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 315-424-8599. Or you can submit questions from this page:
http://cuse.com/sb_output.aspx?form=4
Or on Twitter at mattpark1.
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, I’ve been reading about the Syracuse Nationals, who won their NBA championship 60 years ago. Al Cervi was a coach who stressed defense and was sometimes unimpressed with the efforts of his star, Dolph Schayes in that area. Dolph’s counter was to ask “If I outscore my guy and my teammates outscore their guys, how are we going to lose?”
Rakeem Christmas spent his first three years here known primarily for his defense. Now he’s the team’s big offensive threat and we don’t have any depth. It often seems that on defense, he doesn’t challenge guys the way he used to because he wants to remain in the game. Is it possible for Rak, in this situation to play defense the way he used to and still be our big scoring threat or should we simply take the Dolph Schayes attitude that if he outscores his guy, it’s the best way to help us win?
Second hour:
Coach, Tyler Roberson seems reluctant to take that medium range jump shot the defense always gives him. That’s understandable, since he rarely makes them. You’ve said it’s a matter of confidence. Do you want him to take that shot and eventually make some of them so his confidence can grow or would you rather he avoid attempting that shot because he hasn’t been making them?
COACH BOEHEIM
(I have, in some instances, put together statements from different parts of the broadcast on the same subject)
Coach Boeheim told Matt Park, “We needed a break. We lost two tough games. We played well. We’re getting better. This week will help us. We’re getting good shots for Ronnie and Kaleb: they’ve just got to make them. Tyler is coming on and the ‘Big Three’ of Rakeem, Michael and Trevor have been playing well all year. Everybody is playing their hearts out. We aren’t as good as we need to be yet. We were thin when we started out and then didn’t get DaJuan back and Chris got injured. Chris wasn’t just a good bac-up center. He was a very good back- up center with his length and shot-blocking ability. We’ve got three veterans and everybody else is a freshman or didn’t play much last year. The youngest guys have got to pick up their games. That’s the key to our season. They are still trying to figure out what college basketball is all about.”
Matt noted that North Carolina led us in bench minutes 23-45 and points 0-25. JB: That stuff doesn’t matter. We’ve had teams like this before. The defense broke down in the second half. That game was 72-74 with 3:29 in the second half. They scored and we had to press and we don’t that well. We could have lost by 6-8 if we’d played normal but we tried to win. North Carolina is tough to beat when they shoot like that. Their turnovers kept us in the game for the first 36 minutes. When Tyler fouled out, it hurt us.”
Our MVP for the game was “Trevor Cooney, who got off to such a great start. But you could pick Rakeem in almost any game.”
Somebody asked if we used Carolina’s fast break concept, which a lot of teams have copied. “They go down the sidelines and get it inside quickly. We practice that a bit but mostly we do other stuff.”
Matt mentioned Nate Britt going 4 for 5 from the arc after not making more than 2 three pointers in any game this year. JB: “That happens all the time. Against Miami Omar Sherman went 5 for 5 against us then 0 for 5 against Georgia Tech. Konstantinos Mitoglou of Wake Forest scored 27 against us and hasn’t scored that much all year.” (He scored 26 and has scored 179 points this year: but never more than 15 in any other game.” Matt noted that Georgia tech, supposedly one of the bad teams in the league had crushed Miami by 20, 70-50. Angel Rodriguez was 0 for 8 and 0 for 5 from the arc and Sheldon McClellan, averaging 15 points per game, scored only 6. Jim said that “Britt could shoot with his right and his left hand, which is very unusual.”
They went on to discuss how the difference between the conference’s top and bottom teams was slight. “Duke is #4 in the country and 4-3 in the conference. It used to be the bottom teams in college basketball couldn’t play with the top teams. Last year we were ranked #1 and lost to two bottom teams. Virginia Tech almost beat Virginia. They were down 10 late in the game. It was the worst team in the conference against the second best team in the country. They out-played us the whole second half. It’s tough to cover so many small guys who can shoot. We won’t be over-confident for them. That’s for sure. Figuring college basketball is not something you can really do. We could have lost to St. Francis last year and went on to 25-0.”
