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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 Shaughnessy’s 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! - Syracuse University
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: http://tunein.com
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, Grantland Rice wrote: "For when the One Great Scorer comes to mark against your name, he writes not that you won or lost but how you played the game." I hope that the One great Scorer is on the NCAA committee and realizes that going toe-to-toe with the #10 team in the country means that we aren’t much worse than they are. Does the closeness of the game matter to the committee? Should it matter?”
Second Hour:
“Coach, In the Wake Forest game we got to the line 39 times. In the Miami game we got to the line 9 times, 6 in the last 40 seconds. Was our offense or their defense so different in those games that it would account for that discrepancy?”
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.)
(They are now doing two hour shows. The second hour is hosted by Gomez, a local radio personality. There are three musical interludes, one every 20 minutes, so if you tune in at 8PM it’s going to sound as if the Boeheim show has ended but stick with it. As last year, the night of the show I will post comments relating directly to the SU basketball team. I’ll post “Part 2” on Friday, which will contain other topics that were discussed. )
We just played a North Carolina team that has now won 6 games in a row and must now play a Duke team that’s won 4 in a row. JB: “Both teams are playing great.” Matt noted that we were able to rebound nearly as well as the Tar Heels, getting 12 offensive rebounds. He suggested that Oshae Brissett was a big factor. JB: “He’s been tremendous the whole year and far exceeded everyone’s expectations except for mine. I don’t know when we’ve had a freshman play with such consistency.” (15 years?) “I’m not sure how many freshmen have played better.” the radio signal broke up a bit, (they had occasional difficulties with their phone connect and I was on hold at the time). When it came back they were talking about trey Young. But Matt said “”If you’re a freshman and not at Duke you’re not out-scoring Oshae.” JB: “He’s at last in the top ten, maybe better.”
On the end of the UNC game: “Tyus didn’t make a couple good looks. It wasn’t the shot we wanted but Frank had made 5 threes. You just can’t make a turnover like that that leads to a lay-up. The shot wasn’t so bad but the turnover was crushing. We’d scored 8 straight points. If we’d scored and taken the lead, I don’t think they would have scored again. We’d pretty much solved their stuff. We’ve made some big plays this year and some big shots but it stands out when you don’t.”
“We’re playing well on offense, getting better movement, making better shots. The defense hasn’t bene good since Wake Forest. It’s not good enough to win these games. We don’t care about people’s expectations we want to win every game. We’ve been in every game except Kansas and Virginia. If you get in close games you’ve got to score. You’ve got to get a bucket. We should have won a couple more games than we did.”
Ron in Rochester said he was an ’87 SU grad. JB: “That was a good year.” Ron thinks we are “taking it to the hole” as we never have before. Jim said “we’ve been doing that against man-to-man defenses. We are shooting decently from the arc and getting to the line. It’s our best way to have a chance. We need to get a couple of wins.” Ron asked if Jim was “dreaming of everybody coming back next year. “I’m thinking about this year.”
Josh in Boulder wanted to know how we are going to “play our game against Duke – they don’t let teams play their game against them.” JB: “they don’t pressure teams like they sued to. They used to pressure you and speed you up. We had no problem playing that way because we liked to play fast. Now that they are playing zone, we’ll have to make shots.
I finally got my first question in –only to be cut off by a technical glitch in the middle of it. I had to call back and missed part of what was said. They were talking about the quadrant system and how it’s still based on RPI and “weighed toward road wins. There’s a big gap between Duke and Maryland but they are both in quadrant 1. You could be 4-6 in a tough league and 9-1 in a bad one and I don’t know which is better.” I finally got back in and simply asked if the committee will give SU any credit for going toe to toe with the 10th ranked team in the country or will be it be graded the same as a 20 point loss. “I don’t think they do make a distinction. In a perfect world, they would. They worry about the seeding, which tends to work itself out. They need to use common sense but they don’t always do that. Why emphasize road games? Nobody plays on the road in the NCAAs. It’s all about getting the best teams in.”
