The Jim Boeheim Show - before BC II

[Vorony]

I know some on this board will call many of us Boeheim haters or whatever, but listening to him recently, do you REALLY think everything is good? My gawd this is awful.

- Comstock captured it well (particularly with his Chad Johnson's line - Child, Please). Jim continues to make the point that no one thought we would be any good this year as a way to get credit for where we are (or at least an attempt not to get criticism). Really, Jim? Really? Just maybe there is something that YOU could have done to put us in a much better position this year.

- Related to my first point, Jim keeps referencing how we're struggling or not winning at times because we have a bunch of freshmen. Uh, okay Jim. Not many dispute that but what he fails to either understand or admit is that HE is the one responsible for the current makeup of our team. Again, please.

- His comment about the next coach can try playing man to man and see if he can do better... uh, yeah, I'm 98% sure the next coach will, as 98% of coaches in America don't rely on zone 100% of the time.

- Some of the callers on this show are just enabling his crap. That's part of the problem. If you surround yourself with people who mostly just tell you what you want to hear, you don't change. I don't know what the people close to Jim are saying, but I can only imagine for him to continue doubling down on his ignorance.

That all said, I'll be primed and ready for the game tomorrow. Regardless what I currently feel about Jim, I'm still a diehard fan. I don't have quite the fire that I used to have, but still full of orange love.

Agreed with pretty much all of this - especially all of the softball questions asked. “We love you Jimmy!” I’m sure the tough questions never made it past Park’s screening process, but it would be interesting to hear how he’d react to some of the legitimate complaints that we’ve all been discussing on here.

 

[DilemaCuse]

“In my judgement, we’d have won 5 games if we’d played man-to-man.”

There’s so many ways to decipher this utter insane comment.

Translation, we $uck if it wasnt for my zone and my decision to play zone

 

[DilemaCuse]

- Some of the callers on this show are just enabling his crap. That's part of the problem. If you surround yourself with people who mostly just tell you what you want to hear, you don't change. I don't know what the people close to Jim are saying, but I can only imagine for him to continue doubling down on his ignorance.

SWC, why does it seem like its the same callers every week? Like Josh in Boulder?

Is it invite only and predetermined questions ahead of time that get on air?

 

[AlaskaSU]

Can't believe his comments about Chris, 'a player that coaches do not like', lackadaisical. Simply outrageous to say such things. Chris will be outta here ASAP, bank on it.
He is from CA, where it is de rigourr to be laid back. (As I write this I am in southern CA.)

 

[NorSyr66]

Thanks again for excellent write up. I may be the only person here with this confusion but I still do not know whether the out of bounds then back in bounds in UVA game was correctly called. Seems JB said it was ok but I read where folks on here say the rule had changed recently?

 

[stuckinbig11]

Thank you, Steve. You do a great service for us all.

 

[Nicknack]

Thanks again for excellent write up. I may be the only person here with this confusion but I still do not know whether the out of bounds then back in bounds in UVA game was correctly called. Seems JB said it was ok but I read where folks on here say the rule had changed recently?

Unless I heard it wrong, I thought Jim said yesterday that this was a missed call. He spent a good bit of time talking about it, but I was half listening at that point. Jim has training my ears to half close when he speaks anymore.

 

[djcon57]

Translation, we $uck if it wasnt for my zone and my decision to play zone

When followed with “When a new coach comes, he can try man-to-man and that’s fine. I don’t think we’d be good enough to win.”

certainly was my thought...which is like textbook kool aid stuff. He truly thinks we are winning games due to the zone.

the other possibility is “I recruited a team in 2023 that can’t play man to man” which I don’t know if that’s better

 

[DilemaCuse]

Can't believe his comments about Chris, 'a player that coaches do not like', lackadaisical. Simply outrageous to say such things. Chris will be outta here ASAP, bank on it.
He is from CA, where it is de rigourr to be laid back. (As I write this I am in southern CA.)

Agreed, how could Gus not notice that during the recruitment? Does he not watch him play in person or watch his film and see his strengths and weaknesses?

