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, people are comparing this Kentucky team to top teams of past years. You mentioned the 1996 Kentucky team and have praised the 1976 Indiana team that wouldn’t even let opponents get a shot off. I remember the 1968 UCLA team that beat a #1 ranked, 31-0 Houston team by 32 points in the national semi-finals. Considering all the changes in the game and the players, how far back can you reasonably go in searching for the best college basketball team ever?”
Second hour:
“Coach, people have wondered whether a player like Tyler Ennis, in terms of his development as a basketball player, is better off in the “D” League or in college. The arguments are about the amount of time they have to spend on basketball, the facilities available, the quality of coaching, the intensity of the completion, the atmosphere of the game, etc. Could you compare the two environments in terms of preparing a player for the NBA?”
COACH BOEHEIM
(I have, in some instances, put together statements from different parts of the broadcast on the same subject)
About the Long Beach State game: “We had a good offensive game in both halves, with good ball movement. We’ve struggled defensively all year- we’ve never really been good.” Matt pointed out we shot 71% in the second half. “It was good ball movement and execution. We got wide open shots- of course we’ve had them in other games, too. But we’ve definitely made a lot of progress in ball movement and shooting. We just need to keep working. We’ve bene playing well for a while now. We’re a hellava lot better team….we needed to get balance. When we didn’t have it early on, we lost. First Trevor and then Mike started producing for us. We got good play from more people. We can still get better, especially on defense. Rakeem could have done more on defense but committed no fouls. We need him in the game. ”Chris McCullough is very talented. He’s in a more physical game. He’ll get used to it and get better. Kaleb was much better in the second half and his defense is getting better. When guys come out of the game it’s more likely about defense than offense. Patterson came in because of a defensive lapse by Joseph but we also wanted to see what he could do for us. There’s no maybes in this business. You have to practice well and play well in games.”
Silent G was easly the “Player of the Game”, although Rakeem Christmas was excellent, too.
Matt asked about the use of the press in the game. JB: “We used the press to get back even. We could have used it again but the half-court defense got better in the second half and the offense got a lot better, too. “
Matt noted that LBS played Louisville even in the second half after being down by 15. They are now 5-10. Jim pointed out that playing so many strong teams doesn’t really hurt them. “They will get into the NCAAs- or not- through their conference tournament. The rest doesn’t matter. The games they are playing are harder than their conference games and prepare them for the conference games. It doesn’t matter whether they win these games. They get publicity and $80-90,000 per game to pay for their program. It’s how Coach Monson built up Gonzaga.
I called in my first question. “It’s all about the era. Players were not as athletic- there wasn’t the weight training they have now. It’s what they did in that era. That Indian team was definitely in the top 5 but the rest were all those UCLA teams with Alcindor and Walton. Players stayed for four years then. High school All-Americans became college All-Americans. Kentucky is the best of this era but it doesn’t compare to those teams. If they stayed tighter for another 3 years they could get to that level but they won’t. Louisville was their last hurdle in the regular season this year. The SEC is not that strong. Louisville is really good on offense but they couldn’t get anything. If Kentucky makes its shots, they’ll be hard to beat. “ I told the coach I hoped we could have a team like that someday. JB: “We’d all like to have a team like that.”
Matt asked about the platoon system. JB felt that the injury they had helped them as it was a good excuse to get away from the platoons and just play their best guys.
Andrew from Westvale was worried about playing zone vs. a team with a lot of good shooters and a good inside game. “A team with good shooters and a good inside game will be a problem for any offense. A good man to man offensive team will get good shots against a man to man or a zone. It might be easier against a man-to-man because they are used to it. There are very few guys who just can’t shoot. Long Beach left Gbinije open and he made 4 three pointers. Mike played well on both ends.”
They talked about Jim Harbaugh’s big contract. Matt suggested that Harbaugh had a hard time getting along with people. JB: “An owner will usually side with a GM but a good coach is harder to find than a good GM. Great coaches are tough. They get after you. In college players know they can’t get to the NBA or NFL unless they please the coach. It’s a good place for tough coaches. In the pros the players can leave. Media people are always looking for something.“ JB again expressed amazement that coaching salaries had gone from six figures to seven in just a few years. “Salaries used to be $400-500,0000Poeple blame the coaches when it’s the Presidents that are at fault. I would feel really strange making $5 million. I’d like to. Michigan football is generating $64,500,000 per year. Texas is making $200,000,000.”
This set up a fun item I told them about before my second question. Scott Pitoniak’s book, (he also wrote “Color Him Orange”) “100 Things Syracuse Fans Should Know and Do before they Die”. SU’s first basketball coach, Edmund Pollard, was paid $75.00 in 1911. That was his salary for the entire season. But he must have been a good agent because the next year he got what much have been sports first “insensitive” deal: he got $87.50 as his base salary and would be paid an extra $12.50 “provided that the seasons that followed was reasonably successful.” I jokingly noted that JB had had a few “reasonably successful” seasons and if he had Dollard’s agent, he could be living a life of luxury right now. Jim and Matt got a laugh out of that.