Pat called in to ask about the play at the end where Frank shot the ball instead of Tyus. JB: “Pascal didn’t remember who he was to screen for. It’s not as big a play as it seemed because Frank had made three three pointers and Tyus had missed his last two shots. A guy was hugging him.”
Pat asked if our preparation would be different based on whether Duke had Bagley or not. JB: “They don’t do anything differently with him out of the game. When he’s in he gets 20 points, 10 rebounds. The other guy gets 6 and 6. Allen gets the ball more with Bagley out. He and Trent are their most dangerous players. I don’t think Bagley will play. Their big guys are still monsters and they are still a tremendous offensive team…Allen was scoring 8-10 per game. Now he’s scoring 25. They have three sure-fire lottery picks and another guy who will be in the first round. Allen will be drafted, too….Duke is a tremendous team. They are doing everything better now. I would like to have played them early.“
Kevin called in to ask if it will be easier to play against a 2-3 zone such as Duke’s current defense because we use it ourselves. JB: “No two zones are alike. It’s a good zone – it wasn’t good at the beginning but it’s gotten better and it has helped them.
Matt from Cicero asked about Dolezaj’s shooting. What can Coach Boeheim do to get him to shoot more? JB: “It‘s hard to tell a kid to shoot. All he’ll think about is that the coach wants him to shoot. We didn’t tell him anything different for the Miami game and he made a couple of shots. He’s so new to the American game. He’s got to get stronger and to figure out the game a little better. He couldn’t make a 10-footer earlier. He’s changed his shot slightly and is much better He’s become an 80% fouls hooter. He’s a really good player.”
Ray in Fulton wondered why Tyus Battle isn’t showing up on mock draft boards. JB: “I normally don’t look at that but we were talking about it in the office today. If we were winning big, he’d probably be there. Tyler Ennis was there because we went 25-0. Malachi was not in the mock drafts until Virginia. These are not NBA scouts –they are media people.“ (Lowest form of life.) Jim sited some players who were told they’d be drafted much higher than they were. The only one I wrote down was Jerami Grant who was told he’d be drafted 18th but instead #39. Back to Tyus: “I don’t know why he’s not there. he can score and he can score in the NBA. Tyus and his father will decide what to do after the season. Unfortunately you don’t get exact information about where you might be drafted until about a week beforehand.“ Ray asked the coach to rate Tyus vs. our other recent first round picks. JB: “He’s more physically ready than the others. He’s improved a lot form last year and could improve some more in another year. Tyler Ennis wouldn’t have improved his draft status by staying another year. Malachi has done well- he’s got $4 million guaranteed. “
Ray: “Is evaluating success based on being a first rounder fair?” Jim: Three years of guaranteed money is a good thing for any player. All they want is money and a chance. People don’t realize how hard it is to make it in that league. They can now have 17 guys on the roster. You’ve got to beat out 5 similar guys just to crack the top 12. There’s not enough awareness of that yet, although we’re starting to get some. I’ve heard that of the player drafted from 15-30 five years ago, 10% are still in the league. Even the top 15 guys are out in 3-4 years in a lot of cases. A player can get evaluations but they aren’t exact. They might tell Tyus “You might squeeze in”. Tyler Lydon decided to go during last season. I told him he’d wind up in the D league, (now the G League for some reason) , and he got mad. Denver has 5 other good forwards. It’s so hard to make it if you aren’t a great player.”
I called in my second question, which Coach said was a “great question”, (Steve modestly included in his write-up – wait, aren’t they all great?). “We try to drive but I think in the Miami game we made more perimeter shots and didn’t drive as much.” (We were 5 for 16 from the arc in that game, although we had 14 points from the “Twilight Zone”.) “Some games are called closer than others.” I commented that the refs can influence a game even if they aren’t biased by the manner in which they choose to call the game. JB: “Yes they can. If it’s a real physical game, from the beginning they can decide not to call things because they don’t want the game to just be trips to the foul line. But if they call them early it won’t be like that.” Gomez noted that Bob Huggins complained about his team shooting 2 free throws compared to 35 from the other team. JB: “That’s possible. West Virginia played here once and we took 44 free throws to none. It’s the only game I ever coached where a team didn’t attempt any free throws. We looked at the tape and they were just shooting outside shots and were never really fouled. That crew had two Final Four refs and they were very fair. It was just one of those games.”
