The Jim Boeheim Show - before NC State

[SWC75]

Jim Boeheim’s radio show is on Thursdays, (Wednesdays until the Dino Babers Show ends) 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. Last year they did a third half hour segment on Twitch.
Their schedule: Americu Jim Boeheim Show Starts Nov. 9 - 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 https://twitter.com/MattPark1 or https://twitter.com/hashtag/AskBoeheim?src=hashtag_click

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 segment the next day.




MY QUESTIONS/COMMENTS

For the Matt Park Segment:

“Congratulations on the two wins, coach. I think each win should count for something and strong performances in a loss to a good team should count, too. Your team sure closed out those games well – you scored 21 of the last 30 points against Boston College and 27 of the last 40 against Florida State.

I felt the turning point of the Florida State game was when we shut off their access to the high post. That not only solidified our defense but it helped our rebounding, too. That was a trait of the really good teams we had a decade ago. What adjustment did you make to produce that result?”

For the Gomez segment:

“Somebody wanted me to ask what Chris Bell gives us that Justin Taylor doesn’t give us. Maybe you can give us a breakdown of their games and what you expect from them in the future.”

(For the third segment on Twitch I’ll improvise a question or two after listening to the rest of the show.)



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.)

PART 1

I’ve decided to make things easier on myself and record JB’s response to my questions and comments the night of the broadcast and other things that were discussed whenever I finish transcribing them, which is not going to be 1 O’Clock in the morning anymore.

Question 1 (above): “We make adjustments all the time. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t. We wanted to stop their lobs. To an extent, they just went away from it. They had one go out of bounds and then they started settling for threes. Jesse was 3 for 10 in the first half. Bell usually makes his threes but didn’t. Judah missed two dunks. We were behind in a game where we should have been ahead. We missed a lot of opportunities. Chris had 6 rebounds, which is above average for a small forward. (I expect 3-4.) He was active on defense. He followed his shot and got fouled. Benny had two nice steals. Those are all good things to see.

They had a discussion, (Thanks to Chrissie of Central Square), of what players JB has coached who were really good at getting through the defense off the dribble and getting to the basket. JB had made a comment that Judah might be the best we’ve had in the news conference but he backed off slightly and said that Judah would be #2 to Pearl Washington. “They are similar in some ways – both point guards, about the same size, although Judah might be a little bigger. There’s nobody in pearl’s category at getting to the basket but Judah is #2 and more explosive. But I never compare anyone to pearl Washington" [Unless you just did.] Matt Park suggested Tyus Battle and Jonny Flynn should be considered, too. JB: “Tyus was a pull up guy. Jonny didn’t go all the way. Tyler Ennis was good at it. He was crafty – but not explosive”. When I later called in my second question, I suggested that Eric Devendorf belonged in that group, (actually I’d put him #2 to the Pearl but Judah is coming up fast). I commented that Devo could make lay-up with either hand. Jim said that that was a very good choice and added that Devo went to his left a lot and that was very hard for the defense to cover.

Question #2: “Both players are 20 minute guys so obviously I must think they were pretty good. Justin is better at guard. He’ll be at the ‘2’. Chris is a ‘3’. He’s rebounding better and shoots it in practice almost as well as Joe does.” I pointed out that Justin looks to be a rather well-built guy, a guy who could mix it up under the boards. JB: “Justin is strong but not a physical player. He’ll get more physical. Just to be able to be pretty good as a freshman is a good achievement. Then you can become good as a sophomore.”

On Twitch I suggested that starting Malik has put an end to the problem of bad starts in games but now we now are having bad stretches in the middle of the first half. Does he prefer to have Malik start or enter the game later in the half to give us a spark off the bench? The answer never got past the faulty premise. “We had a good start last night a bad one a couple of games ago. We haven’t had a really good first half and we need to start having them, moving forward.”

Someone asked what qualities Adrian Autry might have as a head coach. That was not responded to so I expanded it to “How do you think your assists would fare as head coaches.” I shouldn’t have made it so bland. “All my assistants understand the game and will be head coaches and good ones.” I’ll try that one again sometime, in a better form.

They talked about fishing. Someone asked him how often he goes to the “north country” to fish. Jim has a different definition of the north country. He goes out on a boat on Lake Ontario once a summer for a fishing expedition. Somebody asked him what the biggest fish is that he’s ever caught. (He’s caught 14-15 brown trout and walleyes.) Before he answered, I typed in “Carmelo Anthony”.

