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 will likely start out on Zoom and not be at a local restaurant. 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.
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
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, what will be the domino effect when Bourama Sidibie comes back? Marek will move to his natural position of forward but you’ll want Quincy and Alan to be in the game and you want to use all three guards. The refs won’t let you play seven guys. How will you handle this?”
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. 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 might 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.)
(There will be no show next week)
Coach Boeheim talked extensively about Covid requirements, repeating things he’d said before and applying them to the current situation. “When you’re in contact tracing, you’re out. I don’t think you can get it in a game as you’re only around a player for five minutes.” (That must be why we’re having problems on defense.) “Woody played only 4 minutes had he’s out.” (But we might need more than him to play a game.) Matt pointed out that Buffalo, not being part of a major conference, may not be using the technology they use in the ACC, including those chips that beep when a coach gets too close to a player. JB: “Anytime someone who tested positive was on the court you’re out – it makes no sense.” They went through the recent schedule. Buffalo played at Miami U. earlier in the week, (12/15), and Miami played Bradley, (12/19 - the night we played Buffalo). Then they had someone test positive. “Buffalo wouldn’t have gotten anything from Miami until maybe Friday but they tested positive on a Wednesday, the day after the Miami game.” (Meaning that they probably got it from outside activities, not the game with Miami.)
“Medical experts say that if you test negative after 7 days, you’re OK. New York state uses a 14 days standard. Most states use 10. We are the only school in the league under the 14 day standard. We are the victim. Buddy stood next to someone and got 14 days. We could play Florida State and they could have a positive test and we’d be out 14 days again. We went 14 weeks without a positive test in the summer. DePaul and Siena have bene unable to play a game. 70-75% of the games across the country have bene played. Kids are getting positive but not sick. These things are happening off the court for the most part. You are more likely to get it in the handshake line while playing a game.”
Matt started to say something about physical contact, but Jim interrupted him: “It’s about breathing on people as they are running by people. I don’t understand it. If you are in a room with someone contagious, you should get it in 4 minutes, but the rule is that you can be with them for 10 minutes. People in a nursing home can’t defend against that disease. The problem with younger people is that they think they can’t get it, or they won’t get sick or that they won’t be with older people. I’m just hoping the vaccine will work. At the end of the day players want to play and it’s better for them to be here. We have to figure out how to get the kids in school and play games.”
Matt asked if Syracuse has had any positive tests from this. Jim said “we don’t release that sort of information. The CDC said that 7 days plus a negative test is fine – it’s almost impossible to get it at that point. I would take 10 days plus a negative test. It would give us an extra 4 days to prepare for a game. If we were out until (January) 4th and play Florida State on the 6th. We’ve tried that and it didn’t work. You can have individual workouts with a coach 20 feet away and no one else there. There’s no team workouts. You’re not going to be in shape to play basketball and the team won’t have the rhythm they need.”
“We made a 27 point turnaround against Buffalo, a good team. Against Northeastern, we had we had no movement or flow. You can’t simulate defense in work-outs.” Jim was Zooming form home and tried to remember when they got their first team practice in after the lay-off and Julie answered from the kitchen: “it was Sunday”. It wasn’t the last time she completed JB’s sentence. (I thought I also heard a dog in the background.) JB: “Conditioning for basketball is built up over weeks. It takes 1 /2-2 hours per day. You can’t do it with gaps and 4 hour work-outs. Marek has no body fat so he can run and play a long time. Quincy is a muscular player who would get tired. You have to keep playing and try to make the plays at the end of a game.”
“Buffalo trashed talked the whole game and even after the game. There is no way they will ever play here again! They are saying they should have won. You play all 40 minutes. You try to do the best you can. I try never to say that we should have won a game. I will say that we could have won a game. They could have won but they didn’t.”
I called in my question. First, I suggested that being a college basketball coach is a wee bit more complicated in 2020 than it was in 1976. That got a laugh. JB: “We’ll play 7 guys, just not all at once. I’ll keep the starters and bring in Bourama for defense. It’s easy to play 4 guys in 3 spots up front. Marek has bene playing great and he’s smart. Bourama should be back for the next game. He might have been able to play at Wake Forest. His rehab has been going well.”
I asked if Alan Griffin might play some guard. “Alan has his hands full playing forward. There are more decisions to be made there. The defensive positions are different. It’s a more complex set of rotations and movements on offense. It’s very difficult to play both positions. He could in some situations but he’s better off playing forward.”
I thanked the coach and hung up, only to have him ask me to call back. He wanted to ask me, as a representative of the fans, what impact these delays and cancelled games had on us. He said that he’d gotten out to do some shopping at Trader Joe’s, (for lemon and butter cookies), and he met 20-30 people who asked him when the team would be playing again. “People were very nice and said ‘I hope you’re back’”.
