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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:
Syracuse University Athletics
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: Listen to WGVA on TuneIn
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, we had a lot of exciting games last year. But they were our best games. We had to outscore people to win. Normally our defense holds the other teams down, keeps us in the games when the offense isn’t performing well and allows us to take control of games when it is. You mentioned that it’s in some ways harder to teach your defense to transfers because they have to unlearn what they were doing at other schools than to teach it to freshmen. Well, you’ve got four freshmen and one transfer. How is the teaching of defense going so far? “
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.)
JB evaluated his team: “It’s early. There are so many things – so much leaning, teaching a lot of stuff to get where we need to go. There are so many fundamental things. We are working hard to get better but have a long way to go.”
About Tyus Battle: “There’s a misconception that Tyus has to carry the team. There’s nothing extra on him or Frank. Everyone has to contribute. Everyone has to play the game. One guy is never going to win by himself. We have to score 70-80 points. If one guy gets 25 points you’ve still got to get 50 more. Tyus just has to play his game and do what he can do.”
Liam in Pompey called in again. He congratulated Jim on the two exhibition wins and asked what Jim thought about coaching against his son jimmy, who will be playing for Cornell. JB: “Cornell is much improved. They have a lot of good players, including my son. Matt Morgan is the best player in the Ivy League. They play the Princeton style and play good defense.”
On the exhibition games: “We’ve played two pretty good Division II teams, (actually DII), We played somewhat well on defense and got good shots on offense in both games. We just didn’t make them in the first half and scored 20 points. We made them in the second half and scored 60 points.”
Pat called and asked where Jim got his leadership abilities. JB: “My father was a very organized and disciplined man. My high school coach was a great coach and really understood the game. But you learn from everybody. People in a leadership positon have to listen to people and learn other ideas….We play the zone but we change it all the time. You never know it all. The key to leadership is adjusting. “
Pat made some crack about the media learning ho to ask questions. Jim said “the media listens. They ask questions sometimes that you can’t answer. You can’t control people’s perceptions.” Pat also said he was going to tomorrow’s game. He doesn’t care if it’s 15 degrees. Jim: “Hey, it’s the basketball season!”
I called in and made a joke that Dino didn’t seem to be handling all the bad calls in the Florida State game so maybe Jim, who has, on occasion, not been fully pleased with some officials coals could hold his hand and get him through this difficult period. Jim laughed and said “It happens every game!. Some of them work for you and some against you. I probably balances out but coaches tend to see the balance as being against them. There were a lot of bad calls in that game.”
I then asked my question about teaching defense. “The zone is pretty easy to learn. Man to man is actually more complicated. There are different ways to play man to man. Our zone is more complicated than others but you just need to know how to play defense. Some guys are bad at both. We had two guys who were last year and didn’t have a shot blocker. Still, we were only 8th or 9th in the conference in defense- not as bad as some people thing. It was just worse than we were used to. It took too long to for the guys to figure out how to play with each other. We had only one guy who’d played the year before. Yet we won 10 games in the best conference in the country. This year we’ve got two veteran guards but the guys up front new. We are longer and quicker. The players have a commitment to defense.” I told the coach that I hoped things wouldn’t be as difficult as last year. JB: “it will be pretty difficult.”
Tom in Syracuse asked how much we will be suing the press this year. Jim said we will be using it more this year than we have “but there are some teams you don’t want to press- teams that can score off it and might not score as well against a half-court defense. We have a shot blocker for the first time in years. We will use some half court traps as well.”
Tom also asked about playing against Jimmy. “I hope he hits a couple of shots but not a lot.” Later Marty in Liverpool asked who Julie would be rooting for. Jim laughed. “There’s no doubt about that. That’s her baby out there. I think she still wants Syracuse to win but it’s more important for Jimmy to do very well. He’s a good shooter. We can’t let him get set. Well need to keep him off of his spots. ” His son Buddy will be playing for him next year. “It’s more common to coach your son than to coach against your son. Buddy’s worked hard. In the Nike league he hit 46.5% of these threes. He’s had that desire to be in the gym for 3-4 hours a day since he was in the 7th grade.” As to his other recruits for next year: “I don’t talk about specifics in recruiting but we’ve got some guys who could make a difference. We are in a good positon moving forward.”
Brian Higgins was filling in for Matt Park, who was Master of Ceremonies at the Lettemen of Distinction Banquet. He asked about honoree Rafael Addison. JB: He’s a great example for the players. He went to Europe to play, came home and got his master’s degree and has had a successful career in real estate.”
Brian asked about Bourma Sidibie. JB: “He’s an active player who can block shots. He was a little under-rated and he and Paschal are working hard and getting better. He’s like Baye Moussa Kieta but he’s better on offense. We like how they play. We have big guys who can protect the basket, block shots and rebound the ball. We have active, long players. We’re much better on defense. Tyler Lydon could block some shots but these guys are bigger and longer. ”
A caller, (didn’t get the name) asked about the expectations for this year. JB: “I don’t try to make predictions. Last year I said I thought we’d have good offensive players. But really couldn’t stop people. Predictions don’t matter – It’s how did your team play? What about the Philadelphia Eagles? You are what you are. We lost a lot of guys from that team so there are no predictions that we’ll be good. But we can be a good team. We can beat you. But we have a lot of work to do.”
