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.
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, everyone is speculating on what you mean by “tremendous changes” for next season. (My take is that you’re going back to the plaid sport jackets, but I could be wrong.) Are there specific things you know are going to happen or were you just commenting on college basketball today where no coach really knows in March what his team will look like in October?”
Second hour:
“Coach, I’m curious to get your take on this Syracuse team. At times you’ve been frustrated with them but you’ve also praised and defended them. How will you remember this team and how should the fans remember this team? ”
COACH BOEHEIM
(I have, in some instances, put together statements from different parts of the broadcast on the same subject)
They just got news that Virginia’s Justin Anderson, who had missed 6 games and was expected back for the AC tournament, will now have an appendectomy. Amazingly, Jim felt he might be back for the NCAA tournament because of the modern surgical procedures and the fact that he is a well-conditioned athlete. His absence could hurt Virginia who, with him, has a chance to win the whole thing.
Jim commented on the recent games. We hung in there against Duke but “couldn’t make anything. Mike and Trevor got plenty of open looks but were something like 8 for 36.” (10 for 36 but point taken.) “I thought we could have hung in there longer. We did a good job on Cook but not on Winslow.” Virginia “had a slow start. They didn’t make anything. Then they started to put the ball in the basket. They double Rak on every play and we couldn’t score. I put BJ in to get a third shooter. I knew they’d double-team Rak….He’s not going to score against a double-team. We are one of the worst shooting three point teams in the league. We’ve got to make those shots.“ (So it was not about Kaleb Joseph.)
Matt said that we were “in the deep end of the pool”, playing #4 on the road and then #2”. Jim added “And #12 and #9 before that. Back to back. When you have a Saturday-Monday swing, you like to have a reasonable team in there. You’ve got to give Virginia credit. They are the best defensive team in the country with no shot-blockers. They are physically stronger than most teams. And they were playing without their best player. They are 17-1 in the ACC and have won the regular season twice in a row. No team outside of North Carolina has ever done that.” Matt noted that the Cavaliers have improved their record for six years in a row.
Darryl asked about Notre Dame and if they were a Final Four candidate, (he’s a fan of the Irish). JB: “I tho0ught Notre Dame was really good going into our game. I was disappointed with them. They can shoot and pass and handle the ball. Size is a concern.”
I called in my first question. (He laughed at my joke about the plaid sport coat- saying he’d wear it if it would help.) He said that my last sentence, “or were you just commenting on college basketball today where no coach really knows in March what his team will look like in October?” was: “Exactly right. I wasn’t saying anything specific. It was a nothing I Know of type of thing. We lose Rakeem. We get four new players . Hopefully we’ll get back two injured players. We’ve got guys coming back. Getting 6 guys will make a huge difference. That is tremendous change to me. We don’t know what will happen. I’m looking forward to having more players. We lost 4 great players last year. That’s tremendous change. I didn’t say it to shock people. “
Tom in Mohawk said he couldn’t remember an SU team that with a worst fast break. “With all the close games, 2-3 blown fast breaks can make a big difference.” JB agreed. “That’s what we like to do. We work on it every day in practice. Against Duke Kaleb fell down and Mike missed 4 lay-ups. We haven’t rebounded well lately, although we led the league in steals. We’re not as fast as we usually are. Kaleb is not able to push the ball as we have in past years. All of our offensive numbers are way down. Our defense and turnovers have been good. But we’ve missed lay-ups and haven’t finished fast breaks. “
Pat called in to ask what Jim will tell the team before the NC State game, since the Wolfpack has so much to play for. JB: “It’s our last game. They have other chances. We have to contain them and have one of our better offensive games.”
Then Pat asked about Chris McCullough: can he shoot three pointers? JB: “He can shoot from 15-17 feet. Not many people can cover a 6-10 guy. He has good timing in blocking shots, a good feel for the game. He’s studied games a lot and I’m looking forward to next season. ” About whether a player is allowed to shoot a three. ”If you can make ‘em, you can shoot ‘em.” (Stroke ‘em if you got ‘em.- and if you don’t got ‘em, look for the 2 pointer!)