I called in my first question. Jim had a laugh at Dolph Schayes’ philosophy and said he didn’t adhere to it. “Rak has to be more careful. He can’t go as aggressively after shots. He has to back off some. But it’s not all his fault. We don’t have a Keita. CJ was a very under-rated defender. Jerami Grant was a good defender and a great shot blocker. Our defense is still good. We don’t’ have quite as much help for Rakeem. We’re smaller than in the past. Michael Carter Williams and Brandon Triche were excellent defensive guards. Tyler Ennis was strong and a good anticpater. He led the league in steals most of the year. We’re not quite as good. It’s bene a long time since we’ve had someone who could score inside like Rakeem, maybe ever. We need a little more from Joseph and Patterson. We need to make a couple more shots. Trevor went flat for a while. We’re not used to not having the bets team and in this case, we didn’t.”
Later I called in my second question about Tyler Roberson. “He has the ability to make the foul line jump shot. The side 17-18 footer is not a good shot. We want him to take the 15 footer if he’s comfortable. We wanted him to hit the boards. We want him to first look for Rak. Our goal is to get the ball inside and get a high percentage shot. We’ve shot the three ball pretty well in the league. We’ve been missing a lot of 2’s around the basket. Tyler has played very good basketball and we’re happy with how he’s played. It’s hard when you play only a few minutes of the time. Now he knows he’s going to be in there no matter what and can relax and just play. A lot of guys go from 8 minutes to 20 and still don’t score. Dion averaged 22 minutes and scored 16-17 points a game. You’ve got to take advantage of your opportunities. If you get an opportunity, do the things you have to do.
Matt asked for a comparison of the various arenas in the conference, now that we’ve played in all of them, (Notre Dame, Louisville and NC State in past seasons). “They’re all good places to play, noisy with good fans. People come to see Syracuse play. That’s always been the way. We used to fill up the Providence Civic Center which was half empty the rest of the time. Even Georgetown didn’t get sell-outs unless we were in town.
Ken in Syracuse praised the coach and team, agreeing that they always play their heart out. He’s glad we have a team that “on a given night can beat anyone in the country”. JB: We can’t always play great but you can always play hard. It’s tough when you have to play 40 minutes on Saturday and another 40 minutes on Sunday.”
“Cuseaholic” had tweeted something about Rasheed Sulaimon, the Duke player who hit the three-pointer to tie up the game at the Dome last year but who has now been dismissed form the team. “He was a high school All-American and started the first two years but his minutes have been cut. He’s not going to take that well. His attitude was bad. Allen Griffin lost his starting job here and was the most enthusiastic player on the team, cheering more loudly than any other. Then he got his job back the next year. He’s coaching now. Dion waiters never started but he played starter’s minutes.
Another “tweeter” asked for the three players who left early who Coach Boeheim most wished had not left early. JB: “The two guys this year. It would have bene great to have Carmelo for a second year. We might have repeated as national champions. But it wasn’t something you could really think would happen. You try to prepare for it but those guys were tough to lose. It was good that Jerami went because he wound up on Philadelphia, which needed players If he was on another team he’d be in the “D” League. He’s a good kid and I am rooting for him. Players think that if you don’t go as soon as you can you won’t make it but the opposite is true. The longer you stay, the more likely you are to make it and the longer career you’ll have.”
Later a caller named Brad asked if it was “a good idea to go to the NBA” JB: “It’s a good question but it’s not always easy to answer. More guys are not making it these days. They have a two year window to do it. The great players make it. Tyler Ennis makes money but is not playing. Stay in school and become a higher draft pick. If you’re not in the top 8-10, they don’t care. You’ll wind up in the D-League or in Europe.”
Jim thinks that Jerian Grant might be the best player in the conference and even the country. “Last year they had the game players and a good senior guard and had a losing record, (15-17). This year they’ve got Grant and are 20-2. He does more for his team than Okafor. Who’s a better player? Nobody stands out like him. The year off helped him. He’s a better player. He’s a 6-5 guy who gets tough rebounds under the basket under the basket and also gets long rebounds. Demetrius Jackson is a great point guard.“ He also praised Grant for his actions at the end of the game that prevented a court storming. “He visited us last year and played some with our guys. He’ll have a long NBA career.”
Pat called in and said there’d been a lot of good rule changes in college ball in the past decade. The refs are going to the monitor to check things now. Is it time for letting the coaches challenge calls? JB: “There are too many plays. You’d challenge 20-25 times a game. A play is only two points. You can overcome that. It’s not like a touchdown in football. In basketball you can work around a bad call.”
