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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 the Cavalier Room at the Marriott in Downtown 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:
Submit a Question!
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: WGVA
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
“Coach, I listened to you exchange with Bud Poliquin after the Pittsburgh game and I have several comments.
- You do hear people say that the NCAA tournament is all that matters. I don’t believe that. I think each season at Syracuse features good teams, good players and good performances. Seasons can be made special by regular conference championships, conference tournament wins, #1 rankings and 30 win seasons. Basing one’s reaction to a season entirely on a single elimination tournament reduces a fan’s enjoyment to only a few seasons.
- Bud made several mistakes: You can cut a season in half and say that a 25-0 start doesn’t count and only a 3-6 finish is part of the current era. We didn’t get a whole different team for the Boston College game, (in 2014). You also can’t use the negatives in a season to negate the positives. If a team has a great regular season, a great conference tournament or a great NCAA tournament that will make the season memorable, even if the whole season wasn’t great. Finally, each team is a different team. You have to put together each year’s team from whoever is left from last year’s team and whoever you can recruit form high school or get in the transfer market. The 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 teams are four entirely different teams and next year’s team will be different than this one. They can’t be linked together to create an “era”. They have to be evaluated individually.”
In the second hour I called in another question. I noted that west Virginia had beaten #1 ranked Baylor 89-68 by forcing 29 turnovers and that they are averaging forcing 25 a game, 6 more than anyone else in the country. I asked what they are doing to accomplish this and is this something we could be doing here?
COACH BOEHEIM
(I have, in some instances, put together statements from different parts of the broadcast on the same subject. 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.)
PART ONE
On the Virginia Tech game- “It’s tough to win on the road. Virginia Tech is a really good team that had won 15 straight at home. They have veteran guys and shoot the ball well. We didn’t play as well as we need to play. We didn’t just beat Miami and Pittsburgh. We were up by 20 or more in those games….We are a better team than what we are playing… We just couldn’t keep the quality of our play that high. It was disappointing to play that poorly defensively. If we play well on defense, that’s a close game….We gave up too many easy baskets and played poorly on offense…. We didn’t get good movement….We made a good comeback to get it back to 3 but we weren’t consistent. We struggled the whole game on defense. It’s like playing 4 freshmen or sophomores. Once you figure it out, you should be able to continue...Tyus Battle has been consistent. Andrew White has been solid. Taurean Thompson is the best player in the low post we’ve had in some time and he can hit the 15 footer and pass.” (Did he mean the high post?) “Tyler Lydon was OK until he hurt his ankle.”
“Tyler probably shouldn’t have played the second half….Tyler’s ankle is sore and he has not been practicing. We hope he can practice tomorrow. We’ll have to wait and see. You can still play and contribute with a bad ankle.” Later Gomez wondered who made that decision- is it the coach or the trainer? “You listen to the trainer. He has an idea. But only the player can tell the degree of pain. If he’s limping, that’s a good clue.”
Regarding Boston College: “They are playing great right now. Ky Bowman is the best freshman guard in the country.“ Matt noted that Jerome Robinson has had eight 20 point games in a row and he’s their second best scorer to Bowman. JB: “You can’t find two better guards on one team in the country. Bowman was a football player and decided he’d rather play basketball. Nobody knew about him. He likes basketball better, which is understandable since it’s physically easier.….They are both strong and physical, which helps them play man to man. And they shoot well, too….Sometimes the zone helps you in certain areas but in other areas you aren’t sure it’s best….BC also has 6-7 A. J. Turner, a good all-round player. They don’t have much bench – a couple of guys. Most teams in the league play 6-7 guys, with Florida State being an exception.”
They also discussed the problems of winning on the road in the ACC. Matt said that home teams are 21-7 so far in the conference. JB: “The bottom teams have gotten better and that makes it harder. Everybody’s good enough to beat you on the road”. (In their place.) There are two teams unbeaten in the conference- Florida State and Notre Dame, who, Jim pointed out, barely beat Pitt and Clemson. “That’s the way the league is. Florida State had a couple NBA caliber players who stayed and they’ve had a couple of good recruiting classes….UNC played 8-9 guys last year so they have plenty of experience. They have great size and Jackson and Berry are shooting the ball better. They might be better than last year. ”
I called in my comments. JB’s response: “I agree completely that you can’t take part of a season and use it to evaluate a team….For me it’s very important to win the regular season games. I never said it wasn’t. Most fans and the media say that the post season is what’s really important. Jamie Dixon won 27 games a year at Pitt and they wanted to get rid of him. 26-27 wins is a great year. My point is that it’s not a bad year when you go to the Final Four. The ideal is to play well in both the regular season and the post season. You don’t want to just barely get in. You want to get in comfortably hand have a good seat.”
