SWC75
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(There have been no articles giving details of this year’s Jim Boeheim show. I had to call into the radio station to find out that the first show will be tonight. I’ll assume there has been no changes since last year. No schedule had been posted but the show is usually on a Thursday unless there is a game or a holiday that night.)
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:
cuse.com
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, I’m hearing all kinds of discussions about what additional games might be scheduled. What if an additional game might enhance the resume of a team that needs better wins but threaten the resume of a team that’s thinks it’s already in? Who decides whether a particular match-up will be scheduled? The schools or the conference?”
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.)
Matt asked Jim about the ‘empty trip’ to Louisville. Both our games with them have been cancelled the day of the game. “You can’t worry about it. It is what it is. It’s happened to everybody. We haven’t been the cause of it yet. We’ve been able to play a remarkable number of games.” He said that he expects Louisville will play at North Carolina this weekend. “We haven’t had many games postponed or canceled over the years, maybe once every 10 years. One time we were in New York and the city was closed. They had 16 inches of snow, no way to plow it and no where to put it. We were in the semi-finals, (must have been the BET), and had to find a hotel in Long Island to stay in. We had to scrounge around for a restaurant to eat in.”
Matt asked about the Ivy League’s decision to cancel spring sports. This set JB off. He has a connection to the Ivies through his son Jimmy, who will graduate this year and then look for a good place to play his additional year of eligibility, a place where he would have a good opportunity to play. Jimmy will make a decision in the spring. The Ivies refused at first to grant an additional year of eligibility. Their players started to transfer out, then they relented after many players had already committed to transfer, including one of Jimmy’s teammates. “They don’t care anything about the athletes! The spring sports are all outside. They can go there on buses. Just clean the busses. It’s typical of the Ivy league. They want the players back but told them that they wouldn’t help get them into grad schools. They didn’t think at all about these kids. It’s unconscionable! A guy offered $4-5million to put the players in a bubble and they turned him down.
Michael from Charlotte, (Alsacs), called and asked three questions:
- What was it like dinning with Big East coaches in the old days, Including Bill Raftery?
- How much money did he take from the other Big East coaches on the golf course?
- Which player did you love the most?
He also defended Pat, saying that he doesn’t hate Jim and is a long term SU die hard and supporter of the coach.
JB said that he wasn’t sure he could remember all of that. “I don’t have a problem with pat. It’s just that once a year or so, he has a thought I wouldn’t even consider. He wants a guy to pay who isn’t going to play at all.” About Bill Raftery: “He’s the best-ever storyteller but he wants to stay out all night.” On the golf: “I won most of the time against the other coaches but now I’ve lost my game.” He described PJ Carlisimo as “the worst ever golfer wo plays a lot” but said that PJ, who normally shoots between 94 and 98, shot a 36 on a British Open course, (I assume over 9 holes). “That’s like Tiger shooting a 26.” His favorite courses are Pebble Beach and Cyprus Point, (both on the Monterey Peninsula). He’s golfed at St. Andrews “but it wouldn’t make my top 15-20”. He likes Turnberry in Scotland, County Down in Northern Ireland and also, in the US, Pine Valley in New Jersey and Olympic in San Francisco. He lost track of the question about the player he loved the most, (I’m not sure I got that one right myself).
I had already called in but got nothing but the program feed for about 5 minutes. Finally, in the middle of the golf talk, the producer came on and asked me who I was and what I anted to ask. He then set me up as the next caller. I started out be referring to Jim’s interview with Mike Waters on his podcast about his days playing in the eastern league back in the late 60’s:
I suggested that he recruit someone like John Postley, who could solve all of our problems at center. Jim said that he would have to recruit the prisons. (Why not? We have prison reform now.) I also asked if Marek would be courageous enough to ‘go inside’ with Postley there. “Maybe. It was a different era, much more physical.” (Did they name ‘posthumous’ after Postley?)