Pat also wondered if Kaleb Joseph’s problem is a lack of physical strength. JB: “He’s definitely not strong enough to get certain things done like scoring in the lane. He’ll get in the weight room. He can make shots but doesn’t carry it from one game to the next. He’s getting stronger and seeing the game better. I hope that he’ll be much improved next year. I hope he’ll be much improved by the end of this year.” He offered Jason hart and Scoop Jardine as point guards who substantially improved from their freshman year.
Matt praised Ryan Cabiles, the Director of Strength and Conditioning, for the shape the players are in. He noted that Trevor Cooney had “lost 10 pounds of water weight in the North Carolina game.” JB: “They train to play those minutes. During the season they get a lot of running with practice and some weight room training. There’s a lot of weight room work in the off-season- all summer and fall. Our guys are in great shape. “
Dave in Syracuse said he constantly saw big guys shouldering Rak out of positon and wasn’t that a charge”. JB said it was. Why isn’t it called? “It’s been called 2-3 times.” Would a flop help? “I wouldn’t asked for a flop but if a guy hits you in the chest you literally could fall.” Gomez noted that Roy Williams in his news conference admitted they went right at Rak because they had no back-up center. “We had a good back-up center in Chris McCullough. He wasn’t just good. He was very good. He was long and could block shots.”
“Chris’s knee surgery will be tomorrow morning and his rehab will take 6-8 months. He’s be able to shoot in three months and run by the fall. He should be ready by October, with a month to go before the season begins. Microsurgery is very different from an ACL. Every player we’ve had surgery on has come back stronger than before he got hurt.
Gomez noted that the Coach at Utah, Larry Krystkowiak, has a tradition where he burns green grass from Montana before every game. Phil Jackson taught him to do that when he was on the Bulls. JB laughed. Gomez asked him if he had any superstitious. JB: “A lot fo them. I doubt if there’s any coach who doesn’t. I wear the same things, leave at the same time, drive the same route.” Gomez noted that he always walks out onto the court at 2:37, (I assume that means the count-down timer on the scoreboard). Jim says he leave the locker room either at 2:48 or :224 or 2:14. I guess those are his lucky times. I’ll have to look for this at next Tuesday’s game.
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 315-424-8599. Or you can submit questions from this page:
http://cuse.com/sb_output.aspx?form=4
Or on Twitter at mattpark1.
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, I’ve been reading about the Syracuse Nationals, who won their NBA championship 60 years ago. Al Cervi was a coach who stressed defense and was sometimes unimpressed with the efforts of his star, Dolph Schayes in that area. Dolph’s counter was to ask “If I outscore my guy and my teammates outscore their guys, how are we going to lose?”
Rakeem Christmas spent his first three years here known primarily for his defense. Now he’s the team’s big offensive threat and we don’t have any depth. It often seems that on defense, he doesn’t challenge guys the way he used to because he wants to remain in the game. Is it possible for Rak, in this situation to play defense the way he used to and still be our big scoring threat or should we simply take the Dolph Schayes attitude that if he outscores his guy, it’s the best way to help us win?
Second hour:
Coach, Tyler Roberson seems reluctant to take that medium range jump shot the defense always gives him. That’s understandable, since he rarely makes them. You’ve said it’s a matter of confidence. Do you want him to take that shot and eventually make some of them so his confidence can grow or would you rather he avoid attempting that shot because he hasn’t been making them?
COACH BOEHEIM
(I have, in some instances, put together statements from different parts of the broadcast on the same subject)
Coach Boeheim told Matt Park, “We needed a break. We lost two tough games. We played well. We’re getting better. This week will help us. We’re getting good shots for Ronnie and Kaleb: they’ve just got to make them. Tyler is coming on and the ‘Big Three’ of Rakeem, Michael and Trevor have been playing well all year. Everybody is playing their hearts out. We aren’t as good as we need to be yet. We were thin when we started out and then didn’t get DaJuan back and Chris got injured. Chris wasn’t just a good bac-up center. He was a very good back- up center with his length and shot-blocking ability. We’ve got three veterans and everybody else is a freshman or didn’t play much last year. The youngest guys have got to pick up their games. That’s the key to our season. They are still trying to figure out what college basketball is all about.”