 

[SanDiegoCuse]

Thanks for the recap. I was the one who asked the Adrian Autry question.

 

[NineOneSeven]

Thanks for the recap. I was the one who asked the Adrian Autry question.

 

[SmilinBob]

Thanks for the wrap up and Jim gave pretty good answers.

JAB has to be careful answering questions about his assistants because whatever he says will be used for and against him because of his age.

 

[stuckinbig11]

thanks again

 

[SWC75]

PART 2

Matt Park: “Never a dull moment”

Jim Boeheim: “There are no dull moments in college basketball.” He sited recent upset such as Vanderbilt over Tennessee and “Texas Tech beat somebody” (#13 Iowa State). “Everybody has good players. Boston College is a really good team now. They had won 6 of 8 before we beat them. They won at Virginia Tech (for the sweep). They have pretty good perimeter play and Post is one of the best offensive players in our league. Everything is a close game. North Carolina was #1 at the beginning of the season and Duke was in the Top 10.” He again referenced the experience of teams that had used the portal and where those teams are in the standings, (above us). “Wake was up 22 at the half vs. UNC. Louisville is 3-21 and 1-12 in the conference. Where is Rick Pitino when you need him?”

On the Florida State game: “Judah played really poorly most of the night and then scored 14 points at the end…Last year Leonard had two 7 footers better than that guy, (McLeod), who left and two other guys got hurt. McLeod got back on Jesse and they kind of got away from him. He hurts their defense.”

With the weekend off, the team “had no responsibilities today” – it’s part of the NCAA mandated day off. Each team gets a weekend off and this is ours, “coming at a good time – we’ve played a lot of games”.

Then the phone calls started and again there were more than usual and from some people we don’t normally hear from, suggesting that the recent controversies over JB’s loose tongue served the purpose of bumping the ratings up for this show.

Roger in Massachusetts wanted to talk about Kadari Richmond. (I ducked, but JB was calm and friendly.) Roger thought he was going to be an All-American if he could develop an outside shot. “What attributes did he lack?” JB: Kadari is a good player. He hasn’t shot well. He had a ways to go as a freshman. He’s had mixed results at Seton Hall. Elite level guards have to shoot the ball. He knew Joe and Buddy were going to start and he wanted to start. I’m a little surprised he hasn’t done better. Sometimes he get off 10-12 shots, sometimes 2-3 and he’s playing 30 minutes a game. Quincy Guerrier was a 13/7 guy here but he isn’t starting at Oregon.”

Darrell in Rochester announced he was going to take Jim “back 60 years”. He read the coach’s book and saw that, as a freshman Jim played with a guy named Fran Pinchot and wondered if that was the same Fran Pinchot Darrel played with in high school. They compared notes and it seems to have been the same guy. Jim remembered him as a guy who looked 25 years old and had a beard. “He’d been thrown out of 6 prep schools. I made a basket in practice and he punched me. He’s the guy who ran the gambling pools at SU. One night we heard sirens chasing a car and it was Fran they were chasing until he almost crashed into a house and broke his arm. Then they’d discovered he’s never bene to class in the first semester. He would take Fridays off to go to the racetrack. When they told him he couldn’t do that, he went to class on Friday and took the rest of the week off. He always had a wad of cash. He left school but we saw him when we played in Miami (and beat Bill Bradley’s Princeton team and Rick Barry’s Miami team in the 1963 Hurricane Classic). He walked along the bench saying “I’ve got 200 bucks on you guys!”. Somehow, he wound up a high school teacher. I’ve got more stories.” Darrell, Matt, (and I and anybody else listening), wanted the Coach to write another book with all the stories he hasn’t told yet. (I would love a blow-by-blow of all the recruiting battles over the last 50 years. But Jim doesn’t have enough money to pay the lawyers.) Matt: Fran Pinchot will be the subject of the next ’30 for 30’.

Coach remembered the famous, high scoring 1966 SU team going out to Creighton and losing to a team that went 6-9, 6-11, 6-10 up front and had a 6-7 point guard. [An average 60’s line-up would go 6-0, 6-2, 6-5, 6-7, 6-8, something like that] “We had one 6-10 guy who took up space.” [I think he means Val Reid who took it up vertically but not horizontally.] He wasn’t our inbounds guy but he took the ball out of bounds anyway and didn’t know what to do with it so he gave it to a Creighton guy, who scored. Then he got the ball again and was going to do the same thing until we called a time out. I’ve never seen that.”