I then launched into my own defense of pat, again saying that he didn’t hate Jim but that he “loves himself” a bit too much. That got a laugh. I opined that it should be Ok to ask a coach why he didn’t or did not do something but telling a coach that he should do something goes over the line, considering that the coach will know more about both the game and the players. (It’s like Jeopardy – it needs to be in the form of a question). I said that I always enjoy Pat’s calls for his passion and his enthusiasm. JB: “I have no problem with passion. We have thousands of passionate fans in Syracuse. Telling coaches who to play is not the way to go. What is it based on? You can’t coach a team if you don’t see them every day.” He acknowledged that “some guys can improve as the season goes along”.
I asked who would be making the decision over rescheduled games: the schools, in search of an opponent who would help their NCAA case or the league. He said that in the end, it would be up to the league. The only opening would be after the UNC game and it would dependent on who is available and willing that Wednesday. Clemson is the most likely match-up. Colgate is out because the patriot league forbids it and St. Bonaventure has some make-up games in their own league that would get priority.
I went on to ask if it was wise to hold the conference tournaments at all and should the NCAA tournament be cut back to fewer teams to make CoVid incidents less likely? Coach described the arrangements for the NCAA tourney, with which he is well satisfied: each team will have the floor of a hotel available to them. Players will be in separate rooms and have their meals there. There will be a conference room available on each floor. They will not leave the floor except for the games. If a player tests positive he will be isolated and the rest of the team tested. If they pass, the team will still be able to play. I wish we’d done that during the regular season.”
Jim said that he sees why a #1 or #2 seed might want to skip the conference tournament. There will be “a little risk”. But the conference tournaments will still go on, although what format he doesn’t know. “The logistics are something you have to do. It’s a different time for everybody. The players have bene great. We just have to stay isolated. There’s nothing else you can do.” Matt asked about the state requirement that schools with 100 positive cases had to go to remote learning only. That pressed another red button for JB. “This si the craziest thing of all the crazy things they’ve said in New York State. It doesn’t matter if you have 20,000 students or 2,000 students- the 100-case limit is the same for everybody. It makes no sense! Then there’s the Dome. We have space for 30,000 people. We can get 5-6,000 in there and space them properly. They make rules that have no common sense or flexibility. Restaurants were not the problem. It comes from social gatherings. I guess we just have to hope that by late summer or early fall that the vaccines have kicked in and we will almost have things under control.” Pat, the Ivy league and new York State….Grrr!
Josh in Boulder said “I don’t know anything until I see the team play.” (You have to do that to evaluate the players.) How good are we? JB: “I like to go with what we’ve done. We’ve had some really good performances. Virginia Tech is a really good team. We’ve had some really bad games, mostly when we’ve bene overpowered inside. We’ve lost some home games. We are at or near the top of the league in scoring, efficiency, assist to turnover ratio, steals and free throw percentage. Our defense would be much better if we rebounded better. We wish we had shoot it better. There are Gonzaga and Baylor, then a bunch of pretty good teams.” He discussed the Big Ten: Wisconsin is slumping after a strong start and Minnesota is 0-7 on the road. “People complain that we’ve won only once on the road. We are a pretty good team. We only lack a guy inside who could help on defense and the boards.” (Postley!) “We lost a senior (Sidibe) and are a pretty young group overall.” (Aren’t all college teams pretty young?)
Notre Dame “Got off to a rough start due to an impossible schedule. They are now playing as well as anyone in the league. They have veteran guys.” Regarding Duke’s Jalen Johnson opting out: “That guy was hurting them, doing some things, keeping some other people from playing who are good.” (Coaches keep good players on the bench?) “Now they are playing really well, as are Georgia Tech and North Carolina. NC State-Pitt was a great game. State struggled against UNC, (he meant Duke), but they played well last night. Pitt is in a free-fall.” They’ve lost 6 of 7. (Let’s play them again!) “Jim Christian is a good coach. His players play hard. They did some good things.” (An echo of Dabo Sweeney describing Dino Babers’ defense). “it comes down to having players who are good enough. He had a long run there, considering the losing. He couldn’t get it off the ground.” Matt mentioned that Wynston Tabbs, their second best scorer, had ‘entered the transfer portal’. JB: “The first of many, many transfers.”
Jerami Grant “deserves to be an all-star. He’s keeping Detroit in contention. He’s got some name players ahead of him.”
Matt said that both the men’s and women’s lacrosse teams are loaded. Jim said he might “wander in and take a peak” at the men’s opener on Sunday vs. Army, a tough team, before the basketball has to leave for Monday’s game vs. Duke.” JB gets to wander where he pleases.