“I called back and told him that I couldn’t really speak for all the fans but that I was willing to accept the decisions of the experts, who know more about CoVid than I do, although I agreed with him that some consistency was needed in their rulings. I said I was more concerned about the impact on the coaches and players because basketball was the center piece of their lives. “I’m doing OK here, binging the Honeymooners and watching Errol Flynn movies. I often tell fans, in the wake of a disappointing loss that no matter how badly they feel, the coaches and players feel worse. This is their life.” Coach seemed touched by the sentiment.
After that call, Matt said that “you can’t go wrong with the Honeymooners. They are always valid”.
The Honeymooners: Lost Episodes
He added that I had recommended Errol Flynn films to Dino Babers. Jim said “I love Errol Flynn- captain Blood!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCNSulj_B2M
I’m gratified that both of our coaches are Errol Flynn fans. Coaching a sports team in a game is certainly an adventure and I think they can relate to a swashbuckler.
A different Steve called in to ask how they can recruit players when the high schools aren’t playing. Coach said that their recruiting is always a year ahead. “We’ve already got a good player for next year and we can still look at tapes. The transfer portal will be open. We’ll be looking at the class of ’23 this summer. Right now it’s more babysitting than evaluating.”
Matt asked about the likelihood of rescheduling postponed games. JB: “The problem is if we have a game on Tuesday and one on Saturday and the other team has a game on Wednesday, they won’t want to play on Thursday.” Matt: “Besides, you’ll want to do this show.” JB: “Not that much!...I wanted to start 2-3 weeks earlier so we would have a cushion for make-up games.” Matt asked if the team might remain on the road when there are games in the same area a few days apart, (as the Wake and UNC games were scheduled to be played). JB: “No. You don’t want to put kids in a hotel for a couple of days. That (scheduling) was done because of TV.”
Mike in Glen’s Falls said the Coach had done a ‘gender reveal’ video for him, (he’s apparently done that for others as well). He asked about the team’s readiness when they come back. Jim went back over the distinction between being in ‘good’ shape from workouts and being in basketball shape. He said that we would have had an advantage against Wake Forest because they’d been off for a couple of weeks but that Florida State will have an advantage against us for the same reason.
Another caller named Ron said that he’d been to the 1987 Final Four and that he sneaked behind the UNLV cheerleaders to get a better view of the game since the rich people had all the courtside seats. He wondered if having more depth was helping us down the stretch of these games. JB agreed. “we have three guards who are really good and we have faith in them. Marek is playing well. Bourama will give us another veteran player who finished strong last year. Woody is playing well. We need the rhythm of practicing and playing games on a regular basis. At least we’ll be pretty well rested.” Matt: “it will be about the effects of being rested and how players trained.” JB: “We’ll work as hard as we can. That’s all you can do.”
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
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, what will be the domino effect when Bourama Sidibie comes back? Marek will move to his natural position of forward but you’ll want Quincy and Alan to be in the game and you want to use all three guards. The refs won’t let you play seven guys. How will you handle this?”
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. 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 might 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.)
(There will be no show next week)
Coach Boeheim talked extensively about Covid requirements, repeating things he’d said before and applying them to the current situation. “When you’re in contact tracing, you’re out. I don’t think you can get it in a game as you’re only around a player for five minutes.” (That must be why we’re having problems on defense.) “Woody played only 4 minutes had he’s out.” (But we might need more than him to play a game.) Matt pointed out that Buffalo, not being part of a major conference, may not be using the technology they use in the ACC, including those chips that beep when a coach gets too close to a player. JB: “Anytime someone who tested positive was on the court you’re out – it makes no sense.” They went through the recent schedule. Buffalo played at Miami U. earlier in the week, (12/15), and Miami played Bradley, (12/19 - the night we played Buffalo). Then they had someone test positive. “Buffalo wouldn’t have gotten anything from Miami until maybe Friday but they tested positive on a Wednesday, the day after the Miami game.” (Meaning that they probably got it from outside activities, not the game with Miami.)
“Medical experts say that if you test negative after 7 days, you’re OK. New York state uses a 14 days standard. Most states use 10. We are the only school in the league under the 14 day standard. We are the victim. Buddy stood next to someone and got 14 days. We could play Florida State and they could have a positive test and we’d be out 14 days again. We went 14 weeks without a positive test in the summer. DePaul and Siena have bene unable to play a game. 70-75% of the games across the country have bene played. Kids are getting positive but not sick. These things are happening off the court for the most part. You are more likely to get it in the handshake line while playing a game.”
Matt started to say something about physical contact, but Jim interrupted him: “It’s about breathing on people as they are running by people. I don’t understand it. If you are in a room with someone contagious, you should get it in 4 minutes, but the rule is that you can be with them for 10 minutes. People in a nursing home can’t defend against that disease. The problem with younger people is that they think they can’t get it, or they won’t get sick or that they won’t be with older people. I’m just hoping the vaccine will work. At the end of the day players want to play and it’s better for them to be here. We have to figure out how to get the kids in school and play games.”