There’s “no worse case” than the North Carolina State game. “They have to win. We’re not a good win for them but we would be a bad loss. The beat Duke, Louisville and North Carolina. They won by 10-12 at North Carolina, (12) and by 16 at Clemson, (actually 5 but they had a 16 point lead late), and we lost by 16 there, (actually 13). But they lost by 16 to BC, (Bingo!). They are hard to figure. But they have more talent than teams ranked ahead of them.” (Both Syracuse and NC State have the same records: 18-12 and 9-8 in the conference.) “They are capable of going to the Sweet 16. They get good guard play. They have good big men and tremendous outside shooting. They have 3 starters hitting about 40% from three point range.”
Other ACC contenders: Miami and Pittsburgh, “have some big wins and bad losses. They’re not up there in some places and I don’t know why not. Good wins overpower bad losses.” We are ranked 64 in RPI- a couple of good wins short of making the tournament. RPI can be manufactured. The key is to avoid playing the top teams, which we can’t do. I normally don’t like Sagarin but he has us ranked #50. Usually he has us lower….Duke almost lost to Virginia Tech and then beat Wake Forest by 40.“
About not getting to play in the ACC and NCAA tournament: “We all know we’re not happy. It’s a huge punishment It’s what we play for. The tourney is all anybody remembers. We’ve beaten Louisville and Notre Dame. We could have won a couple games in the ACC tournament and gotten into the NCAA tournament. It will still be a shock when we’re done. We go into every season expecting to be a tourney team. But this year we didn’t have a choice. It had to be done. One advantage is that the kids will get to go on spring break. They’ve never been able to do it before.”
Rakeem Christmas “put himself on the radar. He’s got a great chance to play in the NBA.A lot of teams would like a good, physical back-up guy at the 5 or the 4. It will be great to see. I can’t be more proud of a player than Rak. He’s a great credit to his family and the University.
Gomez noted that this was the last show. The season “Zipped by”. Jim said “It was along year. Practice began in late September. I would have liked it to be longer…”
“Taco Tim” asked about next year. JB: “We’ve got two veteran guards, Mike and Trevor coming back. The young guys got a lot of playing time and will improve. Chris and DaJuan will be back and that will be a big thing. Then there’s the four freshmen…”
I called in my second question, noting that The Four Freshman were a good group back in the day:
But the five freshmen might be even better…
Regarding my question about how this team should be remembered: “It was a team that did everything they could. They made bad plays and bad shots but they played hard and worked hard to maximize their abilities. We had the most improved senior in the country. We stayed in games and won a lot of close games. We lost a couple that could have made this a real good year. We won games when we were behind late: Iowa, Wake, Georgia Tech and Virginia tech. We struggled to shoot, had a freshman point guard. Key injuries hurt. What I was trying to say when I said that I didn’t know how we won 18 games. was that we could have won fewer games- but we didn’t.”
My own assessment of this team was that it never got all the tent poles up. Rakeem was a pillar all year. Mike was an All-American for 4-5 games. Trevor Cooney was good at the beginning fo some games and the end of others. Chris McCullough was good, then bad then hurt. Kaleb Joseph was wonderful against Boston College, as was BJ Johnson against Notre Dame and Tyler Roberson against Duke. But they were never all good at once and they didn’t complement each other with their excellence. You have 1-2 guys playing well, a good team can defend that. If 3-4 guys play well, you’ve got a pretty formidable team. We usually had 1-2 guys playing well. That’s not enough.
Paul called in to say that he worked at a pizza place and former players like Rosie Bowie, (sorry, Bouie), Lawrence Moten and Matt Gorman had come in to buy some. “I’d love to take on Kentucky with the guys I’ve sold pizza to.” Jim: It’s good to hear from people who support the program. It’s been a tough year. You learn not to listen to critics. It’s the fans who support us that get us going and keep us going so we can come back strong.