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
Submit your question for Syracuse Learfield Sports Network programs.
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, I’m hearing all kinds of discussions about what additional games might be scheduled. What if an additional game might enhance the resume of a team that needs better wins but threaten the resume of a team that’s thinks it’s already in? Who decides whether a particular match-up will be scheduled? The schools or the conference?”
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.)
Matt asked Jim about the ‘empty trip’ to Louisville. Both our games with them have been cancelled the day of the game. “You can’t worry about it. It is what it is. It’s happened to everybody. We haven’t been the cause of it yet. We’ve been able to play a remarkable number of games.” He said that he expects Louisville will play at North Carolina this weekend. “We haven’t had many games postponed or canceled over the years, maybe once every 10 years. One time we were in New York and the city was closed. They had 16 inches of snow, no way to plow it and no where to put it. We were in the semi-finals, (must have been the BET), and had to find a hotel in Long Island to stay in. We had to scrounge around for a restaurant to eat in.”
Matt asked about the Ivy League’s decision to cancel spring sports. This set JB off. He has a connection to the Ivies through his son Jimmy, who will graduate this year and then look for a good place to play his additional year of eligibility, a place where he would have a good opportunity to play. Jimmy will make a decision in the spring. The Ivies refused at first to grant an additional year of eligibility. Their players started to transfer out, then they relented after many players had already committed to transfer, including one of Jimmy’s teammates. “They don’t care anything about the athletes! The spring sports are all outside. They can go there on buses. Just clean the busses. It’s typical of the Ivy league. They want the players back but told them that they wouldn’t help get them into grad schools. They didn’t think at all about these kids. It’s unconscionable! A guy offered $4-5million to put the players in a bubble and they turned him down.
Michael from Charlotte, (Alsacs), called and asked three questions:
- What was it like dinning with Big East coaches in the old days, Including Bill Raftery?
- How much money did he take from the other Big East coaches on the golf course?
- Which player did you love the most?
He also defended Pat, saying that he doesn’t hate Jim and is a long term SU die hard and supporter of the coach.
JB said that he wasn’t sure he could remember all of that. “I don’t have a problem with pat. It’s just that once a year or so, he has a thought I wouldn’t even consider. He wants a guy to pay who isn’t going to play at all.” About Bill Raftery: “He’s the best-ever storyteller but he wants to stay out all night.” On the golf: “I won most of the time against the other coaches but now I’ve lost my game.” He described PJ Carlisimo as “the worst ever golfer wo plays a lot” but said that PJ, who normally shoots between 94 and 98, shot a 36 on a British Open course, (I assume over 9 holes). “That’s like Tiger shooting a 26.” His favorite courses are Pebble Beach and Cyprus Point, (both on the Monterey Peninsula). He’s golfed at St. Andrews “but it wouldn’t make my top 15-20”. He likes Turnberry in Scotland, County Down in Northern Ireland and also, in the US, Pine Valley in New Jersey and Olympic in San Francisco. He lost track of the question about the player he loved the most, (I’m not sure I got that one right myself).
I had already called in but got nothing but the program feed for about 5 minutes. Finally, in the middle of the golf talk, the producer came on and asked me who I was and what I anted to ask. He then set me up as the next caller. I started out be referring to Jim’s interview with Mike Waters on his podcast about his days playing in the eastern league back in the late 60’s:
I suggested that he recruit someone like John Postley, who could solve all of our problems at center. Jim said that he would have to recruit the prisons. (Why not? We have prison reform now.) I also asked if Marek would be courageous enough to ‘go inside’ with Postley there. “Maybe. It was a different era, much more physical.” (Did they name ‘posthumous’ after Postley?)
I then launched into my own defense of pat, again saying that he didn’t hate Jim but that he “loves himself” a bit too much. That got a laugh. I opined that it should be Ok to ask a coach why he didn’t or did not do something but telling a coach that he should do something goes over the line, considering that the coach will know more about both the game and the players. (It’s like Jeopardy – it needs to be in the form of a question). I said that I always enjoy Pat’s calls for his passion and his enthusiasm. JB: “I have no problem with passion. We have thousands of passionate fans in Syracuse. Telling coaches who to play is not the way to go. What is it based on? You can’t coach a team if you don’t see them every day.” He acknowledged that “some guys can improve as the season goes along”.