In the second hour I called in another question. I noted that west Virginia had beaten #1 ranked Baylor 89-68 by forcing 29 turnovers and that they are averaging forcing 25 a game, 6 more than anyone else in the country. I asked what they are doing to accomplish this and is this something we could be doing here? “They are pressing the whole game- 40 minutes- with 9-10 guys. They recruit for that. They have great athletes. They are the only team in the country doing that. Only they can sustain it.” Why are they the only team doing it? ”People used to press like that. Now we just get a few soft presses. Not many teams have that kind of depth. If you expand your defense your half- court defense won’t be quite as good.”
It is interesting to look at the NCAA stats on forcing turnovers:
Turnovers Forced | DI Men's Basketball Statistics - NCAA.com
There aren't many power conference teams among the leaders. That implies that the ball handlers in power conferences can handle this type of approach better. However, if West Virginia is the only team using this approach, then you can't really draw that conclusion.
Adam called in to ask about DaJuan Coleman. JB: “He is available. His knees are sore but he can play. He has limited movement and that makes it hard to do the things he has to do. Lots of teams have a short roster. Last year we went a long way with 6 ½ players.” (The midget was really good.) “We need more consistent point guard play. We are halfway through the year.” Matt asked if it was a home-road thing. “No- they’ve had some bad games at home, too.”
A question texted in asked if the coach had noticed more traveling calls this year. “That’s a good observation. We had a few in our game that didn’t look like traveling. They are definitely making more contact calls.”
The BC game is “90’s day”, dedicated to appreciating the players who player for us in the 90’s, including Derrick Coleman, (barely), Billy Owens, Dave Johnson, Lawrence Moten, John Wallace, Lazraus Sims, Todd Burgan, Ryan Blackwell, Jason hart and Etan Thomas. “It was a great era.”
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!
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: WGVA
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
“Coach, I listened to you exchange with Bud Poliquin after the Pittsburgh game and I have several comments.
- You do hear people say that the NCAA tournament is all that matters. I don’t believe that. I think each season at Syracuse features good teams, good players and good performances. Seasons can be made special by regular conference championships, conference tournament wins, #1 rankings and 30 win seasons. Basing one’s reaction to a season entirely on a single elimination tournament reduces a fan’s enjoyment to only a few seasons.
- Bud made several mistakes: You can cut a season in half and say that a 25-0 start doesn’t count and only a 3-6 finish is part of the current era. We didn’t get a whole different team for the Boston College game, (in 2014). You also can’t use the negatives in a season to negate the positives. If a team has a great regular season, a great conference tournament or a great NCAA tournament that will make the season memorable, even if the whole season wasn’t great. Finally, each team is a different team. You have to put together each year’s team from whoever is left from last year’s team and whoever you can recruit form high school or get in the transfer market. The 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 teams are four entirely different teams and next year’s team will be different than this one. They can’t be linked together to create an “era”. They have to be evaluated individually.”
In the second hour I called in another question. I noted that west Virginia had beaten #1 ranked Baylor 89-68 by forcing 29 turnovers and that they are averaging forcing 25 a game, 6 more than anyone else in the country. I asked what they are doing to accomplish this and is this something we could be doing here?
COACH BOEHEIM
(I have, in some instances, put together statements from different parts of the broadcast on the same subject. 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.)
PART ONE
On the Virginia Tech game- “It’s tough to win on the road. Virginia Tech is a really good team that had won 15 straight at home. They have veteran guys and shoot the ball well. We didn’t play as well as we need to play. We didn’t just beat Miami and Pittsburgh. We were up by 20 or more in those games….We are a better team than what we are playing… We just couldn’t keep the quality of our play that high. It was disappointing to play that poorly defensively. If we play well on defense, that’s a close game….We gave up too many easy baskets and played poorly on offense…. We didn’t get good movement….We made a good comeback to get it back to 3 but we weren’t consistent. We struggled the whole game on defense. It’s like playing 4 freshmen or sophomores. Once you figure it out, you should be able to continue...Tyus Battle has been consistent. Andrew White has been solid. Taurean Thompson is the best player in the low post we’ve had in some time and he can hit the 15 footer and pass.” (Did he mean the high post?) “Tyler Lydon was OK until he hurt his ankle.”