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, everyone is speculating on what you mean by “tremendous changes” for next season. (My take is that you’re going back to the plaid sport jackets, but I could be wrong.) Are there specific things you know are going to happen or were you just commenting on college basketball today where no coach really knows in March what his team will look like in October?”
Second hour:
“Coach, I’m curious to get your take on this Syracuse team. At times you’ve been frustrated with them but you’ve also praised and defended them. How will you remember this team and how should the fans remember this team? ”
COACH BOEHEIM
(I have, in some instances, put together statements from different parts of the broadcast on the same subject)
They just got news that Virginia’s Justin Anderson, who had missed 6 games and was expected back for the AC tournament, will now have an appendectomy. Amazingly, Jim felt he might be back for the NCAA tournament because of the modern surgical procedures and the fact that he is a well-conditioned athlete. His absence could hurt Virginia who, with him, has a chance to win the whole thing.
Jim commented on the recent games. We hung in there against Duke but “couldn’t make anything. Mike and Trevor got plenty of open looks but were something like 8 for 36.” (10 for 36 but point taken.) “I thought we could have hung in there longer. We did a good job on Cook but not on Winslow.” Virginia “had a slow start. They didn’t make anything. Then they started to put the ball in the basket. They double Rak on every play and we couldn’t score. I put BJ in to get a third shooter. I knew they’d double-team Rak….He’s not going to score against a double-team. We are one of the worst shooting three point teams in the league. We’ve got to make those shots.“ (So it was not about Kaleb Joseph.)
Matt said that we were “in the deep end of the pool”, playing #4 on the road and then #2”. Jim added “And #12 and #9 before that. Back to back. When you have a Saturday-Monday swing, you like to have a reasonable team in there. You’ve got to give Virginia credit. They are the best defensive team in the country with no shot-blockers. They are physically stronger than most teams. And they were playing without their best player. They are 17-1 in the ACC and have won the regular season twice in a row. No team outside of North Carolina has ever done that.” Matt noted that the Cavaliers have improved their record for six years in a row.
Darryl asked about Notre Dame and if they were a Final Four candidate, (he’s a fan of the Irish). JB: “I tho0ught Notre Dame was really good going into our game. I was disappointed with them. They can shoot and pass and handle the ball. Size is a concern.”
I called in my first question. (He laughed at my joke about the plaid sport coat- saying he’d wear it if it would help.) He said that my last sentence, “or were you just commenting on college basketball today where no coach really knows in March what his team will look like in October?” was: “Exactly right. I wasn’t saying anything specific. It was a nothing I Know of type of thing. We lose Rakeem. We get four new players . Hopefully we’ll get back two injured players. We’ve got guys coming back. Getting 6 guys will make a huge difference. That is tremendous change to me. We don’t know what will happen. I’m looking forward to having more players. We lost 4 great players last year. That’s tremendous change. I didn’t say it to shock people. “
Tom in Mohawk said he couldn’t remember an SU team that with a worst fast break. “With all the close games, 2-3 blown fast breaks can make a big difference.” JB agreed. “That’s what we like to do. We work on it every day in practice. Against Duke Kaleb fell down and Mike missed 4 lay-ups. We haven’t rebounded well lately, although we led the league in steals. We’re not as fast as we usually are. Kaleb is not able to push the ball as we have in past years. All of our offensive numbers are way down. Our defense and turnovers have been good. But we’ve missed lay-ups and haven’t finished fast breaks. “
Pat called in to ask what Jim will tell the team before the NC State game, since the Wolfpack has so much to play for. JB: “It’s our last game. They have other chances. We have to contain them and have one of our better offensive games.”
Then Pat asked about Chris McCullough: can he shoot three pointers? JB: “He can shoot from 15-17 feet. Not many people can cover a 6-10 guy. He has good timing in blocking shots, a good feel for the game. He’s studied games a lot and I’m looking forward to next season. ” About whether a player is allowed to shoot a three. ”If you can make ‘em, you can shoot ‘em.” (Stroke ‘em if you got ‘em.- and if you don’t got ‘em, look for the 2 pointer!)