I asked who would be making the decision over rescheduled games: the schools, in search of an opponent who would help their NCAA case or the league. He said that in the end, it would be up to the league. The only opening would be after the UNC game and it would dependent on who is available and willing that Wednesday. Clemson is the most likely match-up. Colgate is out because the patriot league forbids it and St. Bonaventure has some make-up games in their own league that would get priority.
I went on to ask if it was wise to hold the conference tournaments at all and should the NCAA tournament be cut back to fewer teams to make CoVid incidents less likely? Coach described the arrangements for the NCAA tourney, with which he is well satisfied: each team will have the floor of a hotel available to them. Players will be in separate rooms and have their meals there. There will be a conference room available on each floor. They will not leave the floor except for the games. If a player tests positive he will be isolated and the rest of the team tested. If they pass, the team will still be able to play. I wish we’d done that during the regular season.”
Jim said that he sees why a #1 or #2 seed might want to skip the conference tournament. There will be “a little risk”. But the conference tournaments will still go on, although what format he doesn’t know. “The logistics are something you have to do. It’s a different time for everybody. The players have bene great. We just have to stay isolated. There’s nothing else you can do.” Matt asked about the state requirement that schools with 100 positive cases had to go to remote learning only. That pressed another red button for JB. “This si the craziest thing of all the crazy things they’ve said in New York State. It doesn’t matter if you have 20,000 students or 2,000 students- the 100-case limit is the same for everybody. It makes no sense! Then there’s the Dome. We have space for 30,000 people. We can get 5-6,000 in there and space them properly. They make rules that have no common sense or flexibility. Restaurants were not the problem. It comes from social gatherings. I guess we just have to hope that by late summer or early fall that the vaccines have kicked in and we will almost have things under control.” Pat, the Ivy league and new York State….Grrr!
Josh in Boulder said “I don’t know anything until I see the team play.” (You have to do that to evaluate the players.) How good are we? JB: “I like to go with what we’ve done. We’ve had some really good performances. Virginia Tech is a really good team. We’ve had some really bad games, mostly when we’ve bene overpowered inside. We’ve lost some home games. We are at or near the top of the league in scoring, efficiency, assist to turnover ratio, steals and free throw percentage. Our defense would be much better if we rebounded better. We wish we had shoot it better. There are Gonzaga and Baylor, then a bunch of pretty good teams.” He discussed the Big Ten: Wisconsin is slumping after a strong start and Minnesota is 0-7 on the road. “People complain that we’ve won only once on the road. We are a pretty good team. We only lack a guy inside who could help on defense and the boards.” (Postley!) “We lost a senior (Sidibe) and are a pretty young group overall.” (Aren’t all college teams pretty young?)
Notre Dame “Got off to a rough start due to an impossible schedule. They are now playing as well as anyone in the league. They have veteran guys.” Regarding Duke’s Jalen Johnson opting out: “That guy was hurting them, doing some things, keeping some other people from playing who are good.” (Coaches keep good players on the bench?) “Now they are playing really well, as are Georgia Tech and North Carolina. NC State-Pitt was a great game. State struggled against UNC, (he meant Duke), but they played well last night. Pitt is in a free-fall.” They’ve lost 6 of 7. (Let’s play them again!) “Jim Christian is a good coach. His players play hard. They did some good things.” (An echo of Dabo Sweeney describing Dino Babers’ defense). “it comes down to having players who are good enough. He had a long run there, considering the losing. He couldn’t get it off the ground.” Matt mentioned that Wynston Tabbs, their second best scorer, had ‘entered the transfer portal’. JB: “The first of many, many transfers.”
Jerami Grant “deserves to be an all-star. He’s keeping Detroit in contention. He’s got some name players ahead of him.”
Matt said that both the men’s and women’s lacrosse teams are loaded. Jim said he might “wander in and take a peak” at the men’s opener on Sunday vs. Army, a tough team, before the basketball has to leave for Monday’s game vs. Duke.” JB gets to wander where he pleases.