 

[PauliePeppas]

“Chris is very lackadaisical. He’s not a player coaches like. He’s a good shooter but I don’t see the effort. When he guess the ball and hands it to the other team, that’s inexcusable. You don’t survive that”

Yikesssssss

 

[AlaskaSU]

Regarding Chris, JB is trying to kill our CA recruiting while Adam is trying to recruit from CA.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

Unless I heard it wrong, I thought Jim said yesterday that this was a missed call. He spent a good bit of time talking about it, but I was half listening at that point. Jim has training my ears to half close when he speaks anymore.

It all depends on if the player went out of bounds intentionally or accidentally like by his momentum. You can’t be the first to touch it if you purposely went oob to get around a player for instance.

 

[orangecuse]

Agreed with pretty much all of this - especially all of the softball questions asked. “We love you Jimmy!” I’m sure the tough questions never made it past Park’s screening process, but it would be interesting to hear how he’d react to some of the legitimate complaints that we’ve all been discussing on here.

Well, his reaction would be similar to his answer to the question about not playing as a ranked team against a conference opponent for upwards of 9 years now. He'd find a way to justify, spin or what have you (in his mind) why this is not even remotely a concern.

 

[007]

JB: “With man-to-man you have to spend two hours in practice. We just weren’t good enough at it.

“Playing man-for-man is not even a consideration. You can’t just try it. You have to practice it over and over again. It’s like a steaks and chops chef being asked to do Italian cooking. We tried man-for-man all summer and fall and it was terrible. We went back to what we do well.

What’s the toughest place to play in on the road.? Jim quoted Louis Carnesecca: “Where they have the best players.”

The bolded statements above is THE issue with the zone vs man debate for JB. From the horse's mouth: it takes a lot more practice time to be really good at M2M defense. It is not that JB's zone is so complex that it takes players years to understand the rotations and get really good at it, even though it does take time. JB believes that he can optimize his defense by devoting practice time to zone defense exclusively. By doing this, JB believes that there will be more practice time available to devote to offense and other stuff.

He is absolutely right when he says "you can't just try it (man)...you have to practice it over and over again." Teaching and coaching man defense, to be good enough at this level anyway, means that you have to devote more practice time to it. You can't just "try" man defense. You have to dedicate practice time. And that is not a trade off that JB is willing to make.

To me, this has never been about the players or whether or not they have the talent to be good M2M defenders. It is about a deliberate decision by JB to structure his practice this way.

 

[cusefan88]

Please retire. It's time for change.

 

[Cuse'91]

The bolded statements above is THE issue with the zone vs man debate for JB. From the horse's mouth: it takes a lot more practice time to be really good at M2M defense. It is not that JB's zone is so complex that it takes players years to understand the rotations and get really good at it, even though it does take time. JB believes that he can optimize his defense by devoting practice time to zone defense exclusively. By doing this, JB believes that there will be more practice time available to devote to offense and other stuff.

He is absolutely right when he says "you can't just try it (man)...you have to practice it over and over again." Teaching and coaching man defense, to be good enough at this level anyway, means that you have to devote more practice time to it. You can't just "try" man defense. You have to dedicate practice time. And that is not a trade off that JB is willing to make.

To me, this has never been about the players or whether or not they have the talent to be good M2M defenders. It is about a deliberate decision by JB to structure his practice this way.

Our M2M defense is essentially the press. Why do we only use it when we're down big? To save energy for JGIII and Jesse? Forget that bs, use a 10 man rotation, and surprise teams with full court, 3/4 court, and half court trapping defense throughout the game.

 

[orangecuse]

The bolded statements above is THE issue with the zone vs man debate for JB. From the horse's mouth: it takes a lot more practice time to be really good at M2M defense. It is not that JB's zone is so complex that it takes players years to understand the rotations and get really good at it, even though it does take time. JB believes that he can optimize his defense by devoting practice time to zone defense exclusively. By doing this, JB believes that there will be more practice time available to devote to offense and other stuff.

He is absolutely right when he says "you can't just try it (man)...you have to practice it over and over again." Teaching and coaching man defense, to be good enough at this level anyway, means that you have to devote more practice time to it. You can't just "try" man defense. You have to dedicate practice time. And that is not a trade off that JB is willing to make.

