SWC75
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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 is at Carrabba's Italian Grill at 550 Towne Drive, Fayetteville, NY. The first hour, hosted by Matt Park, the Voice of the Orange, is on their general network. The second hour, which usually begins with the conference season, is hosted by Gomez, a local radio personality.
Their schedule: The AmeriCU Jim Boeheim Show Begins Tonight! - Syracuse University Athletics
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 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: TuneIn | Free Internet Radio | Live News, Sports, Music, and Podcasts
There’s now a third segment where Jim and Gomez can be seen on camera at:
The early shows tend to be in a one-hour format. I'll post a summary of them the same night. When they do two hour shows. I will do two posts: the Matt Park segment the night of the show and the Gomez segments the next day.
MY QUESTIONS/COMMENTS
1st Segment Question:
“Coach, we seem to be improving: we’ve out-rebounded all our ACC opponents, we’ve had four fewer turnovers than each of our last two opponents and held both of them under their season’s scoring average, making Pitt go more than 9 minutes in the second half before they hit a field goal. We beat Brown and Cornell, then lost close games to Virginia and two 13-3 teams and then beat a Pitt team that had lost three conference games by a total of 4 points by 16. Have we turned things around and how good of a defensive team could this team become?”
2nd Segment Question:
“Coach if this team continues to improve, how much of that improvement is likely to come from your starting five and how much of it is likely to come from your bench?”
COACH BOEHEIM
(I have, in some instances, put together statements from different parts of the broadcast on the same subject. The quotes may not be verbatim –they are from my scribbled notes. I have not knowingly changed the meaning.)
Matt announced ”We’re back to .500 at 8-8”. That did not engender an enthusiastic response from the coach. “We played well at Miami, except for the turnovers, and at Wake Forest. Pitt played well I the first half/ In the second half, we were a little bit better on defense. We didn’t allow the inside stuff we allowed in the first half. Our defense has improved. We are rebounding better. We’ve got our most efficient offense in years.”
I tried to call in my first question but a series of technical glitches prevented it. Matt went to some questions that came in off of twitter. “Why don’t the players huddle up to communicate better?’ Jim: “We communicate all the time. 5 guys don’t need to huddle.” Matt says he can hear the coach communicating the next play during free throws.
Matt when summarized my question, asking the coach if he thinks he’ll be really pleased with the way the team is playing by 2-4 weeks form now. JB: “I hope it’s sooner than that. We’ve done some good things at certain times. We are definitely rebounding better and our offense is good.”
Matt noted that Buddy finally got some good looks and hit his first four threes. Coach said “I’m surprised he got them against Pittsburgh. They are usually a good defensive team. Florida State and other teams watch film and they will see how he got them and he won’t get many the rest of the year. He gets fewer good looks than anybody in the country. We need more balance. Joe and Cole have to get more consistent. We’re working with Benny. John Bol played well in practice. Players know that if a coach doesn’t put his best player out there, he’s not doing a good job of coaching. A few years ago I had a McDonald’s All-American who played 10 minutes a game behind an unknown who played 35. But the McDonald’s All-American became a good player. Jimmy and Cole have played well and Benny’s not close to them. High school ratings are about what you did in high school. Benny really has to work hard and there’s lot of work ahead. Fortunately our starters have played as well as they have. We could easily have lost to Indiana and Florida State.”
Susan from Mineola was at the restaurant and asked why we have so many ‘almost wins’. Jim talked about Miami’s comeback, saying it was close at the end but “they made a few plays”. He recalled watching Maryland erase a 19-point deficit against Wisconsin and take the lead, only to lose by a point in the end. “Against Wake Forest, we were behind and took the lead. They hit it out and the referee made the wrong call.
John in Utica expressed admiration for Jimmy Boeheim’s play and asked if the coach was surprised. He was, a bit. “Ivy League players usually struggle in their transition year because of the higher level of play. He’s scoring well, rebounding and his defense is getting better.
Ham in Camillus wondered if this team has enough ‘length’. JB: “We’ve got plenty of length. we’re not as quick and physically strong as we need to be. Our guards have gotten better at preventing penetration and getting out on the shooters. Interior defense has bene a problem, although we did a better job on Hughley.