Paul in Baldwinsville said the coach had done a tremendous job maximizing the team’s potential and they are “fun to watch”. He asked about our defense when “they run a high ball screen, dribble to the shot side and have a man in the corner. Is the center supposed to come out and cover the corner? “Yes. The forward goes up on the ball handler and the center goes to the corner. Paschal is 7-2 and doesn’t react quickly enough. Bourama is actually better at that. Marek has blocked a couple of those shots. We’ve not done as well as we’d like to.” Gomez suggested that Bourama is “day to day and even hour by hour”. JB said “He dropped a dunk thinking about moving and got a shot blocked. It’s not a bad knee and he should get it back in 2-3 months and be ready by the end of the summer.”
Tom in Syracuse said the team “showed a lot of heart coming back to tie the game”. JB agreed. “We pressed and they tried to go to the basket, which helped us. We just didn’t get the ball in the basket when we really needed to. Paschal was good in the press. He’s got to get stronger and finish better.it would be great if we had Taurean Thompson and Geno Thorpe and everybody was healthy. None of those things happened but we hung in there. Bourama’s always hurt….We’re banged up but getting rested up… We actually have 6 ½ players. For Wake it was 5 ½. It’s incredible to play three games in a week. 40 minutes a game three times a week is very hard. 32 minutes is optimal. Good players can get as many shots off in 32 minutes as in 40. Duke and Villanova have their best players playing 36-38 minutes. Most teams best players do. “
Clemson will be “Senior Day” JB: “What seniors?”
Next week’s show will be their last of the season.
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! - Syracuse University
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: http://tunein.com
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, Grantland Rice wrote: "For when the One Great Scorer comes to mark against your name, he writes not that you won or lost but how you played the game." I hope that the One great Scorer is on the NCAA committee and realizes that going toe-to-toe with the #10 team in the country means that we aren’t much worse than they are. Does the closeness of the game matter to the committee? Should it matter?”
Second Hour:
“Coach, In the Wake Forest game we got to the line 39 times. In the Miami game we got to the line 9 times, 6 in the last 40 seconds. Was our offense or their defense so different in those games that it would account for that discrepancy?”
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.)
(They are now doing two hour shows. The second hour is hosted by Gomez, a local radio personality. There are three musical interludes, one every 20 minutes, so if you tune in at 8PM it’s going to sound as if the Boeheim show has ended but stick with it. As last year, the night of the show I will post comments relating directly to the SU basketball team. I’ll post “Part 2” on Friday, which will contain other topics that were discussed. )
We just played a North Carolina team that has now won 6 games in a row and must now play a Duke team that’s won 4 in a row. JB: “Both teams are playing great.” Matt noted that we were able to rebound nearly as well as the Tar Heels, getting 12 offensive rebounds. He suggested that Oshae Brissett was a big factor. JB: “He’s been tremendous the whole year and far exceeded everyone’s expectations except for mine. I don’t know when we’ve had a freshman play with such consistency.” (15 years?) “I’m not sure how many freshmen have played better.” the radio signal broke up a bit, (they had occasional difficulties with their phone connect and I was on hold at the time). When it came back they were talking about trey Young. But Matt said “”If you’re a freshman and not at Duke you’re not out-scoring Oshae.” JB: “He’s at last in the top ten, maybe better.”