Matt asked if Syracuse has had any positive tests from this. Jim said “we don’t release that sort of information. The CDC said that 7 days plus a negative test is fine – it’s almost impossible to get it at that point. I would take 10 days plus a negative test. It would give us an extra 4 days to prepare for a game. If we were out until (January) 4th and play Florida State on the 6th. We’ve tried that and it didn’t work. You can have individual workouts with a coach 20 feet away and no one else there. There’s no team workouts. You’re not going to be in shape to play basketball and the team won’t have the rhythm they need.”
“We made a 27 point turnaround against Buffalo, a good team. Against Northeastern, we had we had no movement or flow. You can’t simulate defense in work-outs.” Jim was Zooming form home and tried to remember when they got their first team practice in after the lay-off and Julie answered from the kitchen: “it was Sunday”. It wasn’t the last time she completed JB’s sentence. (I thought I also heard a dog in the background.) JB: “Conditioning for basketball is built up over weeks. It takes 1 /2-2 hours per day. You can’t do it with gaps and 4 hour work-outs. Marek has no body fat so he can run and play a long time. Quincy is a muscular player who would get tired. You have to keep playing and try to make the plays at the end of a game.”
“Buffalo trashed talked the whole game and even after the game. There is no way they will ever play here again! They are saying they should have won. You play all 40 minutes. You try to do the best you can. I try never to say that we should have won a game. I will say that we could have won a game. They could have won but they didn’t.”
I called in my question. First, I suggested that being a college basketball coach is a wee bit more complicated in 2020 than it was in 1976. That got a laugh. JB: “We’ll play 7 guys, just not all at once. I’ll keep the starters and bring in Bourama for defense. It’s easy to play 4 guys in 3 spots up front. Marek has bene playing great and he’s smart. Bourama should be back for the next game. He might have been able to play at Wake Forest. His rehab has been going well.”
I asked if Alan Griffin might play some guard. “Alan has his hands full playing forward. There are more decisions to be made there. The defensive positions are different. It’s a more complex set of rotations and movements on offense. It’s very difficult to play both positions. He could in some situations but he’s better off playing forward.”
I thanked the coach and hung up, only to have him ask me to call back. He wanted to ask me, as a representative of the fans, what impact these delays and cancelled games had on us. He said that he’d gotten out to do some shopping at Trader Joe’s, (for lemon and butter cookies), and he met 20-30 people who asked him when the team would be playing again. “People were very nice and said ‘I hope you’re back’”.
“I called back and told him that I couldn’t really speak for all the fans but that I was willing to accept the decisions of the experts, who know more about CoVid than I do, although I agreed with him that some consistency was needed in their rulings. I said I was more concerned about the impact on the coaches and players because basketball was the center piece of their lives. “I’m doing OK here, binging the Honeymooners and watching Errol Flynn movies. I often tell fans, in the wake of a disappointing loss that no matter how badly they feel, the coaches and players feel worse. This is their life.” Coach seemed touched by the sentiment.
After that call, Matt said that “you can’t go wrong with the Honeymooners. They are always valid”.
The Honeymooners: Lost Episodes
He added that I had recommended Errol Flynn films to Dino Babers. Jim said “I love Errol Flynn- captain Blood!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCNSulj_B2M
I’m gratified that both of our coaches are Errol Flynn fans. Coaching a sports team in a game is certainly an adventure and I think they can relate to a swashbuckler.
A different Steve called in to ask how they can recruit players when the high schools aren’t playing. Coach said that their recruiting is always a year ahead. “We’ve already got a good player for next year and we can still look at tapes. The transfer portal will be open. We’ll be looking at the class of ’23 this summer. Right now it’s more babysitting than evaluating.”
Matt asked about the likelihood of rescheduling postponed games. JB: “The problem is if we have a game on Tuesday and one on Saturday and the other team has a game on Wednesday, they won’t want to play on Thursday.” Matt: “Besides, you’ll want to do this show.” JB: “Not that much!...I wanted to start 2-3 weeks earlier so we would have a cushion for make-up games.” Matt asked if the team might remain on the road when there are games in the same area a few days apart, (as the Wake and UNC games were scheduled to be played). JB: “No. You don’t want to put kids in a hotel for a couple of days. That (scheduling) was done because of TV.”
Mike in Glen’s Falls said the Coach had done a ‘gender reveal’ video for him, (he’s apparently done that for others as well). He asked about the team’s readiness when they come back. Jim went back over the distinction between being in ‘good’ shape from workouts and being in basketball shape. He said that we would have had an advantage against Wake Forest because they’d been off for a couple of weeks but that Florida State will have an advantage against us for the same reason.
Another caller named Ron said that he’d been to the 1987 Final Four and that he sneaked behind the UNLV cheerleaders to get a better view of the game since the rich people had all the courtside seats. He wondered if having more depth was helping us down the stretch of these games. JB agreed. “we have three guards who are really good and we have faith in them. Marek is playing well. Bourama will give us another veteran player who finished strong last year. Woody is playing well. We need the rhythm of practicing and playing games on a regular basis. At least we’ll be pretty well rested.” Matt: “it will be about the effects of being rested and how players trained.” JB: “We’ll work as hard as we can. That’s all you can do.”