Regarding Question #2: “You could argue both sides. I don’t think you get that much better in the D leagues. It’s a hard way to go. The big thing is that college is a great opportunity to improve your draft status and make more money and also play more because you’ll be with a worse team, (like MCW and Jerami Grant). More and more first round draft picks don’t make it. Teams don’t want to sign guys and pay good money to them if they won’t make it. That’s why they draft foreign players and wait 2-3 years for them to show up. It used to be that you didn’t jump unless you were going to be one of the first 5-6 draft choices. Just getting drafted means nothing. They used to have 12 roster guys and if someone got hurt, they’d call someone up from the D leagues. But now they get to have 12 roster players and 3 non-roster players who sit there in suits and ties. They’re like Tyler. You’ve got to beat those guys out before you can even get a chance to play. Arizona obtained Isaiah Thomas after they drafted Tyler Ennis. There are plenty of point guards in the NBA. Every team carries three of them. Patty Mills and Corey Joseph of the Spurs had to work their way up from the D Leagues for several years to get where they are. There’s just a lot of players to go though. I’d tell any players- not just ours that if you go too early you’ll wind up in Europe or the D leagues and you may never get back.”
Matt noted that Tyler averaged 18 points and 5 assists in the D League but only 3.7/1.7 for the Suns. Meanwhile Arinze Onuaku is playing well in the D leagues, averaging 17 points and 12 rebounds. Matt felt perhaps he was too small for an NBA center but JB says there are so few true centers he should get a shot anyway and he’s surprised no one has called him up.
Cornell is “much improved- a completely different team- and we had a hard time with them last year, falling behind by 13 in the first half, (before winning by 22 with Jerami Grant no available: we’ve beaten them 34 times in a row”. They have two guys who weren’t available last year.” One of them is Sean Miller, a 6-7 forward who in his last three games has averaged 26 points and 11 rebounds….The Ivys are up their year with Harvard and Princeton. Yale beat Connecticut and Columbia led Kentucky at halftime in the Rupp.” The game is 6PM New Year’s Eve. “They’ll be time to see the game and get to the party.”
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, people are comparing this Kentucky team to top teams of past years. You mentioned the 1996 Kentucky team and have praised the 1976 Indiana team that wouldn’t even let opponents get a shot off. I remember the 1968 UCLA team that beat a #1 ranked, 31-0 Houston team by 32 points in the national semi-finals. Considering all the changes in the game and the players, how far back can you reasonably go in searching for the best college basketball team ever?”
Second hour:
“Coach, people have wondered whether a player like Tyler Ennis, in terms of his development as a basketball player, is better off in the “D” League or in college. The arguments are about the amount of time they have to spend on basketball, the facilities available, the quality of coaching, the intensity of the completion, the atmosphere of the game, etc. Could you compare the two environments in terms of preparing a player for the NBA?”
COACH BOEHEIM
(I have, in some instances, put together statements from different parts of the broadcast on the same subject)
About the Long Beach State game: “We had a good offensive game in both halves, with good ball movement. We’ve struggled defensively all year- we’ve never really been good.” Matt pointed out we shot 71% in the second half. “It was good ball movement and execution. We got wide open shots- of course we’ve had them in other games, too. But we’ve definitely made a lot of progress in ball movement and shooting. We just need to keep working. We’ve bene playing well for a while now. We’re a hellava lot better team….we needed to get balance. When we didn’t have it early on, we lost. First Trevor and then Mike started producing for us. We got good play from more people. We can still get better, especially on defense. Rakeem could have done more on defense but committed no fouls. We need him in the game. ”Chris McCullough is very talented. He’s in a more physical game. He’ll get used to it and get better. Kaleb was much better in the second half and his defense is getting better. When guys come out of the game it’s more likely about defense than offense. Patterson came in because of a defensive lapse by Joseph but we also wanted to see what he could do for us. There’s no maybes in this business. You have to practice well and play well in games.”
Silent G was easly the “Player of the Game”, although Rakeem Christmas was excellent, too.
Matt asked about the use of the press in the game. JB: “We used the press to get back even. We could have used it again but the half-court defense got better in the second half and the offense got a lot better, too. “
Matt noted that LBS played Louisville even in the second half after being down by 15. They are now 5-10. Jim pointed out that playing so many strong teams doesn’t really hurt them. “They will get into the NCAAs- or not- through their conference tournament. The rest doesn’t matter. The games they are playing are harder than their conference games and prepare them for the conference games. It doesn’t matter whether they win these games. They get publicity and $80-90,000 per game to pay for their program. It’s how Coach Monson built up Gonzaga.