Matt noted that North Carolina led us in bench minutes 23-45 and points 0-25. JB: That stuff doesn’t matter. We’ve had teams like this before. The defense broke down in the second half. That game was 72-74 with 3:29 in the second half. They scored and we had to press and we don’t that well. We could have lost by 6-8 if we’d played normal but we tried to win. North Carolina is tough to beat when they shoot like that. Their turnovers kept us in the game for the first 36 minutes. When Tyler fouled out, it hurt us.”
Our MVP for the game was “Trevor Cooney, who got off to such a great start. But you could pick Rakeem in almost any game.”
Somebody asked if we used Carolina’s fast break concept, which a lot of teams have copied. “They go down the sidelines and get it inside quickly. We practice that a bit but mostly we do other stuff.”
Matt mentioned Nate Britt going 4 for 5 from the arc after not making more than 2 three pointers in any game this year. JB: “That happens all the time. Against Miami Omar Sherman went 5 for 5 against us then 0 for 5 against Georgia Tech. Konstantinos Mitoglou of Wake Forest scored 27 against us and hasn’t scored that much all year.” (He scored 26 and has scored 179 points this year: but never more than 15 in any other game.” Matt noted that Georgia tech, supposedly one of the bad teams in the league had crushed Miami by 20, 70-50. Angel Rodriguez was 0 for 8 and 0 for 5 from the arc and Sheldon McClellan, averaging 15 points per game, scored only 6. Jim said that “Britt could shoot with his right and his left hand, which is very unusual.”
They went on to discuss how the difference between the conference’s top and bottom teams was slight. “Duke is #4 in the country and 4-3 in the conference. It used to be the bottom teams in college basketball couldn’t play with the top teams. Last year we were ranked #1 and lost to two bottom teams. Virginia Tech almost beat Virginia. They were down 10 late in the game. It was the worst team in the conference against the second best team in the country. They out-played us the whole second half. It’s tough to cover so many small guys who can shoot. We won’t be over-confident for them. That’s for sure. Figuring college basketball is not something you can really do. We could have lost to St. Francis last year and went on to 25-0.”
I called in my first question. Jim had a laugh at Dolph Schayes’ philosophy and said he didn’t adhere to it. “Rak has to be more careful. He can’t go as aggressively after shots. He has to back off some. But it’s not all his fault. We don’t have a Keita. CJ was a very under-rated defender. Jerami Grant was a good defender and a great shot blocker. Our defense is still good. We don’t’ have quite as much help for Rakeem. We’re smaller than in the past. Michael Carter Williams and Brandon Triche were excellent defensive guards. Tyler Ennis was strong and a good anticpater. He led the league in steals most of the year. We’re not quite as good. It’s bene a long time since we’ve had someone who could score inside like Rakeem, maybe ever. We need a little more from Joseph and Patterson. We need to make a couple more shots. Trevor went flat for a while. We’re not used to not having the bets team and in this case, we didn’t.”
Later I called in my second question about Tyler Roberson. “He has the ability to make the foul line jump shot. The side 17-18 footer is not a good shot. We want him to take the 15 footer if he’s comfortable. We wanted him to hit the boards. We want him to first look for Rak. Our goal is to get the ball inside and get a high percentage shot. We’ve shot the three ball pretty well in the league. We’ve been missing a lot of 2’s around the basket. Tyler has played very good basketball and we’re happy with how he’s played. It’s hard when you play only a few minutes of the time. Now he knows he’s going to be in there no matter what and can relax and just play. A lot of guys go from 8 minutes to 20 and still don’t score. Dion averaged 22 minutes and scored 16-17 points a game. You’ve got to take advantage of your opportunities. If you get an opportunity, do the things you have to do.
Matt asked for a comparison of the various arenas in the conference, now that we’ve played in all of them, (Notre Dame, Louisville and NC State in past seasons). “They’re all good places to play, noisy with good fans. People come to see Syracuse play. That’s always been the way. We used to fill up the Providence Civic Center which was half empty the rest of the time. Even Georgetown didn’t get sell-outs unless we were in town.
Ken in Syracuse praised the coach and team, agreeing that they always play their heart out. He’s glad we have a team that “on a given night can beat anyone in the country”. JB: We can’t always play great but you can always play hard. It’s tough when you have to play 40 minutes on Saturday and another 40 minutes on Sunday.”