There’s “no worse case” than the North Carolina State game. “They have to win. We’re not a good win for them but we would be a bad loss. The beat Duke, Louisville and North Carolina. They won by 10-12 at North Carolina, (12) and by 16 at Clemson, (actually 5 but they had a 16 point lead late), and we lost by 16 there, (actually 13). But they lost by 16 to BC, (Bingo!). They are hard to figure. But they have more talent than teams ranked ahead of them.” (Both Syracuse and NC State have the same records: 18-12 and 9-8 in the conference.) “They are capable of going to the Sweet 16. They get good guard play. They have good big men and tremendous outside shooting. They have 3 starters hitting about 40% from three point range.”
Other ACC contenders: Miami and Pittsburgh, “have some big wins and bad losses. They’re not up there in some places and I don’t know why not. Good wins overpower bad losses.” We are ranked 64 in RPI- a couple of good wins short of making the tournament. RPI can be manufactured. The key is to avoid playing the top teams, which we can’t do. I normally don’t like Sagarin but he has us ranked #50. Usually he has us lower….Duke almost lost to Virginia Tech and then beat Wake Forest by 40.“
About not getting to play in the ACC and NCAA tournament: “We all know we’re not happy. It’s a huge punishment It’s what we play for. The tourney is all anybody remembers. We’ve beaten Louisville and Notre Dame. We could have won a couple games in the ACC tournament and gotten into the NCAA tournament. It will still be a shock when we’re done. We go into every season expecting to be a tourney team. But this year we didn’t have a choice. It had to be done. One advantage is that the kids will get to go on spring break. They’ve never been able to do it before.”
Rakeem Christmas “put himself on the radar. He’s got a great chance to play in the NBA.A lot of teams would like a good, physical back-up guy at the 5 or the 4. It will be great to see. I can’t be more proud of a player than Rak. He’s a great credit to his family and the University.
Gomez noted that this was the last show. The season “Zipped by”. Jim said “It was along year. Practice began in late September. I would have liked it to be longer…”
“Taco Tim” asked about next year. JB: “We’ve got two veteran guards, Mike and Trevor coming back. The young guys got a lot of playing time and will improve. Chris and DaJuan will be back and that will be a big thing. Then there’s the four freshmen…”
I called in my second question, noting that The Four Freshman were a good group back in the day:
But the five freshmen might be even better…
Regarding my question about how this team should be remembered: “It was a team that did everything they could. They made bad plays and bad shots but they played hard and worked hard to maximize their abilities. We had the most improved senior in the country. We stayed in games and won a lot of close games. We lost a couple that could have made this a real good year. We won games when we were behind late: Iowa, Wake, Georgia Tech and Virginia tech. We struggled to shoot, had a freshman point guard. Key injuries hurt. What I was trying to say when I said that I didn’t know how we won 18 games. was that we could have won fewer games- but we didn’t.”
My own assessment of this team was that it never got all the tent poles up. Rakeem was a pillar all year. Mike was an All-American for 4-5 games. Trevor Cooney was good at the beginning fo some games and the end of others. Chris McCullough was good, then bad then hurt. Kaleb Joseph was wonderful against Boston College, as was BJ Johnson against Notre Dame and Tyler Roberson against Duke. But they were never all good at once and they didn’t complement each other with their excellence. You have 1-2 guys playing well, a good team can defend that. If 3-4 guys play well, you’ve got a pretty formidable team. We usually had 1-2 guys playing well. That’s not enough.
Paul called in to say that he worked at a pizza place and former players like Rosie Bowie, (sorry, Bouie), Lawrence Moten and Matt Gorman had come in to buy some. “I’d love to take on Kentucky with the guys I’ve sold pizza to.” Jim: It’s good to hear from people who support the program. It’s been a tough year. You learn not to listen to critics. It’s the fans who support us that get us going and keep us going so we can come back strong.