Matt started his run through the ACC. Miami lost to Florida State on a ‘tough call’. Jim felt that there was some contact there. Miami beat Duke “but they’d been off 10-12 days. Miami has good guard play and all their guys can drive and score. Virginia Tech is really good and they are 0-4. Notre Dame has won 6 in a row and beat Clemson who won big at Virginia. You’re not going to win going 2-19 on the road.”
I’d been cut off, called back, been on hold for 20 minutes while they apparently didn’t know I was there, called back again and finally got through, only to have a connection where I could barely hear them. I modified my first question to point out that our strong late-season runs over the years had been largely fueled by excellent defense: has this team turned the corner and can they be that good on defense with this lineup? From what I was able to hear the last part of that question was not answered, with the coach simply saying that “we can play better on defense, that we’re halfway though the season with 4 new guys on the front line who had never played together. The offense has been pretty consistent, and the defense is getting better”. Perhaps the failure to answer the question of whether we can become a good defensive team with this line-up was the answer to the question.
Mike in Charlotte asked if Jimmy Boeheim could come back next year. JB: “I think he should be able to comeback because they ivy league didn’t play last year. We are applying for him.” Mike then went into a rambling question about how we hadn’t used all 13 scholarships, (which is wrong- we had 13 scholarship players the last two years, before some of them left). Doesn’t that leave us too thin? Mike went on and on about this, with the coach making several attempts to begin an answer and Mike talking right through him. Matt started saying “whoa! Whoa! And “Earth to Mike”. Finally he stopped and Jim said “let me try to answer your question – unless you are answering it….We wanted another guard but no one wanted to come here to be the fourth guard. They all wanted to start. We wound up with 3 centers, 4 forwards and 3 guards. [Confirming that John Bol Ajak is considered a forward.] next year we’ll have Joe and Sy and two new guards coming in. Hopefully Benny and John Bol will be back. That will give us four forwards. We’ll lose Bourama but will gain a center and thus still have three of them. You want 11 players, not 13. We’re in great shape for next year. Buddy, Jimmy or Cole could come back, but you can’t count on it. More guys would put you over the limit.” They asked if Mike was still there and he wasn’t.
“We’re going to try to play Georgia Tech but we don’t know when.”
Josh in Boulder wondered if a pre-shot ritual could help Jimmy’s free throw shooting. JB: “We’ve worked with him and he’s cocking it a bit more. He’s better now and should be OK. Jesse is not consistent. He hasn’t bene playing basketball his whole life so this is all new to him. He ahs good form.”
Tim in Fayetteville asked why Jesse is ‘t staying down low -he’s always setting screen and picks and then rolling to the basket. He said that Symir and benny “can beat their own man”. Jim: “Benny can’t do that right now. Sy is doing it some but he’s not being guarded. Jesse is 1 for 10 outside of the paint. I’ve watched a whole game tonight between Seton Hall and DePaul and there’s not been a post pass for either team. I haven’t seen NBA teams do it for a long time. Jesse’s problem is physical strength. They let you push once and that stops him. Villanova lets their guards dribble right into the post. Jesse’s game is moving and getting to the boards. He’s getting better every game.”
Elijah Hughes celebrated his first NBA start by playing 41 minutes for the Jazz and scoring 26 points with 8 rebounds and 4 assists. He got his chance because a player had contracted Covid -and then Elijah did, too. Oshae Brissett is playing again. Matt suggested that the 15th guy on and NBA team’s bench is one of the best players in the world. Jim disagreed. “there are the stars, then there are bunch of players who are really good, then the last four guys could be replaced with another four guys and you wouldn’t know the difference. But it’s hard to get one of those spots.
Jim had picked Georgia to beat Alabama, “although it’s hard to expect Nick Saban to lose. They’ve been the best team all year and they were going to make adjustments. Georgia was going to do what ti took win – broken arms…..A major writer had written that they’d never win anything with that quarterback. …There’s such a talent disparity in college football.”
Mel in Cicero got in one last phone call that ended the Matt Park segment. Mel sound as if he was still celebrating the new year. “Coach all these teams seem to stand out there and throw up all these three pointers. Why don’t you send your players out there to put a hand in their face?” JB: “We try, Mel, we try….”