Ken from somewhere wanted to take the coach back to the 70’s. He recalled when Roy Danforth took his SU team to play in the tiny gym at Chittenango High School to play an exhibition to raise money for the schools’ sports teams after a budget turn-down at the polls had put them on austerity. He thanks the coach, Danforth and the team for doing such a selfless thing, as did Matt, who “grew up down the street". “We did a lot of that sort of thing in those days.” Ken: I can’t even describe the electricity. We all wanted to see Dale Shackleford, who was from Utica. Imagine if it had been Pearl Washington. I get goosebumps thinking about it and the impact on the community.” Jim: “We bring kids in to watch our practices.”

A restaurant patron, (did they call him ‘D-Pac’?), is from Northern Virginia. He wondered what other sports JB could or would have coached if he didn’t become a basketball coach. “I coached golf. I love lacrosse. And we were the intramural touch football champs three years in a row.” It started a discussion of golf. “There are so many good golfers in the world, it’s crazy.” [Same in every sport, each of which is having it’s true ‘golden age’ as a result.] His favorite course? “Being on the 18th at Pebble beach with no lead to protect is pretty good. The first time I played that course, a cart cost $10. Now it’s $625. I had the course to myself. It was beyond beautiful. On the 8th hole, I hit a 3 wood as hard as I’ve ever hit it and made the green but just 10 yards from the cliff. I’ve played that hole 20 times since and never reached the green.” But his favorite vacation spot is Bermuda, “a pretty place”.


Josh in Boulder wondered what would please Coach more: Benny making outside shots or inside shots. JB: “His best area is at the foul line. He did make two steals.” What loss did he learn the most from? “This team is pretty good at learning and getting better. You learn from everything. Our rebounding is the best it’s been in a while. It was 25-12 in the second half. They went pretty small.”

Dave in Minneapolis had just watched “Requiem for the Big East”. What does Jim think the most about from those years? “The electricity in the Dome for the Georgetown games I was lucky just o be able to be there and see that…You start naming things, you want to name more. We had at least one good memorable game a year and I was here for 47 years.” (Per my notes, he used the past tense. I don’t know how much to read into that.)

Jesse in Lexington (not sure of the state), asked a multiple choice question: “Carmelo Anthony is most likely to:
a) Be picked up by an NBA team – maybe the Warriors?
b) Play for Boeheim’s Army?
c) Coach his son from the Syracuse bench?
[Why not all three?] Jim expects Carmelo to be picked up by somebody after the all-star break. “There are rumors about the Celtics. He keeps himself in great shape and can still play. Somebody will want scoring off the bench.” He just chuckled at the other two possibilities.

Nick in Syracuse wondered why we don’t seem to recruit the Philadelphia area as much as we used to – was it because we left the Big East. We got Scoop Jardine, Rick Jackson and Dion Waiters from there. JB: “No, we still recruit down there. It’s a good area. Things come in cycles. Scoop and Rick were teammates and they both knew Dion.”

Jim’s Super Bowl pick? “I think Philly is the better team but I’m going to have to go with Mahomes.

Gomez came on to announce that it was national Pizza Pie Day. Is Jim a fan? “I usually want just a little piece. My sons will eat the rest.” [It’s not his idea of Italian cooking”]

Against BC, “Jesse made some of the toughest shots he’s made. His second half defense was really outstanding. It was his best all-round game. It was a great finish against a team playing really well. He made shots there that were tougher than the ones he missed at Florida State. Our defense was good down the stretch. Those were the best crowds I’ve seen in Boston in 15-20 years. They were really into it. Usually, our people almost out-number theirs.”

Gomez commented on how Judah Mintz got going down the stretch of the FSU game. “He likes to walk it up but we want him to go when they are picking up.”

NC State “had 2-3 good players coming back and 2 good players came in. The clubs that have veteran players are at the top of the standings. A couple of great freshmen will allow you to overcome that. But seniors are going to make better plays down the stretch.”

Purdue is up 20 points on Iowa. [They won 87-73 to go to 23-2 on the year.] “To me they are the best team in the country. But everybody can lose. When last place teams can win against first place teams, you know its’ a good league….it’s hard to get a read on Tennessee, but that’s true of a lot of teams.

Kyle came to Carrabba’s from Carthage. [Say that three times, real quick.] He noted that TV dictates time slots and wondered which one the coach preferred. He likes a 2 or 4PM game, (for the weekend games, obviously). “It’s early enough when you are on the road to get home early. If it’s 7 to 9, you are waiting around all day.”

