed with: why don’t we go up and challenge the other team when they are rolling the ball-bounds so they have to take more time to get it in the front-court? “We did come up on them and they scored in 4 seconds. We did it a second time and they got a three pointer in 8 seconds. That’s 5 points we gave up in 12 seconds. When we stayed back they took up 10 seconds and traveled. If you contain them well you can challenge but if they go past you it’s not a good strategy.” So there.
Jim in Pennellville asked about charging fouls and if we should be pulling up for jump shots more. JB: “When we’re starting to drive, w e’ve got to recognize if the defense is there or not. Last eyar they were supposed to give a little benefit to the defensive player. It’s now back to normal. I don’t like it, (taking charges), I prefer to go for the block. But you can stop the drive and you get a foul on them.” I remember when Fab Melo was taking all those charges I questioned whether you want your center flopping like that- if you don’t get the call, who is guarding the basket? He loved charges then- when we were getting the calls.
The “players of the games” were Mike Gbinije at Villanova and Trevor Cooney and Rakeem Christmas against Colgate.
Louisiana Tech was looking good again North Carolina State on TV, leading by 15 at halftime, (they lost by 8). “We played an unbelievable game against them if you take away the 24 points we gave them on lay-ups after we turned the ball over. We beat NC State down there a couple of years ago in a truly explosive offensive game. Dion Waiters had a great game”.
Villanova was having trouble with New Jersey tech- the same outfit that embarrassed Michigan, (they were down 3 at halftime but came back to win big, 92-67). “Villanova is good but I’m not sure how good.”
Long Beach State has a UCLA transfer and a top 20 recruit. Another kid played with CJ Fair in high school. They have a record of 5-8 but they’ve played a killer schedule that has included BYU, Xavier twice, (they won the second), Kansas State, (whom they beat), Washington, Stephen . Austin, (who had the nation’s longest home court winning streak), San Diego State, (they were up by 4 with a minute to play), Texas St. John’s and now Syracuse and Louisville. JB: I don’t think anybody could possibly have a harder schedule.” Actually they are ranked #2 at the moment on KenPom . Texas Southern is #1. But that’s before the Syracuse and Louisville games. “If you play #1 and #2 and then #300 you wind up with an average of over 100. If you play two teams ranked in the 100’s and then #20 you get a higher ranking. But if you want guarantee games, you’re going to play teams ranked in the 300’s. (KenPom has LBS ranked #108: SU is #33) This led to a discussion of “guarantee games where a school will play such an impossible schedule, mostly on the road, to bring in money. “They make $80-100,000 per game. Eight of those and you get $800,000. You can run a program for that. “
A caller asked about the future schedule. JB: “It’s not that hard. The top 12-15 teams (in the country) are good but there’s not that much difference between #15 and #40. If we play as well as we’re capable of we could work our way back there. We’ve given away a couple of games- but we could have lost to Louisiana Tech, too.”
The team will get a couple of days off and practice Christmas night. No Jim hasn’t turned into Scrooge or the Grinch, (even though he looks it on the Media Guide cover). We can’t have just one day of practice before our next game and you run that risk if there’s bad weather. “ Gerry McNamara told Gomez he likes Christmas practices because the players are “peppier”. JB: “We’ll work hard for 2½ days and have a good game. We’ll get as good as we can be to play well in the ACC.”
.