To me, this has never been about the players or whether or not they have the talent to be good M2M defenders. It is about a deliberate decision by JB to structure his practice this way.

With all due respect, this is so incredibly irritating. 99.9% of highest level college hoops programs play man to man as their primary D. Apparently, those coaches have the time practicing it, etc. JB's position screams and reeks of total laziness and the path of least resistance.

With age, fact is, individuals no longer have the desire, burn or will to work harder...but rather coast on their laurels, etc. This fits right into JB's ripe 'ol age of 78 and counting.

All of these players have mostly played m2m their entire lives, and at highly competitive organized levels. How these mostly elite type athletes can't or are unable to play it once they reach the hill is so much more of a reflection on the head coach than anything else.

Ugh!

 

[Dinkyspond]

Can't believe his comments about Chris, 'a player that coaches do not like', lackadaisical. Simply outrageous to say such things. Chris will be outta here ASAP, bank on it.
He is from CA, where it is de rigourr to be laid back. (As I write this I am in southern CA.)

it may be his way of pushing him out the door. A better way would be to keep it private and tell him, "Please enter the portal, I don’t want you here" at the end of the season. I'm sure airing your dirty laundry in public is endearing to current players and potential future ones.

 

[007]

Our M2M defense is essentially the press. Why do we only use it when we're down big? To save energy for JGIII and Jesse? Forget that bs, use a 10 man rotation, and surprise teams with full court, 3/4 court, and half court trapping defense throughout the game.

I think the answer is similar to the man vs zone stuff. JB rarely believes that his teams are good at pressing. To be a good pressing team takes dedicated practice time. To have a variety of presses takes even more practice time (much more). That's not a trade off JB believes in.

 

[two3zone]

“In my judgement, we’d have won 5 games if we’d played man-to-man.”

There’s so many ways to decipher this utter insane comment.

If this is the case then none of these guys should play college basketball.

 

[SWC75]

Is it really?

When I look at the make up of this team, I can easily believe they would be more terrible trying to play M2M (even in short spells) than they are playing zone and press. Not just during pre-season but regardless of continuing to practice.

And I am one who wants more M2M with the right guys and our next coach. Just not this bunch.

I've always felt that if you are lousy in a zone, you're going to be lousy in a man-for-man. Zones are built to disguise your limitations. The thing is, I think this could be a good man team if they were all aggressive and focused for 40 minutes. It has the size and quickness for it. But they aren't.

 

[Dinkyspond]

“In my judgement, we’d have won 5 games if we’d played man-to-man.”

There’s so many ways to decipher this utter insane comment.

"Not 5 ...king games. Not 5 games!"

 

[007]

With all due respect, this is so incredibly irritating. 99.9% of highest level college hoops programs play man to man as their primary D. Apparently, those coaches have the time practicing it, etc. JB's position screams and reeks of total laziness and the path of least resistance.

All of these players have mostly played m2m their entire lives, and at highly competitive organized levels. How these mostly elite type athletes can't or are unable to play it once they reach the hill is so much more of a reflection on the head coach than anything else.

Moreover, it's this sentiment by JB's enablers and the like that take this as gospel as truth, no different than Dino's "close your eyes" malarkey.

Ugh!!!!

I don't think it's fair to label this as "total laziness." This is about JB believing this is what is best. All his success over 47 years has galvanized his belief.

 

[Cuse181]

SWC — thanks for your excellent report!

People expecting JB to change how he handles press conferences after a loss? Not going to happen. It isn’t his strength, never will be.

Given the group he assembled (with apparent limitations), the coaches deserve some credit for how the team has competed. They have improved. Not enough to close games, just enough to keep us watching and hoping.

If he showed up with a big smile and joking around or if he ignored questions people would still be bitching. There is no good way to lose.

That being said, idk why people think JB is/was a good guy, he has always been a dick to just about everyone. He has his moments but it’s not like him was some charismatic teddy bear in the 80 and 90s. That doesn’t make him a bad person, that’s just how his personality has been.

 

[djcon57]

I don't think it's fair to label this as "total laziness." This is about JB believing this is what is best. All his success over 47 years has galvanized his belief.

Do you believe it's for the best?