I called in my first question. “It’s all about the era. Players were not as athletic- there wasn’t the weight training they have now. It’s what they did in that era. That Indian team was definitely in the top 5 but the rest were all those UCLA teams with Alcindor and Walton. Players stayed for four years then. High school All-Americans became college All-Americans. Kentucky is the best of this era but it doesn’t compare to those teams. If they stayed tighter for another 3 years they could get to that level but they won’t. Louisville was their last hurdle in the regular season this year. The SEC is not that strong. Louisville is really good on offense but they couldn’t get anything. If Kentucky makes its shots, they’ll be hard to beat. “ I told the coach I hoped we could have a team like that someday. JB: “We’d all like to have a team like that.”
Matt asked about the platoon system. JB felt that the injury they had helped them as it was a good excuse to get away from the platoons and just play their best guys.
Andrew from Westvale was worried about playing zone vs. a team with a lot of good shooters and a good inside game. “A team with good shooters and a good inside game will be a problem for any offense. A good man to man offensive team will get good shots against a man to man or a zone. It might be easier against a man-to-man because they are used to it. There are very few guys who just can’t shoot. Long Beach left Gbinije open and he made 4 three pointers. Mike played well on both ends.”
They talked about Jim Harbaugh’s big contract. Matt suggested that Harbaugh had a hard time getting along with people. JB: “An owner will usually side with a GM but a good coach is harder to find than a good GM. Great coaches are tough. They get after you. In college players know they can’t get to the NBA or NFL unless they please the coach. It’s a good place for tough coaches. In the pros the players can leave. Media people are always looking for something.“ JB again expressed amazement that coaching salaries had gone from six figures to seven in just a few years. “Salaries used to be $400-500,0000Poeple blame the coaches when it’s the Presidents that are at fault. I would feel really strange making $5 million. I’d like to. Michigan football is generating $64,500,000 per year. Texas is making $200,000,000.”
This set up a fun item I told them about before my second question. Scott Pitoniak’s book, (he also wrote “Color Him Orange”) “100 Things Syracuse Fans Should Know and Do before they Die”. SU’s first basketball coach, Edmund Pollard, was paid $75.00 in 1911. That was his salary for the entire season. But he must have been a good agent because the next year he got what much have been sports first “insensitive” deal: he got $87.50 as his base salary and would be paid an extra $12.50 “provided that the seasons that followed was reasonably successful.” I jokingly noted that JB had had a few “reasonably successful” seasons and if he had Dollard’s agent, he could be living a life of luxury right now. Jim and Matt got a laugh out of that.
Regarding Question #2: “You could argue both sides. I don’t think you get that much better in the D leagues. It’s a hard way to go. The big thing is that college is a great opportunity to improve your draft status and make more money and also play more because you’ll be with a worse team, (like MCW and Jerami Grant). More and more first round draft picks don’t make it. Teams don’t want to sign guys and pay good money to them if they won’t make it. That’s why they draft foreign players and wait 2-3 years for them to show up. It used to be that you didn’t jump unless you were going to be one of the first 5-6 draft choices. Just getting drafted means nothing. They used to have 12 roster guys and if someone got hurt, they’d call someone up from the D leagues. But now they get to have 12 roster players and 3 non-roster players who sit there in suits and ties. They’re like Tyler. You’ve got to beat those guys out before you can even get a chance to play. Arizona obtained Isaiah Thomas after they drafted Tyler Ennis. There are plenty of point guards in the NBA. Every team carries three of them. Patty Mills and Corey Joseph of the Spurs had to work their way up from the D Leagues for several years to get where they are. There’s just a lot of players to go though. I’d tell any players- not just ours that if you go too early you’ll wind up in Europe or the D leagues and you may never get back.”
Matt noted that Tyler averaged 18 points and 5 assists in the D League but only 3.7/1.7 for the Suns. Meanwhile Arinze Onuaku is playing well in the D leagues, averaging 17 points and 12 rebounds. Matt felt perhaps he was too small for an NBA center but JB says there are so few true centers he should get a shot anyway and he’s surprised no one has called him up.
Cornell is “much improved- a completely different team- and we had a hard time with them last year, falling behind by 13 in the first half, (before winning by 22 with Jerami Grant no available: we’ve beaten them 34 times in a row”. They have two guys who weren’t available last year.” One of them is Sean Miller, a 6-7 forward who in his last three games has averaged 26 points and 11 rebounds….The Ivys are up their year with Harvard and Princeton. Yale beat Connecticut and Columbia led Kentucky at halftime in the Rupp.” The game is 6PM New Year’s Eve. “They’ll be time to see the game and get to the party.”