On the end of the UNC game: “Tyus didn’t make a couple good looks. It wasn’t the shot we wanted but Frank had made 5 threes. You just can’t make a turnover like that that leads to a lay-up. The shot wasn’t so bad but the turnover was crushing. We’d scored 8 straight points. If we’d scored and taken the lead, I don’t think they would have scored again. We’d pretty much solved their stuff. We’ve made some big plays this year and some big shots but it stands out when you don’t.”
“We’re playing well on offense, getting better movement, making better shots. The defense hasn’t bene good since Wake Forest. It’s not good enough to win these games. We don’t care about people’s expectations we want to win every game. We’ve been in every game except Kansas and Virginia. If you get in close games you’ve got to score. You’ve got to get a bucket. We should have won a couple more games than we did.”
Ron in Rochester said he was an ’87 SU grad. JB: “That was a good year.” Ron thinks we are “taking it to the hole” as we never have before. Jim said “we’ve been doing that against man-to-man defenses. We are shooting decently from the arc and getting to the line. It’s our best way to have a chance. We need to get a couple of wins.” Ron asked if Jim was “dreaming of everybody coming back next year. “I’m thinking about this year.”
Josh in Boulder wanted to know how we are going to “play our game against Duke – they don’t let teams play their game against them.” JB: “they don’t pressure teams like they sued to. They used to pressure you and speed you up. We had no problem playing that way because we liked to play fast. Now that they are playing zone, we’ll have to make shots.
I finally got my first question in –only to be cut off by a technical glitch in the middle of it. I had to call back and missed part of what was said. They were talking about the quadrant system and how it’s still based on RPI and “weighed toward road wins. There’s a big gap between Duke and Maryland but they are both in quadrant 1. You could be 4-6 in a tough league and 9-1 in a bad one and I don’t know which is better.” I finally got back in and simply asked if the committee will give SU any credit for going toe to toe with the 10th ranked team in the country or will be it be graded the same as a 20 point loss. “I don’t think they do make a distinction. In a perfect world, they would. They worry about the seeding, which tends to work itself out. They need to use common sense but they don’t always do that. Why emphasize road games? Nobody plays on the road in the NCAAs. It’s all about getting the best teams in.”
Pat called in to ask about the play at the end where Frank shot the ball instead of Tyus. JB: “Pascal didn’t remember who he was to screen for. It’s not as big a play as it seemed because Frank had made three three pointers and Tyus had missed his last two shots. A guy was hugging him.”
Pat asked if our preparation would be different based on whether Duke had Bagley or not. JB: “They don’t do anything differently with him out of the game. When he’s in he gets 20 points, 10 rebounds. The other guy gets 6 and 6. Allen gets the ball more with Bagley out. He and Trent are their most dangerous players. I don’t think Bagley will play. Their big guys are still monsters and they are still a tremendous offensive team…Allen was scoring 8-10 per game. Now he’s scoring 25. They have three sure-fire lottery picks and another guy who will be in the first round. Allen will be drafted, too….Duke is a tremendous team. They are doing everything better now. I would like to have played them early.“
Kevin called in to ask if it will be easier to play against a 2-3 zone such as Duke’s current defense because we use it ourselves. JB: “No two zones are alike. It’s a good zone – it wasn’t good at the beginning but it’s gotten better and it has helped them.
Matt from Cicero asked about Dolezaj’s shooting. What can Coach Boeheim do to get him to shoot more? JB: “It‘s hard to tell a kid to shoot. All he’ll think about is that the coach wants him to shoot. We didn’t tell him anything different for the Miami game and he made a couple of shots. He’s so new to the American game. He’s got to get stronger and to figure out the game a little better. He couldn’t make a 10-footer earlier. He’s changed his shot slightly and is much better He’s become an 80% fouls hooter. He’s a really good player.”