On Frank Howard: “Frank knew that if he stayed, he’d have a positon that nobody else coming back could take from him. Scoop Jardine and Andy Rautins took a couple of years to get it together. Frank is capable of scoring. He’s shooting the ball better and he’s pretty good on defense.
On Geno Thorpe “We hope to have Geno healthier tomorrow night. He’s really behind because he missed 6-8 days of practice. He’s a talented, experienced kid and he’s getting some back now. He can help us. Our guards are bigger, quicker and more aggressive on defense.”
How has using grad transfers worked out? “I really wouldn’t do it but guys left early and we had to have 4 guards. Sometimes it can work out well. Sometimes it can be difficult. Geno came from a losing program and they were going to get a new coach so it was a good move for him.”
On Oshae Brissett: “he was player of the year in Canada. He’s gifted, talented and can shoot the ball. He’s a work in progress. He has the mentality of a scorer. He’s working to be a rebounder and defensive player. You can’t just shoot jumpers unless you are a great shooter. He’s learning to get to the basket for easy shots.”
On Matthew Moyer: “He got in better shape. Every player has to do some rebounding and be good on defense. He’s working on his shot. He and Marek are very athletic.”
On Marek Dolezai: “Somebody knew him and felt he would be a good fit here. He weighs more than Hakim Warrick did as a freshman here. It doesn’t matter. He sees things and knows the game. He’s making the adjustment. I’m happy with what he’s been doing.”
Iona, who we play on Tuesday , “has a guard as good as any we will play this year.” (I assume he means Rickey McGill.) These are two tough opening games. We’re young and we’ve got to learn to play against these teams. It will be good for us. “ Brain recalled Iona almost beat us in the 1998 NCAAs. Coach remembered that “We were down 1-2 and we get a rebound and got it back out to Marius Janulus who hit the 3 to win the game.”
“We need to play good defense, get good ball movement. That’s the key. We have to get a lot better.”
What does Coach see on the national scene? “Nothing yet. There’s a lot of great teams but everybody can play. Duke has 3 or 4 of the best players in the country. Louisville is loaded. They won be as good without Rick but they have veteran players and will be playing in the same system. Miami and Virginia Tech will be good.
How will Carmelo Anthony do in Oklahoma City? “It will take a while to get together. They will be good but they won’t beat Golden State.”
Next week’s show will be on Wednesday with the Babers show on Thursday, both at 7PM.
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:
Syracuse University Athletics
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: Listen to WGVA on TuneIn
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, we had a lot of exciting games last year. But they were our best games. We had to outscore people to win. Normally our defense holds the other teams down, keeps us in the games when the offense isn’t performing well and allows us to take control of games when it is. You mentioned that it’s in some ways harder to teach your defense to transfers because they have to unlearn what they were doing at other schools than to teach it to freshmen. Well, you’ve got four freshmen and one transfer. How is the teaching of defense going so far? “
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.)
JB evaluated his team: “It’s early. There are so many things – so much leaning, teaching a lot of stuff to get where we need to go. There are so many fundamental things. We are working hard to get better but have a long way to go.”
About Tyus Battle: “There’s a misconception that Tyus has to carry the team. There’s nothing extra on him or Frank. Everyone has to contribute. Everyone has to play the game. One guy is never going to win by himself. We have to score 70-80 points. If one guy gets 25 points you’ve still got to get 50 more. Tyus just has to play his game and do what he can do.”
Liam in Pompey called in again. He congratulated Jim on the two exhibition wins and asked what Jim thought about coaching against his son jimmy, who will be playing for Cornell. JB: “Cornell is much improved. They have a lot of good players, including my son. Matt Morgan is the best player in the Ivy League. They play the Princeton style and play good defense.”
On the exhibition games: “We’ve played two pretty good Division II teams, (actually DII), We played somewhat well on defense and got good shots on offense in both games. We just didn’t make them in the first half and scored 20 points. We made them in the second half and scored 60 points.”
Pat called and asked where Jim got his leadership abilities. JB: “My father was a very organized and disciplined man. My high school coach was a great coach and really understood the game. But you learn from everybody. People in a leadership positon have to listen to people and learn other ideas….We play the zone but we change it all the time. You never know it all. The key to leadership is adjusting. “
Pat made some crack about the media learning ho to ask questions. Jim said “the media listens. They ask questions sometimes that you can’t answer. You can’t control people’s perceptions.” Pat also said he was going to tomorrow’s game. He doesn’t care if it’s 15 degrees. Jim: “Hey, it’s the basketball season!”
I called in and made a joke that Dino didn’t seem to be handling all the bad calls in the Florida State game so maybe Jim, who has, on occasion, not been fully pleased with some officials coals could hold his hand and get him through this difficult period. Jim laughed and said “It happens every game!. Some of them work for you and some against you. I probably balances out but coaches tend to see the balance as being against them. There were a lot of bad calls in that game.”