“Tyler probably shouldn’t have played the second half….Tyler’s ankle is sore and he has not been practicing. We hope he can practice tomorrow. We’ll have to wait and see. You can still play and contribute with a bad ankle.” Later Gomez wondered who made that decision- is it the coach or the trainer? “You listen to the trainer. He has an idea. But only the player can tell the degree of pain. If he’s limping, that’s a good clue.”
Regarding Boston College: “They are playing great right now. Ky Bowman is the best freshman guard in the country.“ Matt noted that Jerome Robinson has had eight 20 point games in a row and he’s their second best scorer to Bowman. JB: “You can’t find two better guards on one team in the country. Bowman was a football player and decided he’d rather play basketball. Nobody knew about him. He likes basketball better, which is understandable since it’s physically easier.….They are both strong and physical, which helps them play man to man. And they shoot well, too….Sometimes the zone helps you in certain areas but in other areas you aren’t sure it’s best….BC also has 6-7 A. J. Turner, a good all-round player. They don’t have much bench – a couple of guys. Most teams in the league play 6-7 guys, with Florida State being an exception.”
They also discussed the problems of winning on the road in the ACC. Matt said that home teams are 21-7 so far in the conference. JB: “The bottom teams have gotten better and that makes it harder. Everybody’s good enough to beat you on the road”. (In their place.) There are two teams unbeaten in the conference- Florida State and Notre Dame, who, Jim pointed out, barely beat Pitt and Clemson. “That’s the way the league is. Florida State had a couple NBA caliber players who stayed and they’ve had a couple of good recruiting classes….UNC played 8-9 guys last year so they have plenty of experience. They have great size and Jackson and Berry are shooting the ball better. They might be better than last year. ”
I called in my comments. JB’s response: “I agree completely that you can’t take part of a season and use it to evaluate a team….For me it’s very important to win the regular season games. I never said it wasn’t. Most fans and the media say that the post season is what’s really important. Jamie Dixon won 27 games a year at Pitt and they wanted to get rid of him. 26-27 wins is a great year. My point is that it’s not a bad year when you go to the Final Four. The ideal is to play well in both the regular season and the post season. You don’t want to just barely get in. You want to get in comfortably hand have a good seat.”
In the second hour I called in another question. I noted that west Virginia had beaten #1 ranked Baylor 89-68 by forcing 29 turnovers and that they are averaging forcing 25 a game, 6 more than anyone else in the country. I asked what they are doing to accomplish this and is this something we could be doing here? “They are pressing the whole game- 40 minutes- with 9-10 guys. They recruit for that. They have great athletes. They are the only team in the country doing that. Only they can sustain it.” Why are they the only team doing it? ”People used to press like that. Now we just get a few soft presses. Not many teams have that kind of depth. If you expand your defense your half- court defense won’t be quite as good.”
It is interesting to look at the NCAA stats on forcing turnovers:
Turnovers Forced | DI Men's Basketball Statistics - NCAA.com
There aren't many power conference teams among the leaders. That implies that the ball handlers in power conferences can handle this type of approach better. However, if West Virginia is the only team using this approach, then you can't really draw that conclusion.
Adam called in to ask about DaJuan Coleman. JB: “He is available. His knees are sore but he can play. He has limited movement and that makes it hard to do the things he has to do. Lots of teams have a short roster. Last year we went a long way with 6 ½ players.” (The midget was really good.) “We need more consistent point guard play. We are halfway through the year.” Matt asked if it was a home-road thing. “No- they’ve had some bad games at home, too.”
A question texted in asked if the coach had noticed more traveling calls this year. “That’s a good observation. We had a few in our game that didn’t look like traveling. They are definitely making more contact calls.”
The BC game is “90’s day”, dedicated to appreciating the players who player for us in the 90’s, including Derrick Coleman, (barely), Billy Owens, Dave Johnson, Lawrence Moten, John Wallace, Lazraus Sims, Todd Burgan, Ryan Blackwell, Jason hart and Etan Thomas. “It was a great era.”