Ray in Fulton wondered why Tyus Battle isn’t showing up on mock draft boards. JB: “I normally don’t look at that but we were talking about it in the office today. If we were winning big, he’d probably be there. Tyler Ennis was there because we went 25-0. Malachi was not in the mock drafts until Virginia. These are not NBA scouts –they are media people.“ (Lowest form of life.) Jim sited some players who were told they’d be drafted much higher than they were. The only one I wrote down was Jerami Grant who was told he’d be drafted 18th but instead #39. Back to Tyus: “I don’t know why he’s not there. he can score and he can score in the NBA. Tyus and his father will decide what to do after the season. Unfortunately you don’t get exact information about where you might be drafted until about a week beforehand.“ Ray asked the coach to rate Tyus vs. our other recent first round picks. JB: “He’s more physically ready than the others. He’s improved a lot form last year and could improve some more in another year. Tyler Ennis wouldn’t have improved his draft status by staying another year. Malachi has done well- he’s got $4 million guaranteed. “
Ray: “Is evaluating success based on being a first rounder fair?” Jim: Three years of guaranteed money is a good thing for any player. All they want is money and a chance. People don’t realize how hard it is to make it in that league. They can now have 17 guys on the roster. You’ve got to beat out 5 similar guys just to crack the top 12. There’s not enough awareness of that yet, although we’re starting to get some. I’ve heard that of the player drafted from 15-30 five years ago, 10% are still in the league. Even the top 15 guys are out in 3-4 years in a lot of cases. A player can get evaluations but they aren’t exact. They might tell Tyus “You might squeeze in”. Tyler Lydon decided to go during last season. I told him he’d wind up in the D league, (now the G League for some reason) , and he got mad. Denver has 5 other good forwards. It’s so hard to make it if you aren’t a great player.”
I called in my second question, which Coach said was a “great question”, (Steve modestly included in his write-up – wait, aren’t they all great?). “We try to drive but I think in the Miami game we made more perimeter shots and didn’t drive as much.” (We were 5 for 16 from the arc in that game, although we had 14 points from the “Twilight Zone”.) “Some games are called closer than others.” I commented that the refs can influence a game even if they aren’t biased by the manner in which they choose to call the game. JB: “Yes they can. If it’s a real physical game, from the beginning they can decide not to call things because they don’t want the game to just be trips to the foul line. But if they call them early it won’t be like that.” Gomez noted that Bob Huggins complained about his team shooting 2 free throws compared to 35 from the other team. JB: “That’s possible. West Virginia played here once and we took 44 free throws to none. It’s the only game I ever coached where a team didn’t attempt any free throws. We looked at the tape and they were just shooting outside shots and were never really fouled. That crew had two Final Four refs and they were very fair. It was just one of those games.”
Paul in Baldwinsville said the coach had done a tremendous job maximizing the team’s potential and they are “fun to watch”. He asked about our defense when “they run a high ball screen, dribble to the shot side and have a man in the corner. Is the center supposed to come out and cover the corner? “Yes. The forward goes up on the ball handler and the center goes to the corner. Paschal is 7-2 and doesn’t react quickly enough. Bourama is actually better at that. Marek has blocked a couple of those shots. We’ve not done as well as we’d like to.” Gomez suggested that Bourama is “day to day and even hour by hour”. JB said “He dropped a dunk thinking about moving and got a shot blocked. It’s not a bad knee and he should get it back in 2-3 months and be ready by the end of the summer.”
Tom in Syracuse said the team “showed a lot of heart coming back to tie the game”. JB agreed. “We pressed and they tried to go to the basket, which helped us. We just didn’t get the ball in the basket when we really needed to. Paschal was good in the press. He’s got to get stronger and finish better.it would be great if we had Taurean Thompson and Geno Thorpe and everybody was healthy. None of those things happened but we hung in there. Bourama’s always hurt….We’re banged up but getting rested up… We actually have 6 ½ players. For Wake it was 5 ½. It’s incredible to play three games in a week. 40 minutes a game three times a week is very hard. 32 minutes is optimal. Good players can get as many shots off in 32 minutes as in 40. Duke and Villanova have their best players playing 36-38 minutes. Most teams best players do. “
Clemson will be “Senior Day” JB: “What seniors?”
Next week’s show will be their last of the season.