I’ll do the Gomez segment tomorrow.
Their schedule: The AmeriCU Jim Boeheim Show Begins Tonight! - Syracuse University Athletics
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 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: TuneIn | Free Internet Radio | Live News, Sports, Music, and Podcasts
There’s now a third segment where Jim and Gomez can be seen on camera at:
The early shows tend to be in a one-hour format. I'll post a summary of them the same night. When they do two hour shows. I will do two posts: the Matt Park segment the night of the show and the Gomez segments the next day.
MY QUESTIONS/COMMENTS
1st Segment Question:
“Coach, we seem to be improving: we’ve out-rebounded all our ACC opponents, we’ve had four fewer turnovers than each of our last two opponents and held both of them under their season’s scoring average, making Pitt go more than 9 minutes in the second half before they hit a field goal. We beat Brown and Cornell, then lost close games to Virginia and two 13-3 teams and then beat a Pitt team that had lost three conference games by a total of 4 points by 16. Have we turned things around and how good of a defensive team could this team become?”
2nd Segment Question:
“Coach if this team continues to improve, how much of that improvement is likely to come from your starting five and how much of it is likely to come from your bench?”
COACH BOEHEIM
(I have, in some instances, put together statements from different parts of the broadcast on the same subject. The quotes may not be verbatim –they are from my scribbled notes. I have not knowingly changed the meaning.)
Matt announced ”We’re back to .500 at 8-8”. That did not engender an enthusiastic response from the coach. “We played well at Miami, except for the turnovers, and at Wake Forest. Pitt played well I the first half/ In the second half, we were a little bit better on defense. We didn’t allow the inside stuff we allowed in the first half. Our defense has improved. We are rebounding better. We’ve got our most efficient offense in years.”
I tried to call in my first question but a series of technical glitches prevented it. Matt went to some questions that came in off of twitter. “Why don’t the players huddle up to communicate better?’ Jim: “We communicate all the time. 5 guys don’t need to huddle.” Matt says he can hear the coach communicating the next play during free throws.
Matt when summarized my question, asking the coach if he thinks he’ll be really pleased with the way the team is playing by 2-4 weeks form now. JB: “I hope it’s sooner than that. We’ve done some good things at certain times. We are definitely rebounding better and our offense is good.”
Matt noted that Buddy finally got some good looks and hit his first four threes. Coach said “I’m surprised he got them against Pittsburgh. They are usually a good defensive team. Florida State and other teams watch film and they will see how he got them and he won’t get many the rest of the year. He gets fewer good looks than anybody in the country. We need more balance. Joe and Cole have to get more consistent. We’re working with Benny. John Bol played well in practice. Players know that if a coach doesn’t put his best player out there, he’s not doing a good job of coaching. A few years ago I had a McDonald’s All-American who played 10 minutes a game behind an unknown who played 35. But the McDonald’s All-American became a good player. Jimmy and Cole have played well and Benny’s not close to them. High school ratings are about what you did in high school. Benny really has to work hard and there’s lot of work ahead. Fortunately our starters have played as well as they have. We could easily have lost to Indiana and Florida State.”
Susan from Mineola was at the restaurant and asked why we have so many ‘almost wins’. Jim talked about Miami’s comeback, saying it was close at the end but “they made a few plays”. He recalled watching Maryland erase a 19-point deficit against Wisconsin and take the lead, only to lose by a point in the end. “Against Wake Forest, we were behind and took the lead. They hit it out and the referee made the wrong call.
John in Utica expressed admiration for Jimmy Boeheim’s play and asked if the coach was surprised. He was, a bit. “Ivy League players usually struggle in their transition year because of the higher level of play. He’s scoring well, rebounding and his defense is getting better.
Ham in Camillus wondered if this team has enough ‘length’. JB: “We’ve got plenty of length. we’re not as quick and physically strong as we need to be. Our guards have gotten better at preventing penetration and getting out on the shooters. Interior defense has bene a problem, although we did a better job on Hughley.