Will Mike Brey coach again? “No, he’ll take some job with the university. Coaching is not easy.”

Talking about the adjustment of going form the high school to the college level, Gomez said “It’s tough finding out that you’re not the best player on the team anymore.” JB: “You have to see where you can go and how you can get there.” [He wasn’t talking about the portal.]

They talked about the NBA. The Nets have fallen apart. “First Harden, then Irving, now Durant. They are all gone. It’s a combination of injuries and personalities. LeBron is playing as well as I’ve seen him play. His movements and shooting as good as ever. He’s still one of the two best players in the league. There are so many great players today you can’t even name all of them.” He tried, giving a long list of high-level players. I can remember when the league had 3-4 superstars.” Gomez: “You just named 16 of them without trying.” JB: “Believe me, I was trying.” Brandon Steiner is collecting Lebron’s game day sneakers for sale. “That guy made a million collecting Yankees Stadium dirt and selling it.”

What did Jim say to Ted Valentine after the game, when they were smiling? “I’ve seen you too many times. Usually they go around the country. We’ve had his crew 7-8 times. He’s a good ref…just a little crazy.” [TV Teddy may wonder why he gets Boeheim so many times.] Jim was asked if he could call into the ACC about bad calls like they can in football. “Yes, but I don’t do it anymore because it doesn’t do any good. They say, “Yeah, that’s a charge or yeah, that’s a block. Nothing happens.”

Gomez asked about player show left for the pros early – should they have done so? “I never thought Tyler Ennis would go in the first round. I didn’t think Jeremy Grant was ready but he got an opportunity in Philly he wouldn’t have gotten elsewhere.” They discussed playing abroad. “There are probably 300-400 Americans playing in Europe- more than the NBA. There are 3-4 on every Greek team, (one of which was Jimmy Boeheim until recently). Eric loves New Zealand. I’d love to be there, but it’s too far away.” Gomez said that on the flight there, “you watch a movie, eat, watch a movie, eat and you’re halfway there!” JB: Al McGuire used to go there a lot. He’d buy a motorcycle, tool around the country for two weeks and then sell it back to the dealer.”

Gomez asked why we don’t have an old-timer’s game anymore. “We don’t have many playing anymore.” [Are they all on Boeheim’s Army?] “Pearl coached one. Carmelo’s son will be here for the anniversary of the national championship if he can get away from school. We’ll let Gerry sneak out of the locker room for the celebration.”

What recruits surprised him? “When I recruit a kid, I think he could be good. Andy Rautins mother was surprised we were interested. She wasn’t sure he could play at this level. Michael Carter Williams’ mother wondered, too.” [Mothers aren’t basketball scout.] Hakim Warrick surprised people. We held him off trying to get Hodges – a dumb move.”

Some one asked about Matt Gorman’s skillset. (?!?) “He could shoot the ball but Gerry, who roomed with him, said he had horrendous taste in music- some kind of Euro-Disco thing. He’s a little crazy but made clutch shots vs. Georgetown.

Will 20 wins put us in the NCAA tournament? “We have a long way to go.”

Late games don’t impact Coach’s sleeping schedule. “I stay up late. I’m a late-night person. Sleep is important to your health and I try to catch up sleep when I can.”

Coach used to watch Tik-Tok for the cooking shows and “funny stuff. Now it’s just girls dancing around.” [What’s wrong with that?] Wayne Mahar now lives in North Carolina but he retooled an RV so he could go around the country and make weather forecasts from anywhere. Home | Wayne Mahar
Gomez suggest that Jim might want to get an RV and travel around the country like Wayne. “No, I’d love to do a cooking show, even though I can’t cook water. Maybe a tour of the best restaurants in new York state.” Somebody suggested a title: Boeheim on Briskets”.

Somehow the NCAA loss to Blake Griffin’s Oklahoma team came up. “We are focused on stopping Blake and some guy makes 4 in a row from three.” That would be Tony Crocker, who scored 28 while Griffin scored 23. Syracuse vs. Oklahoma Box Score, March 27, 2009 | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com
There was some speculation that that was the game where Jonny Flynn first hurt his hip. I don’t recall.

What is your definition of a successful season? “Playing better. You have to improve a lot. I always look at a season as ‘this is what we were able to do and we’ll see where we are.”