“Cuseaholic” had tweeted something about Rasheed Sulaimon, the Duke player who hit the three-pointer to tie up the game at the Dome last year but who has now been dismissed form the team. “He was a high school All-American and started the first two years but his minutes have been cut. He’s not going to take that well. His attitude was bad. Allen Griffin lost his starting job here and was the most enthusiastic player on the team, cheering more loudly than any other. Then he got his job back the next year. He’s coaching now. Dion waiters never started but he played starter’s minutes.
Another “tweeter” asked for the three players who left early who Coach Boeheim most wished had not left early. JB: “The two guys this year. It would have bene great to have Carmelo for a second year. We might have repeated as national champions. But it wasn’t something you could really think would happen. You try to prepare for it but those guys were tough to lose. It was good that Jerami went because he wound up on Philadelphia, which needed players If he was on another team he’d be in the “D” League. He’s a good kid and I am rooting for him. Players think that if you don’t go as soon as you can you won’t make it but the opposite is true. The longer you stay, the more likely you are to make it and the longer career you’ll have.”
Later a caller named Brad asked if it was “a good idea to go to the NBA” JB: “It’s a good question but it’s not always easy to answer. More guys are not making it these days. They have a two year window to do it. The great players make it. Tyler Ennis makes money but is not playing. Stay in school and become a higher draft pick. If you’re not in the top 8-10, they don’t care. You’ll wind up in the D-League or in Europe.”
Jim thinks that Jerian Grant might be the best player in the conference and even the country. “Last year they had the game players and a good senior guard and had a losing record, (15-17). This year they’ve got Grant and are 20-2. He does more for his team than Okafor. Who’s a better player? Nobody stands out like him. The year off helped him. He’s a better player. He’s a 6-5 guy who gets tough rebounds under the basket under the basket and also gets long rebounds. Demetrius Jackson is a great point guard.“ He also praised Grant for his actions at the end of the game that prevented a court storming. “He visited us last year and played some with our guys. He’ll have a long NBA career.”
Pat called in and said there’d been a lot of good rule changes in college ball in the past decade. The refs are going to the monitor to check things now. Is it time for letting the coaches challenge calls? JB: “There are too many plays. You’d challenge 20-25 times a game. A play is only two points. You can overcome that. It’s not like a touchdown in football. In basketball you can work around a bad call.”
Pat also wondered if Kaleb Joseph’s problem is a lack of physical strength. JB: “He’s definitely not strong enough to get certain things done like scoring in the lane. He’ll get in the weight room. He can make shots but doesn’t carry it from one game to the next. He’s getting stronger and seeing the game better. I hope that he’ll be much improved next year. I hope he’ll be much improved by the end of this year.” He offered Jason hart and Scoop Jardine as point guards who substantially improved from their freshman year.
Matt praised Ryan Cabiles, the Director of Strength and Conditioning, for the shape the players are in. He noted that Trevor Cooney had “lost 10 pounds of water weight in the North Carolina game.” JB: “They train to play those minutes. During the season they get a lot of running with practice and some weight room training. There’s a lot of weight room work in the off-season- all summer and fall. Our guys are in great shape. “
Dave in Syracuse said he constantly saw big guys shouldering Rak out of positon and wasn’t that a charge”. JB said it was. Why isn’t it called? “It’s been called 2-3 times.” Would a flop help? “I wouldn’t asked for a flop but if a guy hits you in the chest you literally could fall.” Gomez noted that Roy Williams in his news conference admitted they went right at Rak because they had no back-up center. “We had a good back-up center in Chris McCullough. He wasn’t just good. He was very good. He was long and could block shots.”
“Chris’s knee surgery will be tomorrow morning and his rehab will take 6-8 months. He’s be able to shoot in three months and run by the fall. He should be ready by October, with a month to go before the season begins. Microsurgery is very different from an ACL. Every player we’ve had surgery on has come back stronger than before he got hurt.
Gomez noted that the Coach at Utah, Larry Krystkowiak, has a tradition where he burns green grass from Montana before every game. Phil Jackson taught him to do that when he was on the Bulls. JB laughed. Gomez asked him if he had any superstitious. JB: “A lot fo them. I doubt if there’s any coach who doesn’t. I wear the same things, leave at the same time, drive the same route.” Gomez noted that he always walks out onto the court at 2:37, (I assume that means the count-down timer on the scoreboard). Jim says he leave the locker room either at 2:48 or :224 or 2:14. I guess those are his lucky times. I’ll have to look for this at next Tuesday’s game.