I then asked my question about teaching defense. “The zone is pretty easy to learn. Man to man is actually more complicated. There are different ways to play man to man. Our zone is more complicated than others but you just need to know how to play defense. Some guys are bad at both. We had two guys who were last year and didn’t have a shot blocker. Still, we were only 8th or 9th in the conference in defense- not as bad as some people thing. It was just worse than we were used to. It took too long to for the guys to figure out how to play with each other. We had only one guy who’d played the year before. Yet we won 10 games in the best conference in the country. This year we’ve got two veteran guards but the guys up front new. We are longer and quicker. The players have a commitment to defense.” I told the coach that I hoped things wouldn’t be as difficult as last year. JB: “it will be pretty difficult.”
Tom in Syracuse asked how much we will be suing the press this year. Jim said we will be using it more this year than we have “but there are some teams you don’t want to press- teams that can score off it and might not score as well against a half-court defense. We have a shot blocker for the first time in years. We will use some half court traps as well.”
Tom also asked about playing against Jimmy. “I hope he hits a couple of shots but not a lot.” Later Marty in Liverpool asked who Julie would be rooting for. Jim laughed. “There’s no doubt about that. That’s her baby out there. I think she still wants Syracuse to win but it’s more important for Jimmy to do very well. He’s a good shooter. We can’t let him get set. Well need to keep him off of his spots. ” His son Buddy will be playing for him next year. “It’s more common to coach your son than to coach against your son. Buddy’s worked hard. In the Nike league he hit 46.5% of these threes. He’s had that desire to be in the gym for 3-4 hours a day since he was in the 7th grade.” As to his other recruits for next year: “I don’t talk about specifics in recruiting but we’ve got some guys who could make a difference. We are in a good positon moving forward.”
Brian Higgins was filling in for Matt Park, who was Master of Ceremonies at the Lettemen of Distinction Banquet. He asked about honoree Rafael Addison. JB: He’s a great example for the players. He went to Europe to play, came home and got his master’s degree and has had a successful career in real estate.”
Brian asked about Bourma Sidibie. JB: “He’s an active player who can block shots. He was a little under-rated and he and Paschal are working hard and getting better. He’s like Baye Moussa Kieta but he’s better on offense. We like how they play. We have big guys who can protect the basket, block shots and rebound the ball. We have active, long players. We’re much better on defense. Tyler Lydon could block some shots but these guys are bigger and longer. ”
A caller, (didn’t get the name) asked about the expectations for this year. JB: “I don’t try to make predictions. Last year I said I thought we’d have good offensive players. But really couldn’t stop people. Predictions don’t matter – It’s how did your team play? What about the Philadelphia Eagles? You are what you are. We lost a lot of guys from that team so there are no predictions that we’ll be good. But we can be a good team. We can beat you. But we have a lot of work to do.”
On Frank Howard: “Frank knew that if he stayed, he’d have a positon that nobody else coming back could take from him. Scoop Jardine and Andy Rautins took a couple of years to get it together. Frank is capable of scoring. He’s shooting the ball better and he’s pretty good on defense.
On Geno Thorpe “We hope to have Geno healthier tomorrow night. He’s really behind because he missed 6-8 days of practice. He’s a talented, experienced kid and he’s getting some back now. He can help us. Our guards are bigger, quicker and more aggressive on defense.”
How has using grad transfers worked out? “I really wouldn’t do it but guys left early and we had to have 4 guards. Sometimes it can work out well. Sometimes it can be difficult. Geno came from a losing program and they were going to get a new coach so it was a good move for him.”
On Oshae Brissett: “he was player of the year in Canada. He’s gifted, talented and can shoot the ball. He’s a work in progress. He has the mentality of a scorer. He’s working to be a rebounder and defensive player. You can’t just shoot jumpers unless you are a great shooter. He’s learning to get to the basket for easy shots.”
On Matthew Moyer: “He got in better shape. Every player has to do some rebounding and be good on defense. He’s working on his shot. He and Marek are very athletic.”
On Marek Dolezai: “Somebody knew him and felt he would be a good fit here. He weighs more than Hakim Warrick did as a freshman here. It doesn’t matter. He sees things and knows the game. He’s making the adjustment. I’m happy with what he’s been doing.”
Iona, who we play on Tuesday , “has a guard as good as any we will play this year.” (I assume he means Rickey McGill.) These are two tough opening games. We’re young and we’ve got to learn to play against these teams. It will be good for us. “ Brain recalled Iona almost beat us in the 1998 NCAAs. Coach remembered that “We were down 1-2 and we get a rebound and got it back out to Marius Janulus who hit the 3 to win the game.”
“We need to play good defense, get good ball movement. That’s the key. We have to get a lot better.”
What does Coach see on the national scene? “Nothing yet. There’s a lot of great teams but everybody can play. Duke has 3 or 4 of the best players in the country. Louisville is loaded. They won be as good without Rick but they have veteran players and will be playing in the same system. Miami and Virginia Tech will be good.
How will Carmelo Anthony do in Oklahoma City? “It will take a while to get together. They will be good but they won’t beat Golden State.”
Next week’s show will be on Wednesday with the Babers show on Thursday, both at 7PM.