Matt started his run through the ACC. Miami lost to Florida State on a ‘tough call’. Jim felt that there was some contact there. Miami beat Duke “but they’d been off 10-12 days. Miami has good guard play and all their guys can drive and score. Virginia Tech is really good and they are 0-4. Notre Dame has won 6 in a row and beat Clemson who won big at Virginia. You’re not going to win going 2-19 on the road.”
I’d been cut off, called back, been on hold for 20 minutes while they apparently didn’t know I was there, called back again and finally got through, only to have a connection where I could barely hear them. I modified my first question to point out that our strong late-season runs over the years had been largely fueled by excellent defense: has this team turned the corner and can they be that good on defense with this lineup? From what I was able to hear the last part of that question was not answered, with the coach simply saying that “we can play better on defense, that we’re halfway though the season with 4 new guys on the front line who had never played together. The offense has been pretty consistent, and the defense is getting better”. Perhaps the failure to answer the question of whether we can become a good defensive team with this line-up was the answer to the question.
Mike in Charlotte asked if Jimmy Boeheim could come back next year. JB: “I think he should be able to comeback because they ivy league didn’t play last year. We are applying for him.” Mike then went into a rambling question about how we hadn’t used all 13 scholarships, (which is wrong- we had 13 scholarship players the last two years, before some of them left). Doesn’t that leave us too thin? Mike went on and on about this, with the coach making several attempts to begin an answer and Mike talking right through him. Matt started saying “whoa! Whoa! And “Earth to Mike”. Finally he stopped and Jim said “let me try to answer your question – unless you are answering it….We wanted another guard but no one wanted to come here to be the fourth guard. They all wanted to start. We wound up with 3 centers, 4 forwards and 3 guards. [Confirming that John Bol Ajak is considered a forward.] next year we’ll have Joe and Sy and two new guards coming in. Hopefully Benny and John Bol will be back. That will give us four forwards. We’ll lose Bourama but will gain a center and thus still have three of them. You want 11 players, not 13. We’re in great shape for next year. Buddy, Jimmy or Cole could come back, but you can’t count on it. More guys would put you over the limit.” They asked if Mike was still there and he wasn’t.
“We’re going to try to play Georgia Tech but we don’t know when.”
Josh in Boulder wondered if a pre-shot ritual could help Jimmy’s free throw shooting. JB: “We’ve worked with him and he’s cocking it a bit more. He’s better now and should be OK. Jesse is not consistent. He hasn’t bene playing basketball his whole life so this is all new to him. He ahs good form.”
Tim in Fayetteville asked why Jesse is ‘t staying down low -he’s always setting screen and picks and then rolling to the basket. He said that Symir and benny “can beat their own man”. Jim: “Benny can’t do that right now. Sy is doing it some but he’s not being guarded. Jesse is 1 for 10 outside of the paint. I’ve watched a whole game tonight between Seton Hall and DePaul and there’s not been a post pass for either team. I haven’t seen NBA teams do it for a long time. Jesse’s problem is physical strength. They let you push once and that stops him. Villanova lets their guards dribble right into the post. Jesse’s game is moving and getting to the boards. He’s getting better every game.”
Elijah Hughes celebrated his first NBA start by playing 41 minutes for the Jazz and scoring 26 points with 8 rebounds and 4 assists. He got his chance because a player had contracted Covid -and then Elijah did, too. Oshae Brissett is playing again. Matt suggested that the 15th guy on and NBA team’s bench is one of the best players in the world. Jim disagreed. “there are the stars, then there are bunch of players who are really good, then the last four guys could be replaced with another four guys and you wouldn’t know the difference. But it’s hard to get one of those spots.
Jim had picked Georgia to beat Alabama, “although it’s hard to expect Nick Saban to lose. They’ve been the best team all year and they were going to make adjustments. Georgia was going to do what ti took win – broken arms…..A major writer had written that they’d never win anything with that quarterback. …There’s such a talent disparity in college football.”
Mel in Cicero got in one last phone call that ended the Matt Park segment. Mel sound as if he was still celebrating the new year. “Coach all these teams seem to stand out there and throw up all these three pointers. Why don’t you send your players out there to put a hand in their face?” JB: “We try, Mel, we try….”
I’ll do the Gomez segment tomorrow.
